Have I noticed that there is more to this challenge that just my own actions.
Which systems influence your challenge?
The system that influence my challenge is the food industry. The companies that make the decisions on how they will package their products are what we as consumers have to buy. There are ways to buy products that are more sustainable and do not give profit into these companies that choose to use cheaper plastic packaging rather than changing to biodegradable packaging. So these ways include, going to the farmers market or growing your own fruit/vegetables. This would be ideal if you had the time to do these but not everyone has the privilege of time. I think that the systems in place do not allow for people on a cheaper budget or busier lifestyle to be as sustainable as they would like to be. The cheaper products in shops are 90% of the time not recyclable and packaged in plastic.
how can you influence these systems?
I have watched videos on how as consumers we have a huge influence on what companies put out for us to buy. Supply and demand influences these systems such as the food industry. We can see this with vegetarian/vegan products. More people are switching their diet and companies are catching on as they see this as a way of making more profit by diversifying into new markets such as protein-alternative, vegan, vegetarian, almond, oat milk etc products. If more and more people change their diets to a more sustainable one such as cutting out meat or diary, businesses will meet our wants as consumers, this will then change the systems in place that hinder us from being sustainable. However, all the power is really in the hands of the people who make these decisions…
but we also have an individual impact and we can make the most of that.
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Darren Clarke commented on Day 15: Changing Systems 4 years agoHi Isabel. It's so interesting reading your posts and that you're starting to see the links between individual attitudes and behaviours and broader system changes needed. I wonder have you also thought about the social, cultural, economic, policy or financial systems that support the status quo of unsustainable plastic use and how these might also need to change. Very often it's multiple discrete and inter-related systems all interacting with one another that sustain the status quo as is the case with your challenge. Perhaps you could think about these interconnections a little more and how financial systems fund fossil fuel industries, which use petroleum to produce plastics and government policy either supports or prohibits the use of plastics. This is a very simplified example and you could add to this with your own knowledge too given how everything is interconnected. You seem really passionate about reducing plastic waste. This makes me wonder if you have you ever wanted to stand up for something in the past, but didn’t? What stopped you and why did you give up? Is this why you are so passionate at this experiment? Looking forward to reading your journey in the final two weeks. Darren Respond
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