The year we changed

by mittag jewelry

On December 31, 2019, when people all over the world were immersed in the joy of the New Year’s Eve, Taiwan first sent a letter to the WHO to warn that an unknown pneumonia may be transmitted from person to person. So far, the world has not been able to effectively control the epidemic, the spread and the mutation of the virus. During this period, mankind has faced panic, shortage of medical resources, increase in the number of deaths, lockdown orders to restrict movement, emergency research and development of vaccines... all show that mankind is under the threat of this wave of Covid-19. The fear and panic turned to respond and actively face the epidemic. This biological instinctive response shows that we are fragile but can ultimately make "change", and "change" is the greatest advantage of mankind.

However, when the spread of the Covid-19 epidemic forced the world economy to press the stop button, and mankind used the "Stay At Home'' method to save the earth for an unprecedented attempt, more creatures on the earth got a temporary respite, and it can even be said that they are happily alive because human beings were gone during this period. "The Year Earth Changed" is a documentary film released by Apple TV+ on "Earth Day '' and "Covid-19 Anniversary" in April 2021. The film records the relationship between human activities being prohibited due to the epidemic, and faithfully presents the changes in natural ecology around the world.

With the spread of the epidemic and the lockdown of cities, in just a few days, Los Angeles has achieved the best air quality in 40 years; the air toxic substances over China have also been halved; even in India, where has the most serious air pollution, after the Jalandhar city was closed for 12 days, the air pollution and haze for 30 years have been reduced, and the Himalayas can be seen from more than 200 kilometers away, which made the local residents so excited. Due to the restriction of human activities, the use of boats has been reduced, and the reduction in noise in the sea also allows marine life such as humpback whales and dolphins to increase communication distance and thus increase foraging. The crowds playing in the water and sunbathing on the beach are no more popular due to the epidemic restrictions, loggerhead turtles and penguins can therefore increase the number of parenting and feeding times to increase the survival rate of young turtles and young penguins. Even one year after the epidemic happened, researchers found that the global carbon dioxide content dropped by 6% that year, and the earth's crustal movement was also halved due to the reduction of human travel and industrial activities. By the end of the film, these animal specialists also appealed to humans to find a suitable way to coexist with nature as soon as possible.

We have gained a lot of understanding from this documentary, and would like to pay tribute to this documentary launched by Apple TV+ and BBC through the article ''This year we changed'', and sincerely suggest that more people can watch this 48-minute film. Below, we posted its official trailer so that everyone can have a little experience.

Since the beginning of mankind, our competition with nature has not stopped, but the object of predation in the past was humans or other biological species, but now it is competing for natural resources. If the access for natural resources can be balanced, then the earth's resources may also have a chance to recover or be used in the long term. However, according to statistics, especially within 70 years from 1950 to the present, the total population of the earth has increased from 2.5 billion people to nearly 7.9 billion people now. Therefore, human demand for natural resources has exceeded the limit that the earth can bear. With 40 years of oil remaining, and in about 20 years gold and silver will be exhausted; yes, we are leaving a depleted future for the next generation. Therefore, we must start to think about how to reduce or stop the expansionary plunder of "underground resources (primitive minerals)" while meeting demand.

First of all, let's give a few examples of "reducing the use of resources"! According to statistics, one shared car can replace about 20 family cars, which means that under the condition of constant demand, it can reduce resource waste generation by 95%. This is an example of the sharing economy that can reduce the planet’s lack of resources. In addition, taking Taiwan's Youbike as an example, each shared bicycle can serve about 12 people per day, which is 2 to 3 times the number of shared bicycle services in Paris, New York, and London. Therefore, the sharing economy is not out of reach, it just needs to change our mentality of using items (paying to use items instead of buying to own items).

Furthermore, if we want to further effectively reduce or even stop our dependence on "underground resources (primitive minerals)", we must start to get used to using "ground resources (recycled resources)"! The so-called above-ground resources are simply the items we have used or manufactured. Once these items are destroyed and can no longer be repaired, they should be disassembled and classified and returned to usable resources. Although these recycled resources may not be "recycled at the same level" due to the difference in types, for example, the recycling of tires is a good example of "downcycling". After recycling, tires can be classified into metal wires and rubber, although these recycled rubber cannot be made into tires again, but they can be downgraded to be made into PU runways for sports fields and other facilities, thereby reducing or slowing down the final stage of incineration and burial of waste directly. In addition, there are of course many resources that can be "same level cycling". The best example here is precious metals. We also mentioned in the article "Taiwan has rich gold mines｜mittag jewelry adopts "organic gold and silver". High-value metals such as gold and silver can be obtained from recycled jewelry, but also can be extracted from recycled motherboards, mobile phones, chips, TVs, computer screens, solar panels etc..., and refined to the same purity level as mineral gold and silver. This is the "urban mine" that many advanced countries are doing in the world. The way to stop digging primitive minerals has been done for many years, and European countries are pioneers in this regard. In Asia, Japan and Taiwan also have the potential to join the groups of such a "circular economy". Because we already have a complete recycling system and technology, the only difference is the acceptance by consumers in Europe, America and Asia. Next, let us share with you Taiwan’s advanced recycling system through the video below!

We have just learned that the recycled resources containing general metals and precious metals will not be any different from the metals mined in the mining area. In addition to retaining minerals, it can also protect the environment from damage. The advantage you may not know is that "mining efficiency" of using recycling to obtain precious metals is better than mining. Taking gold mining as an example, the gold content is about 0.3 to 1 gram per 1 metric ton of gold mine, but if 1 metric ton of recycled mobile phones can be used to extract 280 grams of gold, and 1 metric ton of recycled personal computers can yield 92 grams of gold. It can be said that instead of digging mines, it is far less efficient than "mining" from mobile phones and personal computers. Moreover, if gold mining is to obtain enough gold to support its commercial scale, you can think about the scale of such a mining area and how great the environmental damage it will bring!

The COVID-19 caused international panic and crisis at the beginning of 2020, and more people began to join and face this issue, which is the concern of human life in the future sustainable environment. An open letter “Please, let's not go back to normal”published by Le Monde in France on May 6, 2020. It was from international superstar Madonna, Nobel Peace Prize winner Yunus and 200 international scientists and celebrities . They all called on leaders of all countries and citizens of the world to stop returning to normal after the epidemic cools down in the future, instead, we must abandon the current but not sustainable logic to examine what is really necessary in life. The letter also mentions that we have been pursuing consumerism, enterprises are addicted to increasing production capacity, which makes us ignore the value of animals, plants and many human lives themselves. And called for such an economic model must be changed to save the planet.

This year we have become different, and this year we must start to become different, because the global impact of the COVID-19 is an opportunity for mankind to reflect, and "change" is the greatest advantage that mankind can survive, changing our mode of getting along with the earth and living creatures, changing our mentality of arbitrary use of natural resources, changing our habit of linear use of goods, and began to review the products we buy from a sustainable perspective, and examine the source of raw materials, manufacturing processes, and use of goods. As well as whether the final recycling process is consistent with the concept of sustainability, we need to think more about it. Know more, buy less, choose better, last longer. Choosing "products made with sustainable resources" is far easier to save the planet by "staying at home", do you agree?

#TheYearEarthChanged
#EarthDay 
#SharingEconomy
#CircularEconomy
#UrbanMine

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