Sustainability, Eco-Friendly, Basic

By Monica Grace Dollezon-Yu

Staff Contributor @queenofsubtlety

Because she had brought some cultural practices with her from Japan when she came to the US, Sayoko Yoshimura, a worker at Caminar, has already adapted a foundation of living holistically at home. One of the Japanese concepts she practices is ‘mottainai’, which is when the consumer feels and expresses guilt in any tangible product that goes to waste because they failed to value the production and labor gone into creating it before it is gone.

Sayoko does not always prepare Japanese meals at home, but when looking up recipes based on her culture, she realized that the Japanese have methods of saving leftover foods from the previous day and use them as an ingredient for the next meal. She noted how different western cultures are, as many people are more inclined to simply throw away leftover food.

Another method she practices is separating the recyclables. Whenever she is at home or at work in the office, she properly disposes plastic and glass bottles, cardboard box pieces and papers into their designated recycling bins. In her culture, she also appreciates how her people make use of junk material for arts and crafts.

“Appreciating things is part of our (Japanese) culture,” Sayoko said, referring to being grateful of what the environment offers for the livelihood of people.

Be they Japanese or not, people like Sayoko are becoming more aware of where their resources are originating from, which is influencing the way they change their purpose for using goods and products. Based on a recent report, the studies have surveyed that “ne22arly 90 percent of the consumers believe companies should make their products or services more sustainable.”

The challenges that obscure sustainable options

With local communities and organizations raising awareness and educating others the importance of turning to more eco-friendly strategies, there are other larger entities who run the risk of harming the environment in terms of pollution, exploitation and industrial activity. Industries must disrupt the balance of forces occurring within the environment through methods of factories releasing smoke and toxins into the air, cutting down trees, taking resources from forests and other habitats and spreading harmful chemicals into bodies of water. Results include a long period of time for habitats to recover its equilibrium and other organisms facing the brink of extinction or dealing with difficulty to relocate their homes.

According to Christopher Cothran, who is currently an enrolled history major at Skyline College, people need to be held more accountable in terms of their actions causing an impact on the environment unfavorably.

“We have other foreign countries like, unfortunately, the biggest polluter in terms of air pollution is China,” Cothran said. “They are responsible for a large amount of manufacturing for companies like, Apple and Nike-- which is why it’s so hard to hold them responsible because they are basically home to a lot of companies that have a lot of money.”

He also added that manufacturing products in China is cheaper than having the deed done domestically. Food chain restaurants, which might as well be classified as big companies, are also non-sustainable in their methods behind the doors. Michaella Agag, who is currently a student at Skyline College and a student pastor at a church in San Bruno, witnessed poor maintenance of the dining area while she had worked as a part-time cashier at Panera Bread.

“At Panera, they do not do that great of a job, especially when it comes to food that is being sent here and there to the restaurant,” Agag said, referring to the waste that is accumulated from the food. “There’s that bin for recyclables and trash, like in reality, they don’t even make an effort to separate any of those things.”

Yoshimura had pointed out how natural environments are at the risk of destruction because capitalism and demanding economies had led industries into taking control of those resources to continue to satisfy human consumption. She mentioned there are consequences for abusing what nature has to offer and people should learn how to have a change of heart in order to show more appreciation for every component of it. Another issue that sets a boundary towards effective sustainability and the means to go green are limitations of what is considered to be recyclable and the price paid for turning to sustainable options.

“We can’t recycle everything,” Cothran stated, mentioning a few items. “For example, hard plastic is easy to recycle but soft plastic-- can’t. Paper towels, you’re not supposed to recycle, which I know seems a little strange, considering how it has paper in the name.”

“And recycling is sometimes expensive,” Cothran also brought up. “Not everybody has the resources available to them or the budget to be able to go out of their way to use recycled products instead of non-recycled products because more often than not, unfortunately, recycled products are sometimes going to be more expensive.”

Similarly, Agag said she wished that compostable cutlery were more readily available in take-out restaurants, which may be on the behalf of the restaurant, company or business in itself.

“I was pretty upset that I had to pay for compost,” Agag continued, “I was surprised that the church that we are in, we’re a

Umaima Ejaz/The Skyline View

commercial storefront or commercial building-- we are not given compost.”

For her, requesting for those compostables could be costly to begin with, in terms of her church attempting to save resources.

Solutions to reuse materials while helping the environment replenish According to another report, figuring out methods to overcome drawbacks of effective sustainability is so complex that not every industry is going to benefit from the same proposal, especially in product packaging. The company’s decisions made in selecting resources and applying reuse culture of packaging will depend on the product’s standards and requirements.

Cothran shared few of his own experiences and disciplines of living sustainably, from shopping to throwing out paper, plastics and glass. “Being resourceful, for me, means finding out how you can do the most with the least amount,” Cothran said. “For example, if you want to print something from a printer, there are some stores, like Office Depot, that will sell recycled paper instead of just new blank paper. They look essentially the same but they serve the same purpose.”

“If I have the option to, I will usually try to go thrift shopping instead of buying from a department store,” he continued, noting that this helps him save money and at the same time, be resourceful.

Agag’s own eco-friendly methods include bringing a metal straw in replacement of having to use a plastic straw whenever going out for a drink, washing the dishes instead of throwing out the disposables and lessening the use of electricity during peak hours and more reliance towards solar energy.

Pacifica would hold Fog Fest events every year usually in late September, Cothran mentioned. From his observation of attending events in the past, people at their stands had shown a great

Enrique Liganor/The Skyline View

example of recycling items to be more useful because of their handicraft efforts using various materials, such as bottle caps, empty soda glass bottles and driftwood, and turning them into wind chimes, purses and other art.

“I honestly believe that everyone should just take it bit by bit. With the life that we live here in America, especially, it’s hard to completely go like one-hundred percent eco-friendly, sustainable, etcetera,” Agag pointed out. “Even right now, I’m having a hard time doing that.”

“Maybe for groceries, they’ll decide to completely cut out plastic bags,” she said, painting the scenery of everyone resorting to tote bags, like the ones found at Trader Joe’s.