World Consumer Rights Day: bringing people together in the fight against plastic

By  Thaís Mota

Created to highlight the power and rights of consumers for a safe, equal and sustainable market for all, World Consumer Rights Day, celebrated today (15/03), has the theme of Tackling Plastic Pollution and unites people in a global consumer movement. The campaign’s intention is to support consumers in mobilising companies, governments and society to make combatting plastic toxic waste and adhering to sustainable consumption an easy (and accessible) choice for all members of society, regardless of their socio-economic backgrounds. 

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a MAN-MADE PROBLEM WITH A FEMINIST SOLUTION: THE CASE OF CLIMATE CHANGE AND GENDER JUSTICE

By Hadasa McFarland Dias

When it comes to the dialogue surrounding climate change, the focus tends to lie on how the environment is put in jeopardy and how the future generations will suffer from the burden of this crisis. However, the neglect toward the ‘less evident’ threats posed by climate change is long-standing:  have we stopped to contemplate how climate change greatly and directly affects the lives of women, aggravating gender inequality through heat waves, rising sea levels, extreme storms, and other climate-related disasters? The UN has reported that out of 100 people suffering from climate change, 80 of them are women, in light of this, the following question becomes imperative to analyse: why does climate change disproportionately burden women?

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By Malaka El-Gammal

Four years following the UK’s vote to leave the European Union, a Brexit trade deal was finalised on 24 December 2020, coming into force on 1 January 2021.  While the mainstream debate has primarily revolved around issues of immigration, trade, and even on “fish”, something that has been arguably under-reported – to the dismay of activists and campaigners– is the potential impact that Brexit will have on the climate, and specifically on UK environment policy.

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Interview carried out and written by  Keila McFarland Dias

Paulo Ricardo is a leading Brazilian activist who holds as his mission to make environmental justice a reality in all societal, governmental and institutional spheres. Paulo is the Climate Group coordinator at Engajamundo, an NGO created by young people who believe in their responsibility as a key part of the solution when it comes to tackling the greatest social and environmental crises our world is faced with.

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THE BEZOS EARTH FUND:

THE GOOD, THE BAD AND THE UGLY

By Dominika Leitane 

Jeff Bezos is the founder of Amazon, and one of the richest men on Earth, possessing a staggering net worth of $184 billion. Whilst he is revered by some as a genius with an unparalleled work ethic, he has also been subject to increasing criticism over the years, for which there are various reasons. 

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By  Keila McFarland Dias

In 2007, the pioneer Male’ Declaration on the Human Dimension of Global Climate Change  was adopted at a time where the invocation of human rights norms as tools to fight the environmental crisis seemed chimerical. Human rights treaty bodies had insufficient evidence to link human rights to environmental issues, much less with respect to climate change.  Notwithstanding, this groundbreaking declaration paved the way for Resolution 26/27, in which the UN Human Rights Council established the relationship between climate change and human rights, thus highlighting that the environmental crisis poses an immediate, far-reaching threat to people and communities around the world and has implications for the full enjoyment of human rights.

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green is the new black: shifting to sustainable consumption habits in a consumerist world 

By Yael Vink and Thaís Mota

These past weeks consumers have been bombarded by ads regarding Black Friday, a day which diametrically opposes the environmental and social justice movement. While activists fight for the reduction of waste and struggle against its impacts on the environment, capitalism perpetuates consumerist/toxic practices, fuelled by a simple element: absurdly low prices.

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Biden’s victory: a paradigm shift in global environmental climate action?

By  Keila McFarland Dias

On the 4^th of November 2020 the United States, the world’s second biggest emitter of heat-trapping gases such as carbon dioxide, officially withdrew from the Paris Agreement, potentially acting as a hindrance to the rest of the world’s achievement of the goals. This thus represented a weakening of the developments to mitigate climate change, following detrimental policies enacted by the Trump anti-science administration, such as the dismantling of numerous regulations targeting methane, a potent greenhouse gas, and the erosion of  both the Clean Air Act and the Endangered Species Act .

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sustainability in the bathroom

Let’s talk about sustainability in the smallest room of our house, the bathroom. Being sustainable in the bathroom isn’t always easy. On average only one in five people recycle their bathroom items. If we count all containers we use over our lifetime, it really adds up, contributing to filling up our landfills and polluting our planet. So even if the bathroom is small, if we all started to recycle whenever we can, will be one small step in the right direction. 

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