MISBAH SHAFI

Refuse, Reduce, Reuse, Recycle, Rot are considered the 5 R’s to obtain a zero waste life cycle. Throughout the 9 weeks, I have been working on project drawdown tasks that help me use the 5 R’s to reduce my waste and ecological footprint. Throughout the various tasks, I learned to REFUSE using single-use plastics like plastic water bottles. I learned to REUSE items through jars, tote bags, silicon zip locks, and reusable utensils. I learned to RECYCLE, items like glass bottles, metal, and plastics. However, I can still learn to practice the R’s of reduce and rot in my life. I currently occasionally practice ROT, but I hope to be doing it more frequently. For those of you who are not participating in this task, ROT refers to composting. Occasionally we build up waste from food scraps that can be reintroduced to the ground to provide minerals for soil since almost all non-processed food is biodegradable. This can reduce your waste and act as a vitamin for mother earth. I currently do practice it, but unconsciously I still throw some scraps into the trash and want to be better about using ROT in my daily schedule since I do have space in my backyard to do so. Additionally, I need to start incorporating the R of reducing into my lifestyle. I still splurge on things I don’t need which later are added to my waste. I have started to be a more eco-friendly shopper, however, I still buy things that I may not need. I think lists are overrated sometimes, but I feel like making a list will help me reduce my waste. According to drawdown, if 65% of us started to practice the 5 R’s, our emissions could decrease by 5.5-6 gigatons. That is insane! I know that some of the eco-challenges are harder to do because of time and convenience, but I honestly felt that this one was easy to do by just being cognizant of your actions. You do not need time or money to think about the 3 R’s of refuse, reduce, and recycle. You just need to be cognizant. 

I hope together, we can think about our action and slowly make changes to practice the 5 Rs and combat climate change. 

Thankfully, my city’s infrastructure would be considered a walkable city. According to drawdown, a walkable city is one with a “density of homes, workplaces, and other spaces, wide, well-lit, tree-lined sidewalks and walkways, safe and direct pedestrian crossings, and connectivity with mass transit.” My city has plenty of sidewalks and pedestrian crossings that allow for easy crossing across major roads. There are trees lined against the sidewalk which makes the experience enjoyable. I can see the difference between Westwood and my community. Firstly, there is less traffic. One thing I do not enjoy in Westwood is the amount of noise pollution and smog from cars. It generally made me not want to go out on walks in the city. In comparison, my neighborhood has multiple trails and little traffic, which allow me to enjoy my walks without pollution or cars. The scenery around my house is serene and makes you relaxed when you walk, unlike Westwood where the traffic makes me stressed out. By having more walkable cities, you can promote healthy living by increasing the amount of physical activity, reducing traffic by having walking options and reducing emissions by 1.4-5.5 gigatons.

Although major shops are away from my home, there are also no highways close by. To get to the closest highway you need to drive three miles away from the residential areas. Unfortunately, this increases the need for having a car and reduces the amount of pollution. Currently, my city is trying to build shops like Safeway close by so individuals can walk instead of driving to grocery shops. I hope that they can add more crosswalks and shops to promote buying locally, increasing physical activity, and providing walkable solutions that can reduce carbon emissions. 

Below are a few pictures of trails around my house where I take my walks.

I am guilty of being that one friend that always carried a plastic water bottle around campus. I vividly remember my friend scolding me daily to get a reusable water bottle. I was good about having reusable utensils, zip locks, grocery bags, but for some reason, I could never get over plastic water bottles and giving coffee shops my reusable mugs. Although I recycled, I never really understood why it was a big deal to use a plastic water bottle, but after this class, I realized how much waste I produced by using single-use plastics like water bottles. Slowly this quarter, I began to reduce my use of plastic water bottles. It started as using one single-use plastic water bottle and refilling it a few times. In three weeks, I went from having 10 ish single-use water bottles to 2 single-use water bottles. After those three weeks, I transitioned into filling a glass jug with water and coming downstairs whenever I wanted water. I started using no single-use plastics. However, I realized this was when I was home, but this wasn’t realistic when I went back on campus. Therefore, I finally transitioned to using a water bottle. I bought the Costco version of a hydro-flask and started filling that up and taking it to my room and on my walks. Additionally, over the 9ish weeks, I got my parents to reduce their plastic consumption by not buying plastic bags and grocery stores and transitioning to reusable zip locks. I am really happy that they joined in and started to learn the impact of single-use plastics with me throughout these weeks. 

Currently, plastics cost us 0.96-3.8 gigatons of emissions. A lot of these single-use plastics that we discard can be substituted by using biodegradable products. I plan to invest in wax wraps and cotton produce bags when I am in LA. Unfortunately, my local stores do not carry those products here. By reducing our use of plastics and investing in biodegradable products we can reduce our emissions by a lot and combat climate change. 

