School Strike for THE World WE Live In

Bogotá, Colombia

By Ángela Hernández

Edited by Jewel

On Friday March 15 people worldwide, led by teens on a school strike, will meet to protest for the inactions of our governments, our companies, our societies and even ourselves, when it comes to Global Warming. It is exciting this is happening. At My Mochila Trip (MMT) we have done what we think can contribute to mitigate the impact of our actions when selling at Climate Change; and so we have as individuals. Still, we recognize this isn’t enough. That’s why we are joining to demand from our governments to set stricter policies, so that we can have greener and sustainable options in our life styles and when we decide to do business.

Greta Thunberg - In School Strike in front of Sweden Parliament (Photograph by: Klimatmagasinet Effekt)

My Mochila Trip is an idea that resulted after a failed attempt trip to Romania. They were going to contribute to the trip expenses but since it did not happen we still wanted to sell them from a distance for the same purpose; but in the most sustainable way we could find. So, it took us a year to design the site, take pictures, find ways for buyers to pay safely and bring the money back to Colombia.

Satchel - Made of Natural Fibers (Madre Selva)

Packaging and transportation were the ways the sell was affecting Climate Change. We did not find any other way to send the mochilas oversees other than airplane. So we opted to calculate the airplane gas emissions of sending the mochila bags and offer customers the possibility of buying an offset Carbon Certificate, and we would do the same. The certificate pays for conserving trees that will capture the same amount of CO2 produced by sending the mochilas by plane, twice.

In addition, we searched for natural fiber satchels, and rejected any plastic packaging. The product is sent in a cardboard box to its destination, except on the least expensive option that we might remove.

It’s not a lot, but it’s what we were able to do from our position, and I think that’s powerful. I always wanted this kind of options from stores, and now that I find myself selling something, I feel happy to think of them and being able to offer them.

As a person, I have also made changes. While I didn’t make them to stop global warming, they do certainly contribute, and I want to share them to inspire anyone who isn’t sure of what to do.

I changed my diet to plant based. I was raised a heavy carnivore, but the change wasn’t hard. I didn’t want animals to hurt or to be killed to feed me, so that was a strong motivation. I also wanted to nourish my body a lot better. Those two, and rescuing a cat who is a constant reminder of my love for animals, made me research ways in which I could satisfy my hunger without eating meat.

I do my best to be a very conscious shopper. I don’t like going shopping, so that eases things off; a lot. I buy very few things, mostly only when I need them. I also try to buy the best quality my budget can buy. I noticed I keep my stuff for years, so having good quality items allows me to keep them longer and in better shape. I repair the stuff that breaks for as long as I can (computers, phones, clothing, shoes); my iPhone is 7 years old and so is my laptop. And when I couldn’t fix my laptop right away because of budget I repaired a 15-year-old computer hanging around my mother’s house. To date, that’s the one I use.

In terms of clothing, I buy usually once a year, around 2-5 items. My oldest piece is 22 years old and I have made my best to choose natural fibers and to stop buying fabrics that have micro-plastics, which end up everywhere specially in our oceans and there’s no way for sea life to avoid them.

I move around the city in my bike. I love my bike. It’s over 25 years old and it rocks! I exercise,

My bike

I usually get faster to places, and in general it’s less expensive than other transport methods including public bus. Yeah, it’s an adventure every time I go out, sometimes peaceful rides, others a lot more risky; but all great.

I haven’t taken an airplane flight in almost 7 years. More due to other reasons than Global Warming commitment, but now that I know how to calculate a single flight CO2 emission, I want to include the offset as part of my budget.

I have begun to make donations. This is something I didn’t do in the past because I was never financially comfortable enough to make them. However, watching animal rescue videos is such a balm of wellbeing in my life and nourishment to my soul, that I have begun to contribute. I don’t know if this contributes to Global Warming… oh! As a matter of fact it does, because I’ve begun supporting organizations that work to protect the environment and which raise awareness about social and environmental issues.

I became a client of an initiative that composts the organic wastes me and my family produce. This is recent but has got me really excited. They pick up our organic waste and convert it into compost. Now, valuable organic material won’t be thrown a

Our compostable materials

t landfills, but is recovered and converted into soil. This also helps to prevent the lixiviates (liquid from the decomposition) to transport plastics toxic chemicals and other petrochemicals into the ground.

