The Second Hand Effect
[Music]
our planet
is under pressure we all know it
and it’s all based on science climate
change is one of the defining
issues of our time it’s more than
certain
and evidence is clear it’s all caused
by humans and at the same time
nature is declining globally due to our
relentless demand for the earth’s
resources leading to loss of
biodiversity
among other severe consequences
and the awareness of climate change and
loss of biodiversity is increasing
but as consumers we feel powerless
and frustrated because we don’t know how
we can contribute with something that
really matters
globally we are consuming the resources
of 1.8 planets
in europe this figure is 2.8 planets
and guess what norway and the nordic
countries
are worse than class they are behaving
like they had the resources of 3.5
planets
so we are consuming too much
and too fast and we really got to change
is there something out there more than
hope
to help us is there something that could
empower
us consumers into a more sustainable
way of consuming i have great news today
because there is a way
if someone can move us from a linear way
of consuming
in to a circular way in a linear way of
consuming
we extract natural resources make them
into products
and when we don’t want those products
anymore for several reasons
we throw them away so
we deplete our resources we emit
greenhouse gases in the process
and waste is piling up everywhere
we have three problems by moving into a
circular way of consuming
instead of throwing away our products we
could repair them
to make them live longer we can even
redesign them if we want them to look a
little bit
different to last longer or we can share
them
we can even give them away to someone
you might
have a better use of it or we can sell
them
and in the last resort we can recycle
them back
to new materials so that they can go
back into production
and close the loop and the potential is
huge
circle economy has launched a report
saying that
the world is less than nine percent
circular
or to put it another way we are more
than 91 percent
linear and there is a new report out for
norway
and once again we are the worst ones in
class
with only 2.4
circular but there’s a huge potential
i might know what you’re thinking what i
do
doesn’t matter i’m a drop in the ocean
this is a two big problem for the
consumers to solve
well let me put it this way
like in the african proverb if you think
you’re too small to make a difference
you haven’t spent the night with a
mosquito in your room
still a bit skeptical do you have any
proof of it
well i actually do there is a
calculation
to prove it and it’s done by ivl
the swedish environmental research
institute
in the calculation there is 12
marketplaces
facilitating online second-hand trade
in 12 countries around the world
and the calculation is based on the
assumption that by
selling and buying second-hand you don’t
have to produce a new item
and you don’t have to throw away an old
one
how much greenhouse gases
and material could potentially be saved
by second-hand trade if each product
is replaced by the production of a new
one
and preventing waste
and the results for these 12
marketplaces
are amazing in 2019
our users potentially saved
25.3 million tons of greenhouse gases
that equals 50 of
norway’s total annual emissions and for
the materials
potentially saved aluminium equals 60
billion
cans and for steel it equals 2.5
million of those large logistic
containers
and last but not least for plastic it
equals
204 billion plastic bags
or one and a half years consumption of
plastic bags in the eu
so what we do as individuals do matter
we can make a difference if we move into
a circular way
of consuming because when you add up all
our actions
together it becomes huge figures
so there is more than hope out there
we have solutions like the marketplaces
facilitating secondhand trade
so all consumers let’s change
let’s start right now and start
consuming in a more
sustainable and circular way
so that we can ease the pressure on our
dare planets
thank you for listening