Read up on our Eco News Round Up- Summer Edition to find out what’s going on in the world regarding climate change, environmental initiatives and more.
20% of Brits are actively changing their diets to combat the Climate Crisis
According to a new UK-based census conducted by Ecosia regarding shifts in environmental consciousness and plant-based trends, 20% of Brits are actively reducing their meat consumption to combat the Climate Crisis. In addition to this, 32% of participants were willing to change their diet, and 50% thought the UK government should be doing more to combat the effects of Climate Change. Other findings were that 1 in 10 referred to themselves as a climate activist. Likewise, women are more inclined than men to make environmentally-friendly dietary shifts. Moreover, Newcastle, Manchester and London have the highest percentage of people already reducing their meat intake to some degree with 26%, 25% and 24% reductions respectively. In addition to this, Gen Z (16-24-year-olds) were most open to changing their diet for the environment, with 46% willing to become flexitarian, vegetarian or vegan.
Extraordinary Heatwaves in India and Pakistan mean almost 1 in 8 people are suffering from extreme heat
For India, this past April was the hottest month in 122 years and March was the hottest month ever on record. This has happened much earlier in the year, across a much larger area and for far longer than the areas are used to. Critical impacts from this include huge power outages, reduced access to water, flash floods from mountain glaciers melting and spikes in air pollution. There are ways to protect people in South Asia from heat waves, but it will require leaders in Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, India, and Pakistan to take the problem far more seriously than they have so far. India has committed to zeroing out its contributions to climate change by 2070, a deadline that’s decades after much of the rest of the world. Pakistan has refused to commit to a net-zero target at all.
Climate Change has a hidden cost on people’s sleep
A recent study by Climatologists showed how warmer nights created by climate change could lead to loss of sleep. To be more specific, we could lose about two and a half hours of sleep per year. The rate is approximately three times higher for lower-income countries and is significant because of the link found between sleep and adverse health effects. The findings, published in the journal One Earth, used data from more than 10 billion sleep-duration measurements from tracking wristbands across 68 different countries and combined that with local weather and climate data.
Love Island’s new sponsorship deal with eBay dresses contestants in SECOND-HAND clothes to address problems with FAST FASHION.
The fashion industry is responsible for 8-10% of global emissions, according to the UN. Correspondingly, the UK population spends more on clothes in a year than any other country in Europe, at over £1000 per year. Love Island has been slammed in the past for promoting fast fashion, so this year they are sponsored by eBay to dress this year’s contestants in preloved clothing. The show is hoping to use its influence to inspire more sustainable behaviour change, a move that could help make sustainability aspirational. GenZ & Millennial shoppers have sustainability at the forefront of their minds when buying fashion, making the Love Island collab perfect. More importantly, eBay is making pre-loved Fashion cool amongst a demographic that may think otherwise. Hopefully, with the collab with Love Island, we will see an even bigger increase in the popularity of pre-loved fashion.