Report 2 - T4 - Going Green Shouldn\'t Be This Hard PDF

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video Dr. M. Sanjayan interviews Lauren Singer, Founder of Trash is for Tossers and CEO of The Simply Co. She gives tips and answers questions regarding living a zero-waste life through her website....

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Report 2 - Going Green Shouldn't Be This Hard SYNOPSIS Climate Lab is a six-part series created by the University of California in collaboration with Vox, and this video is one of the episodes. The videos, hosted by Emmy - nominated conservation scientist Dr. M. Sanjayan, looks at the unexpected aspects of our lives that lead to climate change and the groundbreaking efforts being done to combat it. The series, which features interviews with researchers, scientists, thought leaders, and campaigners, breaks down what can feel like a daunting challenge into manageable parts. In this video Dr. M. Sanjayan interviews Lauren Singer, Founder of Trash is for Tossers and CEO of The Simply Co. She gives tips and answers questions regarding living a zero-waste life through her website. In this video, it can be seen that Lauren uses very simple and easy ways to lead a zero waste life. They also discuss about how the responsibility of disposing a product shifts from the sellers to the buyers which is considered unfair.

ANALYSIS OF THE CONTENT As it was mentioned earlier, Lauren follows several ways to decrease the amount of waste in her daily life. For example, she uses her own cup when she purchases drinks in a shop, uses a reusable cotton bag when buying pastries, uses a safety razor instead of plastic ones and she substitutes all the disposable products that we normally use in our daily life with something that is compostable, infinitely reusable or 100% easily recyclable. The United States holds the position of No.1 trash producing country in the world. The statistics shows that if all the countries in the world is like US, we would need over 4 Earths to make all the stuff we consume.

Dr. M. Sanjayan asked a very significant question whether little things make a big difference and Lauren replied yes. She gave an example of reducing the usage of single-use coffee cup. If every person in this world is of the same mind set as her, it is possible for a massive shift towards a more sustainable life in the future. It is not only the chosen or certain people’s responsibility; everyone should be responsible. Policies should be implemented in order for changes to occur. For instance, Dr. M. Sanjayan stated that about 100 billion of plastic bags are being thrown in a year. In California, 3 communities have taken the initiative to change this. According to the statistics that they obtain, it is found that if the plastic bags are provided free of charge 75% of people will take it but if the plastic bags come with a price of 10 cents each only 16% of people will take it. This is because the small fee imposed on the plastic bags makes the people to question whether they really need a plastic bag. This policy is being adopted by the neighbouring cities and it is said that if New York were to adopt this policy, roughly 7 billion plastic bags could be saved.

They also discussed about how the responsibility of disposing products shifts from the sellers to the consumers and government when there is no adequate disposing system. For instance, it was said that in Montana there is no adequate system to recycle glass as it costs much. The cause of this problem is the fundamental flaw of governments and their relationship with business where the businesses are given advantages of not being accountable for products that are put into the waste stream. Thus, this allows them to sell glasses in Montana without being afraid even when there is no proper recycling system. The businesses have no intention to care about disposing their products and not have to subsidize any infrastructure to adequately recycle their product. Although there was a great system dealing with glass, where the glasses were to be reused by the companies, in 1950s the companies started to experiment single use bottles and cans.

They also talked about the moment where the responsibility of disposing products was shifted from the sellers to the buyers. A commercial regarding cleaning up was actually funded by many single-use bottles and cans company. They created an advertisement to make people pick up trash as they were scared that the government would ban their products. The trash that was referred in the commercial are the products manufactured by the same companies that funded the ad.

Later on in the video, Dr. M. Sanjayan talks about the climate change and how the governments and industries should take initiative to overcome this problem. As we live in a web of carbon emissions each and everything we do creates pollution. He suggested a simple policy that could make going green easier which is putting price on carbon. In a simpler way to put, currently there is no law stating that carbon emissions are prohibited or charged. As long as it is free to emit carbon, companies and factories are keep on going to use this opportunity. If this situation is changed where the companies are bound to pay for the carbon they produce, it might change their behaviour. This is a similar concept as the plastic bag policy mentioned above. California proved that this policy is effective. In 2006, the states in California set a cap on carbon and other greenhouse gas emissions and they lowered it over the next few years. Companies could either reduce their pollution or pay for carbon allowances.

ANALYSIS ON LEGAL CONTEXT Although Malaysia has the Environmental Quality Act (EQA) 1974 to protect the environment and the Renewable Energy Act 2011 to indirectly lead to lowering carbon emissions, the laws have no clear connection with climate change, according to speakers at a forum entitled "The Effect of Climate Change &

Anthropogenic Hazards on the Marine Environment in Malaysia". Assoc Prof Dr Maizatun Mustafa, a panelist at the forum and lecturer on environmental law at Ahmad Ibrahim Kulliyyah of Laws, International Islamic University Malaysia (IIUM), pointed out that a strong link between the EQA and climate change goals was required because they were interrelated. “At the moment, the EQA protects the environment and pollution, but the law's policies are not explicitly linked to climate change because there is no provision for climate change. The EQA's definition of environment does not target climate change. 1

Deputy Minister of Environment and Water Datuk Dr Ahmad Masrizal Muhammad said the initiative's implementation aimed to solve the pollution issue caused by single-use plastics. Members of the 76th National Council Meeting for Local Government (MNKT), which held on November 18, endorsed the Ministry of Environment and Water's Proposed Paper for the Implementation of the "No Plastic Bag" Movement by Local Authorities (PBT). The MNKT also decided to allow its introduction at all locations around the country, with a minimum fee of 20 sens for each plastic bag requested at the payment counter. This fee is imposed on the basis of the user-pays concept, which seeks to reduce the use of disposable plastic. This collection must be sent to the local authorities for use in environmental sustainability programs for the people's well-being. This is in accordance with the Malaysia Roadmap to Zero Disposable Plastic 2018-2030, which seeks to reduce disposable plastic waste and replace it with more environmentally sustainable alternatives.

In the near future, the government intends to do a scoping analysis of the need for climate change legislation to aid in environmental protection. Datuk Seri Dr Zaini Ujang, secretary general of the Environment and Water Ministry, said the ministry wants the draft to include private sector reporting and economic instruments. He also noted that they would most likely draft a new Climate Change Act based on lawmakers' understanding and public demand, or use current legislation such as the Environmental Quality Act (EQA) 1974 in conjunction with it. During a webinar hosted by CIMB Group Holdings Bhd called "The CIMB Cooler Earth Sustainability Summit 2020", he said that they are thinking of putting carbon tax for potential investment related to sustainability. According to him, the ministry is currently revising the EQA 1974 to cover climate change and sustainability issues, as well as greenhouse gas conservation and monitoring requirements. To ensure sustainability, he said that the ministry strives for a low-carbon society by improving green production and usage by using less resources such as water, plastic, and energy, among others. 2 1 'Malaysia’S Environmental Laws Don’T Relate To Climate Change — Academician | Borneo Post Online' (Borneo Post Online, 2021) accessed 18 April 2021. 2 Islamic Finance and others, 'Govt Plans To Assess The Need For Climate Change Legislation' (The Malaysian Reserve, 2021) accessed 18 April 2021....