This week I attended "Environment and Sustainability 2050" in Tel Aviv. One of the exhibitors there was the firm Envitech which describes itself as dealing with environmental and climate monitoring systems. They provide the hardware and software for such monitoring systems. The resulting data then appear on sites like envihaifa.org.il which monitors air quality in Haifa where I live. In my conversation with Shay Cohen, the Operational Manager for the firm, it became clear to me that there is an important next step in the overall process of increasing sustainability in our societies.
The next step is to create greater awareness of this data and to increase the role that the data plays in the education of average citizens, business owners, government agencies and advocacy groups. Ultimately, the goal is to motivate all of us to greater action in achieving the U.N. Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
For residents of Haifa, bad air quality days are quite apparent because one literally cannot see the surrounding mountains or the surrounding valleys. However, it could be more persuasive to have access to data which is set out in meaningful arrays with appropriate interpretation along with follow-up education.
A Bad Air Day in Haifa
This gets me back to the soda bottle that I discussed in my previous post. In that post I wondered whether the individual soda bottle could display environmental data that acquainted the potential buyer or user as to the environmental impact of the bottle - in its creation and its ultimate destination whether that be up-cycling, recycling or finding its way to a landfill. One, thus, ends up with an illustrated narrative of the life cycle of the bottle and its impact on sustainability.
Now, I am wondering why not develop a barcode on each individual bottle that when scanned by a smartphone would lead to a site on which the life cycle of the individual bottle is displayed with the current environmental information about each step in its life cycle.
If the bottle were manufactured, filled or disposed of in Haifa, one could see the impact of the bottling plant on air quality or the aggregated contribution of the bottle to local landfills. I appreciate that this requires solving a number of complicated issues to implement such an approach. Using this individual bottle or any other product could be a different experience if accompanied by a visual display of its environmental impact.
I invite each of us to move forward in achieving the U.N. SDG's utilizing the innovative ideas that we can develop.
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