SDG 9: Industry, innovation and infrastructure

Do not buy or use anything processed or packaged. Support sustainable farming by buying groceries from sustainable farms. This helps avoid the use of chemicals in food growing, processing and packaging which ends up as waste in soil, water or air. Also, the process of processing and manufacturing consumes energy and emits gases that are harmful. I believe if each person can commit to sustainable eating which contributes largely to pollution and climate change, it will make a big difference.

In an attempt to disrupt the flow of carbon into the atmosphere, I will be disrupting the flow of my money to coal, oil and gas. Like many others, I have switched to a plant-based diet, carry a keep cup and drink bottle and get heated about environmental issues. However, neither my bank nor my super account aligns with my environmental values. The concept of divesting is simple. Without our money, banks cannot keep funding the companies that pollute for profit. I would like to put my money where my mouth is, as the money that you deposit in a bank may be financing projects that fuel the climate crisis. In the last five years since the signing of the Paris Agreement, 35 of the world's leading banks have invested more than US$2.7 trillion in fossil fuel investments and have made over $16.6 billion in profits. Moving my money away from fossil fuels is one of the most powerful and easiest actions that I can take to leave behind the unviable trend of coal. This one step of divestment is proof that small acts, when multiplied by millions of people, can transform the world. Finally, I would like to use my social media platforms, such as Instagram, to blog about environmental activism. I pledge to use my following to spend more time talking about climate change as there is far too little discussion around the issue in the public sphere. Ultimately, we know that a rapid transformation of our world is possible - evident in how fast corporations, communities and governments have acted throughout this pandemic. Notably, the recent 2021 Sustainable Development Report by the United Nations revealed that the COVID-19 pandemic is a setback for sustainable development everywhere. For the first time since the adoption of the SDGs in 2015, the global average SDG Index score for 2020 has decreased from the previous year. Now more than ever, we must take simple and powerful steps towards healing our one planet.

Because of my nature of study based completely on technology I am quite aware of the hazards the electronic waste causes in the environment. For the goal to live life in a sustainable way I would like to propose this implementation in 3 different steps. First, I would like to ensure that the campus is equipped with e-waste disposal bins at certain accessible locations and that all people can easily locate these using my monash app . Second, On campus directions to locations and posters depicting the importance to raise awareness are required. Third, like we have the integrity modules which are mandatory to complete for our study we should also make an informative module regarding campus rules and waste disposal covering all the waste disposal actions. All this to raise awareness within the students. As a part of the checks the university should also issue warnings and fines in case of wrong e-waste disposal at improper locations. This a just one action out of many that we can do to save our environment. But we know that it will make a difference. Thank you.

Every year, each Australian consumes 130kg of plastic products of which less than 10% is recycled – the rest of it inevitably ends up rotting in landfills, sloughing off to form the 130 thousand tonnes of non-recyclable debris that chokes our waterways and wildlife. Plastic has become as ubiquitous and necessary to civilisation as water and air, from shampoo bottles to shopping bags, but once it has served its specific purpose, we instinctively toss it out and buy a replacement. However, the purpose of a piece of plastic is not restricted to the label that retailers put on it – in fact, by its very nature, plastic can be easily moulded and shaped to whatever purpose we choose to give it. By giving our plastic a second life, we can spare the lives of so many dying aquatic habitats, and make the world truly greener. In primary school, when I turned a used water bottle into a pencil holder, I was amazed that an object destined for the junkyard was now sitting on my desk looking as good as new. Not only was it an environmentally sound alternative, but it also saved me a few bucks and was fun to make, so much so that I started working on things with my friends to build everything from piggy banks to furniture. Ever since then, I’ve always wanted to take the idea further, to encourage the community to recycle their plastics internally within their own homes for either functional or aesthetic purposes, but it wasn’t until I landed on this page that I thought this could make a difference. My pledge is to start a campaign in my university for students to design either the most artistic or practical repurposing of a household plastic item they can imagine - the possibilities are truly endless! Not only would this allow students to apply their creativity in new and interesting ways, but it would also bring people together and unite them towards the shared goal of a sustainable future. It’s a tough project, but I’m certain that if more people learn to exploit the reusability of plastics, we will come closer to a world free of unnecessarily wasted plastic, and find nifty new uses for plastic items along the way!

- Stop using plastic bags and use reusable bags instead. - Use keep cup to reduce plastic and paper cups - Reuse, reduce and recycle more - Use an alternative source of energy, cleaner version such as solar and focus your future on that.

Although I have taken steps to reduce my reliance on commercially bought foods by implementing veggie patches and tailoring my diet to be more sustainable, sometimes it is very difficult to say no to the conveniently available products on grocery aisles. These shelves are usually filled with foods from large conglomerate companies with extensive outreach. It is important to be wise about each individual food item as detrimental climate harm can be wickedly masked behind bright branding, and sometimes even 'green-approved' labels. Therefore, I have been doing research before purchasing and when I do find a sustainable item, I am sure to advertise it to my friends and family so they can contribute towards a cleaner planet. I intend to do enough research into products to be able to form a weekly meal plan based on actual sustainable foods.

With economies like India advancing to middle class economies and increasing consumption levels, it is correct time to direct consumer towards sustainable living practices and products. Seeing a gap in this place, we are setting up an online sustainable living marketplace initially for the Indian Market. Where we are tying up with vendors having organic food material, Cycles, indoor and outdoor plants and planters, reusable sanitary pads and many more such products. Some of Earthgasm's own products are made by up cycling waste wooden products, and we tend to keep a branch which collects such waste products and make beautiful products using it. Currently we have secured partnership with 4 vendors, and our portal is under development. So, in the coming 1 month we will be launching our marketplace for India.

Stop plastic that is used for water bottles, snacks and even plastic bags for takeaway that we often don't bother too much about.

Clothes and other items never remain forever by our side. Eventually they become smaller in size, out of style or etc. I have many such items such as shoes, clothes, bags and jewelleries that I do not use. After giving so much to orphanages, after a while they told us that they had enough items for twice the amount of children. Therefore I came up with an idea. THRIFTING! It was a win-win situation and got some friends to embark on this journey with me. I plan to start a website or a page on social media to sell my items at very low prices. In this way, I am decreasing wastage. Also, I am decreasing my carbon footprint, since the production of clothes and its shipping costs a lot of non-renewable energy. With thrifting, people will buy less new clothes and will only aid in recycling old ones. Win-win indeed!

I'm hoping to eventually eliminate my plastic packaging, but I think a good place to start is to look for alternatives before quitting cold turkey. Currently I cannot eliminate the plastic packaging on my food completely, since a lot of the things I eat for health reasons come in plastic, but I think that starting by choosing alternatives in cardboard or package free is a possible and important step to take. I want this to lead into a week going single use plastic free, and I want to be able to share this experience and create resources to educate and help others to make change in their own lives, through a student activist group I'm a part of called the Student Voice Network.