Circular economy, bureaucracy, and humanity intertwined by garbage.
A tale of two metropolises, New Delhi and São Paulo. In this tale, there are destitute workers, corporate interests, and the state machinery all squabbling over rubbish.
I am merely a scribe; bringing to you the battles and the alliances in the arena of waste. It bewilders me that this brutality takes its toll every day, despite the best intentions of all the actors involved. My melancholy is soothed by the lines of Charles Dickens:
“It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity. It was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair, we had everything before us, we had nothing before…
Blue Planet a beautiful yet harrowing documentary by David Attenborough raised public awareness of how plastics are impacting marine ecosystems. This was the catalyst for reducing single use plastics, UK taxes for non-recycled plastics, charges for plastic bags, etc.
This seems like great progress — a circular economy where we recycle used plastics and use less in the first place!
However, recycling plastics is difficult with its multitude of types, each requiring specialized material recovery processes. According to the 2017 Science Advances paper only 9% of the 8.3bn tonnes virgin plastics produced was recycled.
China has banned imports of plastic waste due to low quality and contamination. This waste is now being sent to Thailand, Malaysia and other developing countries where there are lax, even non-existent environmental controls. …
How Your Savings Can Decarbonize the World
“Firms ignoring the climate crisis will go bankrupt”. This is a statement not by a hippie doomsayer but Mark Carney, former Governor to the Bank of England and Goldman Sachs bankers.
So, why do the top three asset managers, BlackRock, State Street and Vanguard hold over $300bn in fossil fuel companies? They track the major stock markets indices like the S&P 500, FTSE, using algorithms-run funds. If your pension savings are held in equity funds, highly likely that you own fossil fuel companies.
There was financial prudence in doing so; they provided growth and paid out stable dividends as our appetite for energy is insatiable. However, we can meet our energy demands through renewable technology. …
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