A Sprint to find out the size of my waste.
Following on from last months post, I set my self a challenge, to become a bit more organised. I now have a product backlog covering all the things I want to do over the coming months and I’m tracking the things I want to do each sprint board in Trello.
This Month’s Sprint Goal — Learn the economics of waste.
The goal helped me to align on a couple of things:
- Understanding the waste I produce and try to find some better alternatives.
- Learning why, from an economic point of view. Why do we throw so many things away? How did we get here? Is there a better way to think about this?
Measuring Waste
The simple exercise I went through was to take a picture of everything ( excluding food waste — yes this is a problem too.) I threw away and where they went: Landfill, Recycling Bin, Soft Plastic Recycling.
What can I change?
What alternative choices should I make, to reduce my environmental impact?
Am I throwing away some valuable raw materials, which could create something else?
It’s time for a Doughnut
The other thing I’ve been doing this month is reading the excellent and thought provoking book Doughnut Economics by Kate Raworth. I highly recommend reading it, or at least listen to her TED talks.
In summary the standard economic view of endless growth, measured by GDP, has resulted in us exceeded what the planet can sustain on one hand and depriving people of their basic needs on the other.
By focusing on a new 21st Century view we can end the harmful impact we are having on the planet ( climate change, ocean acidification, chemical pollution, nitrogen and phosphorus loading, freshwater withdrawals, land conversion, biodiversity loss, air pollution, ozone layer depletion ) and give everyone the basics they need to thrive. ( water, food, health, education, income and work, peace and justice, political voice, social equality, gender equality, housing, networks and energy. )
