Have you ever noticed comments in passing by friends and family,about your lifestyle? Often the term Eco-friendly is misunderstood as a ‘hipster fad’. Going ‘green’ is not a trend anymore,much rather a lifestyle we should all try to adopt. Due to lack of education on the subject or perhaps just a misunderstanding of what the term actually means.
Being Eco-friendly and caring about the environment is NOT a trend,and here’s why...
First let’s find out where the term comes from: Eco-friendly. ‘environmentalism’ deeply ingrained in American philosophy,dates back to 1830. Henry David Thoreau wrote ‘Maine woods’ in which ideas of conservation and preservation of ‘virgin woods’ we’re discussed. His point being,respecting nature. 1970 sees Thoreaus' Ideas come into play,as the movement starts to grow across America, ever since events have progressed the movement worldwide.
Take a look at this brief timeline of events:
As we can see specific events in history has impacted for decades to come. Earth day is now a worldwide event that takes place every year! Thousands of people across the globe are tackling these issues little by little.
We now have numerous organisations that contribute to create solutions for climate control;
People are making effort to clean oceans and prevent water pollution;
UN-Water
International Water management institute
Clean water action
Global water challenge
Worldwide investments in advancement of technology for renewable energy sources have collectively invested over $279.8 billion (USD) from the United States,Europe and China investing in (45%), more than two-thirds of all new electricity capacity installed worldwide is renewable as of 2019. Due to the uptake of renewable energies, we could see coal and oil consumption decrease drastically within the next year. Renewable energy markets are continuing to grow as over 30 nations around the globe have renewable energy and contribute to over 20% of energy supply.
Within the last decade we have seen this movement continue to grow into modern day, people across the globe trying to make changes on a smaller scale within their own lifestyles got dubbed with the 'Eco-friendly' label. From 2010 social media began to grow and since then has become a fixed part of peoples lives, perhaps in the earlier days of the popularity of these online spaces made the movement a trend. Online users posting good-doings may have seemed like a way for that person to gain integrity. If we look back to how brands were marketing products a few years ago,it was all done with the false pretense of caring for the planet,companies were gaining profit by selling consumers a certain image; (if you were to buy a product with a 'go green' slogan on it or items that led people to false pretenses of following this movement) this is where it became a 'trend' more so for pictures to be posted on Instagram and people to brag at how cool they are for supporting causes they didn't really believe,merely to get likes and validation by feeling like a good person.
However now being 'Eco-friendly' is not seen as a trend because its way more serious that than. The younger generation have a greater access to all kinds of medias in which they are gaining a deeper understanding of these issues, people are far more educated on the matter of environmentalism because its the upmost issue of the world. We have young leaders such as; Timoci Naulusala, Ridhima Pandey, Shalvi Shakshi, Jaden Anthony,Greta Thunberg, Malaika Vaz, Hans Cosmas Ngoteya and Bertie Gregory. Millennial's and the generation Z (1995-2015) are now starting to influence others via social media, much to the point where its not a trend anymore,but rather a conscious effort to take on issues that the world has been facing for years. Children are fighting for their future out of fear of what it might become if we do not pay attention to how serious these matters are. The internet has made a positive impact in giving extra access and education to people to want to go that extra mile to do what they can to help.
So with all the positive change and impact that the environmentalism movement has had on us since it began, how to we continue to make change ?
Okay, so some of us may not be big investors or shareholders or are able to get involved in these huge global organisations. For the average person with a family and lifestyle to attain,what can we do to make sufficient changes within our own lifestyle to create positive impact ?