I use natural products for my personal hygiene. This means I shower with the Aloe Vera gel, so I buy the leaves; I also use alum as a deodorant, reducing all the plastic/metallic bottles waste. I have had a moon cup for +10 years, which reduced the thrown away tampons, and I don’t buy any plastic bottled product (Shampoo, soap, antibacterial).

I have nearly stopped my to go food. I don’t buy food that is delivered in plastic or Styrofoam packaging. I prefer to eat at the restaurants, or to bring my own cup or box for them to pack my food. At cafes, I love that I bring my own cup and the personnel there is usually ready and warm to give me their products in my own cup.

I found MYCELIUM! This is something so revolutionary that will impact so many industries and contribute greatly to reducing global warming. Mycelium is the vegetative part of mushrooms that can be grown, shaped, transformed into practically anything. Mycelium can be made into the hard and light shapes that currently are made of Styrofoam, which keeps

Mycelium grown, packaging - by Ecovative (Photograph: DeZeen)

shipped products in position within boxes. It can be shaped into mushy foams, into shoes, even into meat! Mycelium is fully biodegradable and meat is already being made with it! Imagine something that is used for packaging and good enough to eat?

When my budget allows me I buy products packaged in biodegradable materials. Products in glass jars over plastic ones, organizations that sell packaging in paper bags over plastic ones, are the ones I choose whenever I can.

I keep myself informed. I read and watch videos and documentaries about what interests me. I read about global warming, about food, about our impact, about how palm oil plantations are deforesting Indonesia Rainforest, about which politicians don’t support green ideas and which ones do, and I vote for them. I read about how many lions and rhinos are in their habitat, how we recently lost the last male White Rhino, and how while there are only a few hundreds or thousands of them there (100 or 1000), we are billions (1.000.000.000.000). I learned our world is not just ours to take, it’s theirs too, their home.

At 36, I haven’t had any children yet. Not just by mindful decision, but more of… not being in the right relationship for it; however, that have led me to consider if I want them and if I do, to bring them in more conscious ways.

Despite all these actions, that have greatly modified my life style, there’s still so much I haven’t figured out how to replace or modified to stop contributing to Global Warming, and it is BIG.

Organic Vegetables are still being sold in plastic wrapping and styrofoam trays

I still buy products that come in plastic packaging (beans, rice, oatmeal, even the so called organic vegetables come in wrapping plastic and Styrofoam trays). I still move around the city in buses that are fueled with diesel. I still buy essential oils and products that even though in glass they have plastic lids. I still order stuff that gets to me by plane. I still buy other major products that have plastic in it: from earphones, glasses, to phone cases, to fridges, to cars, to kitchen appliances, to cables, plastic is still in everything. I still haven’t figured out how to dispose of my not organic waste other than with plastic bags; even to store the organic waste to be composted a plastic bucket is still used.

My country still subsidies gasoline, and organic products still cost more than non-organic ones. Our air is getting more and more polluted, yet cars with one person and buses run by diesel create huge jams at peak hours, and the ways we transport what is needed to the city is still through polluting ways: trucks. A group of people, among them teen and kids, have recently sued act that wants to deforest the amazon rainforest in 5 times the size of my city (Approx.: 1800 Km2) in 4 years.

This is why this strike is so important and why we as people need to keep pressing government, companies, industries, societies and ourselves, to make deep changes. We need to change our own life styles, but that alone is not enough. We need our societies to make a huge change, our governments to do their job and set stricter fines for those who are killing our earth. We need industries to stop polluting our rivers, our air, our lands, for them to produce greener, to invest more in sustainable ways and products. We need companies and their people to not be willing to make profits at the expense of our earth and all its beings. We need them to offer repairs, to choose good quality materials to offer good quality products.

Sydney. Photo: Zebedee Parkes

We need people to have the strength to make changes in their lives, and to reduce their apathy and their lack of interest and to speak up and demand changes. We need them to be willing to change their “comfort” for the lives of all species, and the Earth. We need to support and protect researchers who are searching for ways to travel without burning fossil fuels, who are developing new clean sources of energy, who are growing food without the high impact of agriculture. Support the ones who are developing packaging that is truly natural, who grow houses instead of build them. We need to choose politicians who represent our ideas. We need to buy from companies that are making choices in pro of the environment, of animals, of their people and of all of us.

Because, if we continue the same way just in the name of having an economy to live off, we won’t have a world to live in.

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