This week’s Conscious Scoop has some weird and unusual elements like CBD and microalgae. Have you ever wondered how much single-use plastics end up in your body? Read more to find out about that and more on this week’s Scoop.
1. WWF Singapore: We eat a credit card’s worth of single-use plastic every week.
According to WWF Singapore, we are eating 5g of plastics every week. That is equivalent to the weight of a credit card. This is because of the microplastics present in our food. Single-use plastics break down in the ocean and end up in our water, salt and fish. These microplastics are still nearly impossible to remove from water bodies. So, we consume them without even realising. Hence, the single-use plastics that we use and dispose of may just be in our bodies now. Moreover, we don’t know the full effects yet.
So, is the extra weight in my body plastic? Find out about your plastic diet here.
2. Ben & Jerry’s may launch Cannabis vegan ice cream soon.
Just like Magnum and Cornetto, Ben & Jerry’s already has a line of vegan ice cream. This new possible addition of CBD vegan ice cream is motivated by the increasing popularity of CBD. Also, CBD is known to have many benefits and brands like Heaven’s Please have been advocating for a long time. Being vegan is already great for the planet and our health. However, what if we include CBD? We can only imagine that it will turn out amazing.
Coupled with reducing their plastic impact, B&J’s are becoming more sustainable and conscious.
3. Microalgae protein gave this Singapore start-up $1 million.
There is a new exciting option for the vegan protein market. That is protein made from microalgae! We know that algae can do many things like clean the air. And now Sophie’s Kitchen recently created microalgae protein that won the Liveability Challenge, hosted by Temasek Foundation last week. This extra million dollars will help to fund their protein which only takes 0.02 hectares of land for 1 pound of protein. On the other hand, beef needs 141 hectares of land per pound of protein.
Get some gains dude, but don’t kill any animals!
4. Leonardo DiCaprio debuted his next climate documentary film.
DiCaprio has produced environmental documentaries like Cowspiracy and Before the Flood. He has also been vocal about single-use plastics. This time, his film Ice on Fire documents about climate change. So, he is exploring how the melting snow and ice has led to multiple climate tipping points. The melting ice actually releases more trapped methane which worsens climate change. At this point, time is so tight that we should declare this a climate emergency. Hence, we need to act soon and quickly.
Let’s do every bit we can to resolve the climate crisis today.
5. Canada just banned whale and dolphin captivity. They also plan to ban single-use plastics from 2021.
Canada has officially banned the captivity of whales and dolphins in theme parks and aquariums for entertainment. They passed this bill because a coalition of scientists and conservationists lobbied. This move is also one of the most watershed moves in the protection of marine life. Other than that, Canada also aims to ban all single-use plastic as early as 2021. The recent move towards zero-waste and plastic banning in multiple countries, specifically the EU, inspired this decision.
A double win for sustainability and both from Canada! Amazing.
Image Credit: Leonardo DiCaprio as seen in Parade by John Russo