Welcome back, I hope you had an enjoyable holiday. If you
were like many people I know, you may have gone to the beach this Labor Day
weekend. Hopefully, if you’ve been following along with our Introduction
series, you started to notice some things while you were on vacation. You may
have noticed just how many people were there, and most importantly, how much
stuff everyone had with them. One thing to think about is where does all this
stuff come from, and where does it ultimately end up?
Today’s video looks at the effect of our increasing global
population, the overall increase of wealth and the effect this has on resource
consumption. In the BRIC countries (Brazil, Russia, India and China), there are
approximately 3 billion people who are emerging as a new middle class. I often
wonder: How do we give Nikes, Levis and iPhones to 3 billion more people?
Presently, our system is not set to efficiently reuse our resources, and many
projections estimate significant resource shortages and even complete depletion
in the next few decades.
Slowly, but surely, I believe major influencers are
recognizing the impending risks that population growth is putting on our
present system and they are taking steps toward implementing change. As we continue through our video series, we
will further examine the concept I briefly introduce about a circular economy
where goods are taken back and usable resources are reclaimed and reused. The
closed-loop economy is possible, and we will talk in-depth on the steps many
companies are taking to lead us there.
– Tad Radzinski, PE, LEED AP, SFP
Links:
White paper focusing on a major change agent in our economic system, Investors:
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