The 12 Areas of Sustainable Community Living
The wealthiest countries still needed 9.8 tons of materials per person in 2017, mobilized from elsewhere in the world.
This is a shocking fact revealed by the International Independent Resource panel consisting of 40 imminent scientists, highly skilled in resource management issues. In this Global Material Resource outlook Report, we read some other startling facts and superb infographics.
- Resource extraction has more than tripled since 1970, including a fivefold increase in the use of non-metallic minerals and a 45 per cent increase in fossil fuel use
- By 2060, global material use could double to 190 billion tonnes (from 92 billion), while greenhouse gas emissions could increase by 43 per cent
Apart from many important facts regarding Social and Environmental impacts highlighted on this report, we can tell there is definitely a problem on Critical Raw Material availability, and that managing processes through business engagement does have social and environmental costs. All of which will also have huge financial costs as well.
What we also know is that big business will be a partner in planetary solutions. We can see already in the marketplace, lots of organisations positioning themselves to collect and process Waste Electricals, as well as many other material streams. So it’s clear that they want your used and repairable Electrical items and that there is financial incentives for those businesses to collect them.
This is something we’ve heard consistently from our Sister Organisation at EEESafe for a number of years now. Localising Safe Electrical Repair and harvesting Spares to lower local Appliance Repairs, is going to help create more local jobs to benefit the local economy and also reduce the costs of repairs themselves. Working locally minimises energy demand and harmful environmental pollution, and helps lower debt.
A Mckinsey Report shows that half the activities people are paid to do globally could theoretically be automated , but somewhere Global is somewhere local. However, according to another report, there will most likely be a shift of potential occupations in the years ahead, with important implications for workforce skills and wages.
It’s pretty clear to us then that individual citizens living in communities could be left out of the transition to the new world of sustainability, and risk sill being held to ransom of the corporate entities that currently want to satisfy our insatiable demand that partly fuels irresponsible consumption.
Working with EEESafe, localitEEE seeks to engage through incentives financial, social and environmental, through our award winning model. EESafe provides the local community Qualification and/or Certification, to reduce waste, and improve repair of White Goods items. Attached to that model is our updated Appliance Safety Register, which will afford opportunities for Citizens to move toward majority ownership of their own communities and tools via the LocalitEEE Community Investment membership.
Through the EEESafe Training Programme, deliverable by local Reuse Groups and Repair Outlets, not only can we help prevent waste (which is policy for many governments), we can harvest those CRM’s and sell them to the highest bidder, and deliver the full range of benefits including financial, back to the consumer where they live.
It’s clear from this CRM Programme, where EEESafe was a Stakeholder, that European Members are all looking at methods for harvesting the CRMs, but not any of them are putting the money back into the Community where the Waste Prevention arises.
EEESafe Repair and Refurbish standards, are safer than a British Standard. So this model helps support the creation of local work, local skills creation and safer homes and can also deliver regular pots of cash to community groups and citizens, where they live.
Many household products contain Critical Raw Materials and there are plenty of companies that want them. So in time this won’t just be White Goods, it will be Waste Prevention of all Electrical Streams and other household products.
Just think what we could do with almost 55 Billion Euros, which is approximately the value of these Minerals when prevented from Waste.
Once again, we hope the message is getting through and you’ll join us, because we’re returning most of the money to you the citizen where you live and not to the Corporate Investors where they live. Don’t get us wrong here, we need these investors as we believe a partnership approach is essential for a fast needed change to how we live.
We just need to all engage in “#responsible consumption” and take a little less from the Eco System and give a little bit more to the Citizen.
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