Although we continue to receive bad news such as climate change and waste, 2018 is a big year for people striving to make changes and protect the environment. Lets look at some inspiring changes.
1. LeeAnne Walters 2018 Goldman Prize recipient - LeeAnne won the prestigious award this year for identifying water contamination in Flint, Michigan and demanding action. Flints original water source (the river) was extremely polluted and residents noticed that the water had an orange/brown tinge to it. Clearly this was a problem, it was found that the water contained E.coli. LeeAnne began to notice effects to her and her family also. Her twins got a rash which was found to be Scabies, LeeAnne and her daughter began losing clumps of hair and later her eldest son fell ill. It was also found that the water contained Lead so LeeAnne began researching lead exposure.
She gathered the residents of Flint and conducted tests, reinforced her knowledge to everyone and with the community demanded federal action. The city governor then announced that they would stop using the river as a source for drinking water.
2. Cities combating waste - Osaka, Japan has suffered from heavy air and water contamination for many years, due to the several heavy industries around the bay and pollution from the cities population. Officials then did a crackdown on all these problems.
Recycling increased, this helped reduce the amount of waste being sent to dispose of. Instead of sending it to landfills, the waste was burned in high tech plants that turned the heat into electricity - used for around 125,000 households and hot water. One landfill site has been turned into a park and botanical garden.
3 - The tiny house movement - The social movement to live small and help the environment is rapidly increasing. A study by Oregon's dept of land quality, they found that 86% of a houses environmental impact is the energy used. Living a smaller house means less energy is required to keep it running and thus is more beneficial for the environment.
Hope this has been an interesting read!
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