SDG 15: Protect ecosystems, forests and biodiversity loss

The world's most used vegetable oil is the main reason for the rainforest disappearing in Indonesia and Malaysia. For us, the problems with palm oil are not so visible in everyday life, but the use of palm oil has severe consequences for humans, animals, rainforests and the climate. Most of the palm oil comes from Southeast Asia, and to meet the enormous global demand for palm oil, Indonesia plans to double the production of palm oil to 40 million tonnes annually by 2020. As a consequence of this biologists fear that orangutans will become extinct in Southeast Asia in less than 10 years due to deforestation. In other words, it is necessary to reduce demand, and it is here we as consumers can play an essential role as around 50% of packaged supermarket products in Australia contain palm oil. Hence, I pledge to use less palm oil (preferably none) by using the Palm Oil Barcode Scanner App made by Palm Oil Investigations. With it, you can easily find out which foods contain palm oil and how much.

Meat consumption has a multitude of detrimental effects on our planet. Not only do ungulates such as cows and sheep contribute to land degradation, livestock farming also contributes to greenhouse gas emissions and other environmental impacts. I am pledging to cut out meat from my diet, and transition to a more environmentally-friendly plant-based way of life.

I'm vowing to never use plastic straws, and to actively encourage others, including organisations, to do the same! Although they're so small, the sheer mass of these tiny pieces of plastic means that they accumulate and take around 200 years to decompose. So my step is purchasing a reusable straw and spreading the word about the impacts that straws have.

This year I have pledged to grow and maintain a vegetable garden in line with permaculture principles. My one step involves undertaking a holistic approach to gardening from composting, planting and harvesting to appreciating the health and well-being benefits of gardening. 1) Do companion planting to encourage biodiversity, particularly beneficial insects, such as bees! 2) Use mulch and compost to reduce water inputs and reduce food waste. 3) Watch and learn from growing – ‘observe and interact’ with the garden. Share my freshly grown organic vegetables and herbs with family and friends, so we all enjoy the health benefits of more veggies and less pesticides! *See image for my progress so far ~

My pledge is to remove single use plastics from my life and to encourage others to do the same. I'm going to shop at stores where I can buy fresh produce without packaging and go to bulk food stores for the rest of my food needs so I can use my own containers and bags. I am also going to ensure I take my drink bottle every where and only buy hot drinks if I have my keep cup with me.

With the help of a friend, I am approaching cafes/restaurants/bars and try to convince them to transition from using plastic straws to reusable and sustainable bamboo straws from Indonesia in an effort to reduce the amount of plastic use in hospitality.

It’s so easy to just say yes to a little bit of convenience here and there, even if it means it’s creating damage to our environment. I’m a huge sucker for a good milk tea and anything to avoid cooking at home. From single-used plastic straws to takeaway food that is so unnecessarily over-packaged, the issue is on the inefficiency of resources and the whole waste issue. I want to be a more conscious consumer and make sure what I am purchasing accounts for my impact. Can I reduce the waste I’m producing by maybe avoiding having the choice in the first place? My pledge: (1.) I want to stop using single-use plastics (2.) Continue meal-preparing at the start of the week or eat at the restaurant to avoid take-away (3.) Collect and recycle soft-plastics (3.) Keep learning about how my lifestyle choices makes an impact

Many people may not aware that Australia burns a staggering amount of fossil fuel on grass cutting every year. Each lawn mower emits the same amount of greenhouse gases of 40 cars. We all love our lawns, but it is about time for us to consider clean energy lawn mowers. While solar panels are becoming more assessable and AI robotics technologies are maturing. I pledge to apply my engineering and business knowledge to develop a solar powered autonomous grass cutting robot, along with my student-run robotics team. Supporting sustainability through innovation.

I have been reluctant to take plastic bag when buying something, but I seldom take it when I have no option. That's why I always carry a plastic bag in my shoulder bag so that I don't have to take a new plastic bag when purchasing groceries. I will now replace it with a cloth bag and will never (probably never) take plastic bags again.

I pledge to segregate my household waste into biodegradable and non-biodegradable waste. I will put the biodegradable waste into the soil to form compost and improve it's fertility.