Since COVID-19, I have been consuming more veggies and fruits in my diet. Before COVID, I use to snack on processed foods like chips and cookies, but it took a toll. I always felt sluggish and tired when eating processed food. I decided to switch my diet to see if it improved my health. I began to snack solely on nuts, cheese, dried fruit (dried nectarines, figs, and apricots are amazing), fresh fruit, and veggies. It was honestly the best change I made. Additionally, the sweetness of the fruit made me cut off sugar completely. The only time I eat sugar is if I want to bake or am at someone’s house, but even then, I would rather use a banana in my baking or take a bowl of fruit rather than a slice of cake. When I first started this, my parents called me a health nut, but I just started disliking the taste of sugar. Slowly, my parents started joining me and added more fruits into our diet. It led to my family buying and growing fruit locally, which indirectly reduced my household’s carbon footprint. Other than that, I began to eat more veggies in my meals and snacks. For instance, I enjoy snacking on carrots, celery, broccoli, and homegrown sugar snap peas, cherry tomatoes. Now, whenever I eat anything, I always have some type of veggie on my plate. I think by increasing the number of veggies I eat, I also lowered my meat consumption. Before, my family would eat meat and seafood frequently, but recently we started cooking no meat dishes occasionally. Without thinking about our health, this improved all of our wellbeings. We all feel like our meals are less heavy on our stomachs which almost feels like our body and mind are refreshed. We all have a lot more energy since we made these changes. By eating more veggies and fruit in my diet, I have felt more productive and less sluggish. According to drawdown, maintaining a plant-rich diet reduce carbon emissions by not consuming meat and reduces your risk for chronic disease. One fact I found interesting was, “if 50-75 percent of the world’s population restricts their diet to a healthy average 2,250 calories per day and reduces meat consumption overall, we estimate at least 43-68 gigatons of emissions could be avoided from dietary change alone.” That significantly decreases the number of emissions by a simple change in diet. I hope that we all can find ways to include more veggies and fruits in our diets to better our health and stop climate change. 

P.S. To me the best way to cook veggies is by adding a little bit of olive oil, salt, and pepper. 

^Best bananas to use in baking! Do not throw away! The peel can later be used in compost to supply micronutrients like magnesium and sulfur.

Gender equity plays an important role in combating climate change. Throughout history, we have learned that women played important roles in harvesting food, collect produce, and raising families, but ofter were given few rights or privileges. According to Wilkinson, 60% of food farmed are from low-income, women farmers who farm on land as small as 5 acres. The undeniable truth is that to this day, men are often the main owners of land instead of women, which directly affects our climate. Often deforestation happens to make more room to harvest which leads to increased emissions. However, if women owned more land, they would be able to increase crop yield by 20-30% and reduce the need for more land. Although this seems like a simple change, this requires giving women the resources and rights to land, which requires planning in early adolescents. By educating and supporting women at a young age, you can empower them and allow them to flourish and promote change. Additionally, in third-world countries, women are often married at a young age and get pregnant due to a lack of resources and choice. Often socioeconomic factors pressure young girls to marry early and prevent them from pursuing secondary education and leads them to have little choice in the lifestyle they live. According to Drawdown, an “estimated 218 million women who want to avoid pregnancy are not using safe and effective family planning methods, for reasons ranging from lack of access to information or services to lack of support from their partners or communities.” By women not having the resources and choice, these women often are not able to pursue higher education, are married young, and have larger families, which affects their health and lifestyle. There is an increase in population that leads to increased emissions. According to Wilkerson, having one billion fewer people equates to reducing 120 billion tons of emissions. This is the narrative for low-income communities, however, even in the US, 45% of pregnancies are unplanned due to lack of access to contraceptives and choice. For example, Colorado has halved the number of pregnancies by offering long-term, reversible contraceptives. This allows women to have access to resources and have a choice to prevent pregnancies which can lead to reduced emissions. Simply by removing the taboo of sex education, providing access to resources, giving women rights, and empowering women emissions can be decreased a promote a healthy lifestyle for women in the future. 

Women empowerment is something close to my heart since my parents immigrated from a third-world country where the stories I read throughout the few weeks are true. I have often heard about women getting married as young as sixteen and having ten children. I can’t speak to the experience of those women who married young, but I can state from my own family that women often are not given a choice due to cultural and socioeconomic pressures that lead to young marriages and prevent women from having the opportunity to pursue education. I am extremely thankful for all my family’s efforts to let me live the life I have and give me choice. I hope that I can continue to educate myself more about family planning and continue to be a part of women’s empowerment in my cultural community. 

As a student, like many of my peers, I am always multitasking when I eat, whether it be watching a video for class, taking notes, scrolling on my phone, or just watching Netflix. When I began mindful eating 7 weeks ago, I was always tempted to check my phone to look at Instagram or check my emails. I had to make a conscious effort to leave my phone in my room and not bring it to the dinner table to avoid the temptations. After implementing this change, I found eating to be a dull experience and did not enjoy it at all, however slowly I began to appreciate the experience. It took me about a week to begin enjoying my new eating experience. I slowly began enjoying just the time of silence to look out the window. I began wanting to get out of the house and going on walks daily. Additionally, I enjoyed the taste of my meal more, which was something I enjoyed the most. As an avid cook, it allowed me to appreciate the texture, taste, and smell of my food instead of rushing. I was no longer worried about when I would begin working again, but instead, I allotted time to enjoy my meal and it significantly decreased my stress and productivity.

Additionally, I used to have health problems specifically related to my eating habits. Whenever I ate, I would have adverse side effects. Four weeks into mindful eating, the incident rate decreased significantly. Instead of feeling heavy after eating, I felt nutrients instead of gross post-meal. Martha Green states,“‘Taking time to appreciate these aspects of food while eating a snack or meal can help you better understand when you are full. It will also help you to eat slower which will aid in digestion.’” When I ate mindfully, I knew when I was full and was not overeating. Lastly, I noticed I was putting less food back into my fridge since I was only putting as much as I was eating on my plate. There was less food waste and I was lowering my carbon footprint. I was happy to see that by a small change in lifestyle, I was making small changes that improve the environment around me. 

PS. I left my phone upstairs, so I have no picture for this post.