Materials and the production of advancements

Everything that is created here on this planet, has a purpose, and everything that is created as advancements is advancing our civilasation. But we should all take into the consideration, that what we are creating have an impact on Earth. How do we deal with our trash for instance? Technology has their huge pros, like, how they make us grow in so many ways. How we are able to keep in contact with each other, and how we are able to connect with each other. Also, how we live our lives, how we live with Earth, and how we live amongst each other. I will be going into each of them.

All through our evolvement of our specie, we have been evolving, by making advancements to ourselves. In the very beginning, it was through natural tools, but it was still advancements to our lifestyles. Like when we discovered how to use fire, the way we lived back then changed. And we started changing. Other tools had been used before that also, like weapons we made for hunting, but also natural things that we would find around us in nature. And it is still what we are doing to this day, we find materials here on Earth, to make advancements, we have only become highly technological, which might be seen as not natural, but it all does come from Earth. But what we should keep in mind, is that when we mold, transform and create from the materials that we have gathered, we might create things that are hard for our dear Mother Earth to handle after. There are many ways for us to reuse, remold and handle our trash that comes from our advancements, but not all ways of handeling it, are good ones.

Not all of how we gather are good ones either. Like mining for coltan, which is used in many technological advancements such as cellphones, car batteries and laptops. Here is an article written by Allie Constantine and Ismail Wolff : https://globalforestcoalition.org/the-dark-side-of-technology-coltan-mining-in-the-drc-and-its-human-rights-and-environmental-impacts/  Where You can read more about the devestating facts about coltan mining around in the world. 

Mining is one thing, but there is another thing we have to think about regarding the production of these things. And that is how we handle the trash of it, once we are done using it. In many ways we have figured things out. Like, we seperate the trash into different containers here where I live, so that the trash handlers job is easier. We seperate the trash, so that things can be remolten, reused and otherwise burned, if not in the two other categories. But we do know how to get rid of things. But one thing that is not so good, is that we actually have to burn things, which makes more climate gasses which are bad. Which tears at our ozone layer, which is bad. We need that to be protected from the sun, otherwise we would be very prone to cancer developing in our bodys. Which is sad, because I at the very least, Love the sun. 

One thing that is very sad, is that our trash production, has reached other areas of the world. Where there are no system for handeling it. Which makes trash build up, with the people who lived there, unable to handle it very well. Here is an article that gives You the 20 countries most unable to handle the trash that is produced: https://www.nhm.ac.uk/discover/news/2024/september/almost-70-of-plastic-waste-produced-by-20-countries.html It effects the most poorest communities, which are the most unable to handle the trash, which makes them have to self manage. And what can they actually do about it? Very little, because of the lacking system that is required to actually handle their trash. 

The main problem is plastic, which is almost the hardest material for Earth to decompose, except for glass. And how can we handle this? By making it biodegradable. I know that not all plastic things can be made biodegradable. Like hospital equipment, and probably other stuff, but that was the main thing that came to me at this point. But for example plastic bags in a store, why not make it biodegradable? They are only meant for those that are forgetting their shopping nets, which by the way, here where I live, are also in plastic, only durable plastic. The nets should be in fabric, because that is durable, and also the most environmentally friendly. What is made of paper, is contributing to deforrestation. The fabric should be ethically sourced and the wellfare of the workers sewing them, taken care of. They would cost more to buy some, but they would last a lifetime maybe, and the biodegradable bags would only be for when a net is forgotten. They would be smaller and not be able to hold the most weight, like a regulair plastic bag, but it would be biodegradable, and environmentally friendly. We would need more bags to get all of our grocceries, but that might be of help to us, to actually remember to bring our nets, next time. 

Glass is the most difficult material for our Mother Earth to handle, so we should never leave it out in the wild. Broken glass will bring tremendous harm to an animal. Even if digged down, an aninal could be digging into it, while trying to make themselves a home, and hurt themselves. So be careful with glass out in Nature. Glass on the other hand, for society, is very easy to reuse. It can be molded, remolten into new glass or even just washed. So for society, very good, but for Nature, not good at all. So we will just have to be careful with it.

Fast fashion is also something that is not a good thing for us, here on this Planet. Clothes are made by poor workers, in poor conditions, with none of the work regulations that we have otherwise. And this is not only unfair to the people making these clothes, but it makes for an overproduction of clothes, which are thrown easily, and are massively filling up landfills. 

Advancements that are made here in our world, are helping us connect. Which is an amazing and good thing. Phones, laptops, the internet You guys! With all of the ways to connect, with all of the ways to put one self out there, regarding starting a buisness for instance, or just commercialing oneself with art, writing books, blogs, starting communities, groups with meetingplaces, digital space for groups or communities. Waow. But we do still have to think about one thing about this. And that is overproduction of our tools. Our phones, laptops other things. There is a high demand for the newest, in the wind thing. And development of advancements goes rapidly faster each year I feel. But it is making us overproduce. How about we take our time with the development. Seeing how things goes in a longer time, to actually advance, rather with jumps, than tiny steps. Because if I got this right, development of advancements are far more advanced than we know, and when production is happening, we are doing tiny advancements to phones and such, just to get more out of the sales. But I personally dont think that it should be that way. Longer development time, longer testing, to make sure the best is out there, will result in not overproducing things. 

Batteries are a huge thing now in our world. We not only have electric cars now, but housings with battery walls, going on solar, is already being developed, and maybe even built. Kickbikes, motorcycles and other vehicles also run on batteries. And it is changing the way we live our lives tremendously. 

We are in fact moving forward in this world of ours. I used to think that there were no way of handeling the batteries that were produced by these advancements. But do You know what?  I just did some research on it, do You know what? Car battieries are actually recyclable with 95-98 percent! How about that? Things are moving forward with us. And makes me genuinely happy, to be here on Earth right now. We are all figuring things out. All though there is still alot to be figured out. But things seem to be going in the right direction regarding many things. More and more people are waking up to our environment needing our care, and Love in fact. And that is Beautiful to me. 

Thank You for reading this.

With Unconditional Love and Gratitude

Elisabeth Hjerte