- Every year, more than 6 billion kg of waste is dumped in the world’s ocean. Most of it is plastic and is toxic to marine life.
- There is a ‘continent’ of waste that lies in the Pacific Ocean, which is called ‘The Great Pacific Garbage Patch’ and is said to be twice the size of the US.
- About 80% of items buried in landfill sites could be recycled.
- If the New York Times Sunday edition used recycled paper for one day, they would save approximately 75,000 trees.
- For every million tonnes of oil shipped, there is one tonne of oil spilled, without any accident.
- Breathing the air in Beijing increases the risk of lung cancer in the same way smoking 21 cigarettes a day would.
- The Average global sea level increase in the next century is expected to be 7-23 inches.
- Billions of plastic bags are made each year and less than 1% of these are recycled.
- About a third of the fish in British rivers are said to be in the process of changing sex due to the hormones in human sewage that contain contraceptive pills contaminating the water.
- In India about a thousand children a day die from disease caused by extreme water pollution.
- There are 500 chemicals in the average human body that were not found in humans before 1920.
- 1 in 8 deaths that occur in the world is somehow associated with air pollution
- Recycling and composting prevent 85 million tonnes of material from being disposed of each year. However, humans produces tens of billions of tonnes of waste annually.
It all seems pretty bleak doesn’t it?
It seems as if the world is at a place where it is very difficult for us as individuals to make a change.
But, there are people out there who see these problems as possibilities.
They see these obstacles as opportunities.
They see resistance as a resource.
These people are sustainopreneurs.
Sustainopreneurs practice a relatively new concept called ‘Sustainopreneurship’.
Sustainopreneurship is the concept of using business organising to solve problems related to social and environmental sustainability whilst simultaneously respecting the boundaries set in order to maintain a steady profitable life support to the venture.
Easily confused with that of sustainable entrepreneurship, Sustainopreneurship aims to turn business activity from part of the problem to part of the solution. Unlike sustainable entrepreneurship which adheres to the generic entrepreneurial process but also takes into account boundaries of sustainability, Sustainopreneurship introduces a business to market with the root of its existence lying in solving problems of sustainability.
Some examples of really successful Sustainopreneurship are:
- OceanEthix – This is a seafood firm in Hong Kong that produce and sell seafood that are guaranteed to be free from contamination by hormones or antibiotics. They also ensure
the consumer that the technology used to preserve the reef from which they harvest the seafood is green technology.
2. Elvis and Kresse – This business is founded on the concept of reusing and recycling. Partners, Elvis and Kresse re-used old fire hoses from the London Fire Department, which would otherwise by buried in landfill, and made luxury products such as belts and bags. 50% of Elvis and Kresse profits are also given to charity displaying true environmental and social Sustainopreneurship.
There is no doubt that our environment is suffering and that we are all contributing to the demise of our planet in one way or another. However it is time to take action, see the opportunity and possibility in the trials that are presented to us and let’s engage in Sustainopreneurship for the future of our world.
