You Asked: 3 Sustainability Questions - Lightbulbs, Bags & Food

Welcome to a This or That episode!

I break down the least impactful options from things you’ve been asking about.

This episode is actually a repost, because some of you have sent in these questions - clearly, we all have choices that keep us up at night. And often, what we expect isn’t actually the truth!

This week’s selection has a pretty controversial topic, and one that maaay just surprise you.

See if you can guess the answers before I reveal them - and then let me know if you got them all!

Transcript

Plastic bags are way worse for the environment than paper ones, right? Well, listen on because it's not quite that simple. Kia ora and welcome back. And today we are talking about a couple of things you've asked me about on Instagram and what is the best option. One of them in particular is a little bit controversial, but as always, there is nuance.

Today we're talking about turning off the lights versus using energy efficient bulbs, which might seem odd, but bear with me. Paper bags versus plastic and that's not as cut and dry as it sounds. And which is better for the planet? Eating local food or what you're actually eating? Because it turns out the science doesn't match what most people believe.

But first let's tackle the easy one. Should you turn off your lights or should you use energy-efficient bulbs? I know, why not use both? But it turns out this is a thing. And honestly, when this came up, I thought this was really peculiar. The obvious answer is turning off the lights, right? How can you possibly be better than that?

But it actually turns out there is a belief out there that turning your bulbs back on and off, particularly in a short period of time, uses a bunch of energy. As incandescent bulbs, so most of your typical light bulbs, they need to get hot to emit light, so for a few seconds they suck a lot of energy. This may have been true back in the day, but it isn't now. Turning off your lights is absolutely the best option, even if you know you're going to be in the room in like a minute later.

Energy efficient bulbs, like LEDs, use up to 80% less energy than traditional bulbs. They also last longer, so fewer resources for production and disposal, so they are a massive improvement over a standard bulb, which is why you find them pretty commonplace. The real win here is both use energy efficient bulbs and turn them off. But yeah, this whole myth about the turning on lag thing, not a thing.

So that was easy, but this one is not. Mainly because of human behavior and preconceived notions. Paper versus plastic bags. I'm going to start off with a surprising comment for you. Paper bags are terrible for the environment. Plastic bags are terrible for the environment. So the facetious answer here is neither. Go and use your reusable bags or your basket or even a bucket you already have. I've seen someone shopping in a bucket in the supermarket and I thought they were genius.

But if you forget your bags, which we all do, 67% of us forget our bags, and you're at the supermarket and you're having a mild breakdown as you don't want your choice of bag to have a huge impact, then here are some things to consider. Paper bags are worse than plastic ones if you use them less than between 4 to 43 times. And that huge difference is because there are so many variables and LCAs cannot possibly consider every single one, so that's why.

And by worse, I mean they use more resources, like trees, they use more water, more energy, and therefore they emit more pollution and greenhouse gas emissions than the plastic bag. The problem is though, of course, your average paper bag doesn't last as long as a plastic bag. So you're not going to get 4 to 43 uses out of it. Your average paper bag will last just 3 before they break.

Paper bags are often perceived as the more environmentally friendly option because they're biodegradable and they're made from a renewable resource. They don't choke sea turtles, they're not clogging up waterways, they're obviously the better choice. But we're only saying this because we don't look upstream and plastic bags were ironically created because we were chopping so many trees down for a paper bag habit that we were deforesting the planet faster than ever.

Now when you look at the entire life cycle of something, which you should do when you want to make an informed decision, things get way more complicated. Do you know we cut down 14 million trees every single year just to create the 10 billion paper bags just used in America every single year. The production of paper bags is very resource intensive. It's not just trees, it also requires a lot of water and a lot of energy to produce paper. And that is why you have your higher greenhouse gas emissions compared to plastic bags.

So plastic bags win when it comes to the pre-use side of the life cycle. But let's be honest, we're all focused on the end of life, right? Plastic bags are not recyclable, typically, or compostable. They do end up in waterways and animals do consume them. They do break down as microplastics that have now been found in every place on earth, including our hearts and the very deepest reaches of our oceans, where about eight people ever have ever been.

