A grass field littered with trash

I grew up in a privileged household. If I wanted something, the answer would always be yes or maybe, but rarely no. When I got home from school, I would have snacks waiting for me in my fridge, or my parents would have a ready-made dinner on the table for me to chow down. If I wanted to draw a random picture on a Friday night, there would be a huge stack of fresh blank paper ready for me to use. Made a mistake? I threw it away and used another sheet. If I felt like eating a sweet treat, there would be plenty of individually wrapped chocolates on the shelf. I never questioned anything because I thought everyone’s life was just like mine. 

It was only when I started watching the news, traveling to new countries, and just exploring the world on my own that I realized I really was a lucky kid. Parents had to live on the streets with their children because they couldn’t afford shelter, and some kids even had to go to work to earn a living to support their family at a very young age. Seeing visuals of people digging through the tons of trash we produce every day to find food really changes the whole perspective on life. But it’s terrible that it had to get to that stage for us to realize how irresponsible we are as a community. 

My point here is not how privileged I was as a kid, but instead how privileged we were as a community with all the natural resources we had at our disposal. Our unwise actions have led to the many global problems we face today, including climate change. Within the context of our worldwide community, developed countries are the privileged ones, while developing countries are disproportionately facing the consequences of climate change that wealthier countries have created. The struggle for developing countries to provide for their people with only limited resources at their fingertips is the sad truth that many are facing today. Problems like poverty, malnutrition, overpopulation, and more are what these countries are trying to resolve. Some people may ask how these countries can focus on sustainability and other issues that we throw their way, when there are bigger obstacles they need to eradicate for the country to survive? We have all these goals to reach by 2030 or 2050, but is that even logical when there are problems that need to be dealt with, or haven’t even been touched yet? 

Surely it is a lot to handle all at once. But if all countries can help each other, then there is always a way out. If countries and politicians can put their disputes aside, and we all come together through agreements like the Paris Climate Agreement, actually sticking to the promises we make, our climate goals can certainly be met. But, of course, complications always pop up. For example, COVID-19 was an imminent global issue that caused lots of setbacks to our climate goals. A lot of waste was created during the pandemic, including the disposal of masks, gloves, syringes, protective wear and so much more. As mentioned by the World health Organization, “over 140 million test kits, with a potential to generate 2,600 tonnes of non-infectious waste (mainly plastic) and 731,000 litres of chemical waste (equivalent to one-third of an Olympic-size swimming pool) have been shipped, while over 8 billion doses of vaccine have been administered globally producing 144,000 tonnes of additional waste in the form of syringes, needles, and safety boxes.” Now that we have experience in terms of dealing with global outbreaks, we should prepare for what is to come in the future. With global warming becoming more prominent, glaciers and ice caps are melting, which are giving rise to more unknown bacteria potentially causing future outbreaks. “Such is the case of permanently frozen environments, like continental glaciers or permafrost, whose rapid and massive thawing releases an enormous amount of dormant-but-viable microorganisms entrapped therein from millennia,” explained in a research paper published by the National Library of Medicine in 2021. Therefore, we should be prepared for complications but still keep track of our certain goals. By having multiple departments focusing on different areas like health, environment, education and more, we have the opportunity to focus on many issues at once. 

Sure, developed countries have the manpower, resources, and money to create all these campaigns and technologies for a greener future, but what about developing countries? What are they doing to cope up with all the issues they face? Let’s zoom in on Sri Lanka, a small South Asian developing country. I asked my parents, Mr & Mrs Perera, who were born and raised there, about their experience growing up in Sri Lanka and how the country has changed ever since:

 

Q: How was it like growing up in Sri Lanka? Money-wise, environment wise, and any other things you would like to share. What was the country known for?

A: “Money-wise, Sri Lanka was known for their tea, coconut and stitched-garment exports, so they were thriving in those aspects, until 1975 when homegrown terrorism ruined everything. I was 8 years old and your mom was 3 when all development went downhill after the terrorism. However, terrorism was eradicated in 2009 by the then president Mahinda Rajapaksa. That’s the reason why Sri Lanka couldn’t thrive as well as other countries due to the setbacks caused by these issues. The attacks didn’t really stop though… It slowed down for a while, but threats kept coming the country’s way.

Environment-wise, when we were little, it was very clean. We had clean air and all that; the population wasn’t that high, so there weren’t many vehicles on the road producing carbon monoxide. Around the early 70s is when we started importing things into the country, and since the system wasn’t advanced, imported goods like fertilizers weren’t being tested. So people didn’t know it was harmful, thus people got kidney problems and crops were heavily affected. Soil wasn’t rich anymore, and the natural habitat died. As the population increased, more vehicles were imported into the country so air pollution became really bad. Plus, we’re a small island with a huge population, so the pollution is really bad now. Three-wheelers are so common and they all use petrol, meaning that a lot of greenhouse gas emissions are produced.”

