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Showing posts with the label Recycling

(12ab) International solidarity to tackle climate change

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How I think the world community can help each other to create a better world that is affordable and benefits everyone. For instance, when climate change hits a region or country, other regions and countries that are not hit can help with contribution of food and drinks, showing that respect for farmers and their work is important. In summary, solidarity is important in times of crises. But first why I defend Greta Thunberg's speech at the UN and afterwards. Indeed, over the past weeks (see here and here ) and even years ago I wrote, after reading climate scientists' warnings, we should take climate change serious and act to prevent the worse possible scenarios. It may not only concern loss of ice at the arctics and glaciers and thus rising sea levels (as Venice, Italy  and Jakarta, Indonesia experiences) or fires due to extreme hot and dry weather (as Australia  and Russia experiences) but may even result in a different distribution of weights in the world and as a res...

(12v) Take responsibility for your waste - don't dump it

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New international rules are signed to prevent that countries dump their waste in other countries , unless those countries agree . These rules will force countries to produce less waste and to develop better recyclable products or to develop methods to be able to recycle difficult recyclable products. Good. Exporting (plastic) waste from developed to developing countries will become more difficult as developing countries now have to agree to accept waste. China  already refused to accept more foreign waste, now also Malaysia will refuse more foreign waste and even intends to send back the waste we already dumped there. Indeed, ones countries develop beyond a certain level they refuse waste from others and instead may even start to export their own waste. And the hypocrisy of certain Western countries: we condemn other often much less developed countries when they dump or burn waste but when recyclables can no longer be exported to poor countries we destroy much of our own recyc...

(12u) Waste shouldn't be dumped

Waste, often dangerous, from many rich and thus developed parts of the world, is dumped in Africa and other places. A few years ago there was a major scandal in Belgium when dioxins where found in chicken (eggs), leading to another government after the election. Now, people in Ghana are eating also dangerous eggs that contain the same toxins because the developed world dumps their electronic waste in that country. It was to be expected that this practice whereby developed countries dumb their (dangerous) waste in other still developing countries can no longer continue. For instance, the Philippine  President Duterte is warning Canada to retake its waste that it exported to   the Philippines or face its anger. I think we should not take this light. And he's right, as a president, he should protect his own people. Undeveloped countries are developing and no longer accept waste from others so their own people become ill, just as people in developed countries don't accept ...