SDG 15: Protect ecosystems, forests and biodiversity loss

A renowned fashion brand just dropped a new collection of denim. The jeans' tag says its textile saved a million liters of water upon its creation. Would you buy them if you have similar jeans at home? Or would you purchase the whole collection to show your support? With different colors and designs to choose from, how can one resist buying only one metal straw and coffee tumbler? When promoted by influencers, the trending of greenwashed products leads to an aspirational culture. Acquiring a product made from plastic alternatives or recycled materials sounds sustainable. But buying more than necessary leads companies to produce more, which damages the environment. Thus, I will stop purchasing excessively, especially on apparel. Since fashion has a trend cycle, I will check my mom's closet for pieces that I can borrow. I will also do some do-it-yourself projects with old garments at home. Finally, I will take good care of my stuff to prevent buying a replacement. Digital drawing by Ana Hard

I will progressively increase my greens- vegetables, and fruits consumption while reducing my meat consumption. With something so routine like meat, which forms the foundation of our daily meals, something which is the number one food on the tables of people worldwide, contributes significantly to climate change. Moreover, animal culture for food production is regarded as the most disastrous invention of humankind. The rationale underlying being the inefficiency in meat production. The production of meat involves an immense burden on the ecosystem. To cultivate one kilogram of beef, it improvidently demands 25 kilograms of grain or fodder to feed the livestock (Kehoe, 2016) and nearly 15000 liters of water (World Water Development Report,2019). Pork is comparatively less exhaustive, and chicken is less still. Furthermore, about 30% of the earth's arable land is used to foster livestock (Steinfeld,2006), collectively responsible for 18 percent of global greenhouse-gas emissions (FAO, 2007). These resources could be progressively used for the reconstruction of the socio-economic fabric. Meat production and consumption are escalating progressively – The Global meat production has quadrupled over the past 50 years – The total production was roughly 71 million tons in 1961 to over 340 million tons in 2018 (Hannah Ritchie, 2019). And to support this extravagant production, more than 80billion animals are slaughtered each year for meat at an unsustainable rate to feed the rapidly multiplying population- The current global-human population of 7.6 billion is estimated to attain 8.6 billion in 2030. And then to 9.8 billion in 2050 and 11.2 billion by the end of 2100 (The World Population Prospects, 2017). Without opting for prescriptive measures to mitigate carbon-emissions from a population that continues to grow and consume more than in the past, exceeding the biosphere's absorption capacity leading an unhealthy amount of emissions left unabsorbed by the ecosystem as a consequence. Meat production is predominantly a hefty check written against our planet's dwindling reserves and is solely accountable for World Hunger, Environmental Degradation, Human Health, and Animal Welfare; All at Once (Friedrich, 2018).

A step I am taking is changing my bank to a bank that does not fund fossil fuels. the big four banks (ANZ, Commenwealth, Westpac, NAB) are big investors in fossil fuels so I am not going to allow them to use my savings to support an industry that does not align with my hopes for the future. I am currently looking into Bendigo Bank, Up Bank and Bank Australia. I am using this site as my starting point. Perhaps you can start here too? https://www.marketforces.org.au/info/compare-bank-table/ Next step: Ethical superannuation.

To work towards quality education and advocate for climate solutions, I will volunteer my time with the Monash Move it For Good Campaign and I will continue my climate change advocacy work with two climate NGO's. I will expand this work into my daily life, by submitting articles to a student-led newspaper about the intersection of climate change, human security and an environmentally informed public. My aim is to advocate for the importance of an interdisciplinary approach to climate change, education and sustainability. To ensure an equitable future, we need to harness the capabilities of economists, social researchers, physicists, diplomats and rights advocates. Small scale thinking applied to trans-national and trans-disciplinary crises such as climate change and quality education will not be sufficient. We need to think local in order to shift the global.

The past couple of years, we have been seeing the effect of increased plastic consumption and the damage it does to our environment. Growing up, this was not something that worried me. I am ashamed to say that I was one of the many who never monitored my plastic consumption behaviour. As I got older, I read and watched the adverse effects plastic brings about to our planet. That's when I decided that I needed to do something and I cannot be this ignorant. I have been conscious of my plastic consumption over the last 3 years. Some of my actions are as follows - opting to use metal straws, bringing my own reusable bag to supermarket, investing in KeepCup, using biodegradable plastic bags for trash bin instead of plastic bags. I know that I have much more to learn and change. I am taking this pledge to be more conscious of my plastic consumption and encourage everyone around me to be more mindful of their plastic consumption.

I put one highlight on my personal Instagram account to raise awareness about a sustainable lifestyle. Remember it is not only important to advocate yourself, but other people too! I am not perfectly zero-waste at this point, but I am trying my best.

I keep a container on my kitchen counter to collect food scraps that I will compost at the end of the day.

I propagated this beautiful plant from a friend's garden and made a beautiful pot by recycling an empty liquid soap container. I had lots of fun getting creative and made this! There are a lot of things you can do to reuse empty containers from food or beauty products! Be creative.

I would like to see more pet-friendly public places like restaurants, gardens in China. Every pet would be taking good care of and no more stray animals

I believe that encouraging an appreciation for and connection to life on land, promotes care for life on land. After the devastating bushfire season, citizen science provides a way for people to actively contribute to saving species and find hope in the healing environment. Citizen science is scientific research conducted by the general public. It can gather evidence of the changing climate, generate interest in the environment, and bring a community together. That is why my Green Step pledge is participating in citizen science by using the app, ClimateWatch, and documenting life on land through photos and videos on a weekly basis. PROGRESS: I have recorded film footage including of blue-faced honeyeaters building a nest and hatching young, taken photos of plants like the one above, and performed weekly recordings of a deciduous tree’s leaf loss and generation of new leaves that I uploaded to the ClimateWatch dataset to contribute to evidence for the impacts of climate change on biological life cycles. Appreciating Australia’s rich biodiversity through citizen science, encourages me to continue developing my sustainable practices and make positive changes in my own life.