 

Q: What are some major problems that your country is facing right now? Poverty, food insecurity, hygiene issues, or anything else?

A: “Our country is heavily in debt since we borrowed a lot of money to help the country survive after the Civil War (terrorism) and the Covid-19 pandemic. So that’s the major problem our government is dealing with right now.”

 

Q: Was recycling taught when you were in school? Do you have to pay extra for plastic bags from grocery stores now? 

A: “No. We never heard of recycling until the early 2000s. When we were little, our parents did composting of garden leaves and cow poop and re-used them to grow plants, veggies and fruits, etc. There isn’t a lot of education regarding sustainability in Sri Lanka, and there are no proper laws demanding people to properly recycle. Although there are recycling bins on the street, you can often find landfill items inside. The cleanliness really depends on the area, for example, areas with stricter governance have cleaner streets. Your aunt, who’s currently living in Sri Lanka, mentioned that they are trying to focus more on sustainability now. They are working towards something, but there’s a lot more effort that needs to go into the sustainability aspect. Like in local grocery stores, they are providing reusable fabric bags for people to purchase to use in place of plastic bags, which create a lot of waste. However, they still provide plastic bags for free, so that’s something they should change soon. Also, they are trying to include imperfect produce in supermarkets for a cheaper price. But at the same time, they are selling these produce in plastic bags, which can cause a ton of waste. Another thing is they’re selling paper straws, but unfortunately they’re giving the straws in plastic covers, so that’s not very smart. Sri Lanka is definitely working towards a goal, and they should be commended for what they have done so far.”

Sri Lanka is known for its tropical environment, with beautiful nature trails and distinct tea plantations. Over the years, with people’s wasteful habits, not just in Sri Lanka but all over the world, plastic pollution has become a serious issue to our environment and wildlife. Mentioned by Mongabay News, the Young Zoologists Association (YZA) is a youth organization that explores Sri Lanka’s biodiversity, and during their annual trek between December and May this year, instead of little creatures, their focus was on discarded polythene bags, polythene food wrappers, PET bottles, and various other non-biodegradable items. The iconic places known to Sri Lanka have been polluted with plastic waste. “Where plastic containers are dumped, there is a spike in dengue,” said Lahiru Kodituwakku of the National Dengue Control Unit in an article on Phys.org. “There is a strong correlation between the spread of dengue and plastic waste.” So these environmental problems are creating even bigger issues. Although there is still so much that needs to be done, I definitely agree that Sri Lanka should be commended for their efforts in trying to promote sustainability in the country. However, they can’t solve all these alone; it should be a collective effort from all countries. Privileged countries should help those that may be struggling, just like we do in our day to day lives. According to CNN, wealthy countries at COP29 agreed “to provide $300 billion annually by 2035 to poorer countries to help them cope with the increasingly catastrophic impacts of the climate crisis.” So that’s a great start. Let’s keep it up, shall we? 

 

Reference

Jumbo problem: Sri Lanka’s battle with plastic pollution. (n.d.). https://phys.org/news/2023-06-jumbo-problem-sri-lanka-plastic.html
Denise Maheho, D. M., Mahelo, D. M. and D., Makal, D., Samraik, M., Kamnitzer, R., Atabong, A. B., Carver, E., Akana, D., Gerald Flynn, N. P., Aksenfeld, R., & Wicker, A. (2023, June 28). Annual Adam’s Peak Pilgrimage leaves Sri Lanka Biodiversity Site littered. Mongabay Environmental News. https://news.mongabay.com/2023/06/annual-adams-peak-pilgrimage-leaves-sri-lanka-biodiversity-site-littered/
Paddison, L. (2024, November 24). World agrees to climate deal on financial aid for poor countries after summit nearly implodes. CNN. https://www.cnn.com/2024/11/23/climate/cop29-agreement
Sri Lanka climate prosperity plan | country 2022. (n.d.-b). https://unfccc.int/sites/default/files/resource/SriLanka_LTLEDS.pdf
World Health Organization. (n.d.). Tonnes of covid-19 health care waste expose urgent need to improve waste management systems. World Health Organization. https://www.who.int/news/item/01-02-2022-tonnes-of-covid-19-health-care-waste-expose-urgent-need-to-improve-waste-management-systems
Yarzábal, L. A., Salazar, L. M. B., & Batista-García, R. A. (2021). Climate change, melting cryosphere and frozen pathogens: Should we worry…?. Environmental sustainability (Singapore). https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC8164958/