At least paper bags are most of the time compostable, right? And if they get into the environment, they're not wreaking as much havoc. So they're better on one hand and worse on the other. So what should you do? Of course the best option as I've already mentioned is to remember your reusable bags. And if you want to know which reusable material is actually better I did a whole blog post on this and I've linked that in the show notes below because that's also complicated because you know sustainability is great.

But if you have to choose between the two, plastic bags have a slightly lower environmental impact when you consider the full life cycle, but they need to be reused as much as possible before disposal. Some places may take these for recycling depending on where you live. So have a look at the soft plastics recycling in Aotearoa. For those of you in Aussie and listeners further afield, look at your local councils and governments for more info.

From what I can see from those I've talked to, sometimes these can be combined and recycled into harder wearing things like beaches and actually fence posts. It's not perfect because recycling is the ambulance at the bottom of the cliff, as I keep telling you. So do try and remember your bags. But I think out of the two, I would go for that thin flimsy plastic bag. It's a hard one. It really is. That's why the best bag is the one you already have.

I know there's going to be a lot of people who say, but I'll use paper bags to put my compost heap. I use paper bags for this. I use it for, I don't know, starting my fire. Great. If you're going to use it for a few times, then that's useful. But if you are using your paper bag as a bag once and then throwing it in the compost heap. It's actually a really significant waste of resources. Yes, you're composting it, absolutely, but all those resources that went into making that bag, they are not outweighed by the fact that it's compostable.

And I'm not trying to convince you that plastic bags are a win. They are not. They are certainly not perfect, but paper bags aren't either. And all I'm trying to do when we have these discussions is show you that there is more to the idea of being sustainable or having less impact than just the end of life, which is what media and so many other people focus exclusively on. Everything is made out of something and all of that something that it's made out of has to come out of the environment. We are a closed system. There is only so much stuff and I do think we forget that.

Anyway, lecture over. Finally one of my favorite topics is what matters more what you eat or where it's from and I know a lot of people will get this wrong wrong and there is a lot of nuance and it also tends to engender a bit of outrage so yay but this is a very nuanced debate and I did do a whole episode on it last year called sustainable eating if you want to delve into it a little bit more because most people think it's better to eat local produce and sure there are plenty of benefits. It's great for local farmers, you tend to get fresher food, you might understand more about the animal welfare regulations versus stuff that is produced offshore but the reality is food miles really only account for 10% of a food's impact on average.

By far and away, what you eat matters more. And head of the list, unsurprisingly, by a country mile for impact, is red meat, or beef and dairy. The impact that the animal agriculture has on our environment is vastly more than the carbon miles generated transporting, say, your crackers from factory to your house, even if that factory is across the other side of the world. And I know that that feels fundamentally wrong, but it is true.

Yes, if you look at two boxes of crackers, one of them is produced next door and one of them is produced in, I don't know, China? Yes, the one that is produced next door is better. But overall, when you look at the average diet, the choices you are making as to what you eat have a far greater impact.

So one of the best things you can do is lessen your meat and dairy intake. Even just giving meat-free Mondays a go makes a huge difference. And people immediately get defensive about this, and I don't know why. Look, science has never settled, it's a silly sentence, but the science is pretty bloody concrete.

And yes, Aotearoa produces some of the least carbon intensive and the most environmentally friendly beef and dairy, but it still doesn't make it environmentally friendly. Look at our fresh water to see how that's going. I'm not telling you to go vegetarian. I'm not telling you to go vegan. I'm simply saying, perhaps centering some of your dishes around vegetables is an option. It's not only better for the planet, but it's vastly better for you too.

A recent study came out showing that if you eat 30 different types of plants a week, your gut health and therefore your immune system, actually your mental health, because there's a very interesting link between those three, will be vastly more robust than those who just eat two or three. Interesting, huh?

Well, how many did you get right? Did that match up with what you believe? I remember when I first started doing research into what mattered more whether it was eating local or what you ate and far and away plant-based, vegetarian, vegan diets infinitely less impact. Unfortunately, it's not a popular topic to discuss which is why people tend not to.

Hopefully that was informative or surprising and I will see you next week for another episode of Because Why. Kia ora.