今通っている大学・大学院準備講座で提出したエッセイたちです。私はエッセイではできるだけシンプルな言葉を使うように心がけているので、他の論文より読みやすいと思います。参考までにどうぞ！
今回は環境問題についてです。
【Change The Way I Think】
この課題は割と簡単だったと感じます！得意分野かも！
評価100/100
今日も読んでいただき、ありがとうございました！面白いと思ったら、ポチッと押してくださいね〜！
※ブログ文章やイラストの無断転写禁止。誤字脱字は報告しなくて、私なんかに時間を使っていただかなくて、大丈夫ですよ〜！他のことに時間使って下さい笑
今回は環境問題についてです。
【Change The Way I Think】
I first became active in environmental issues when I lived in New Zealand. About ten years ago, I was a consumer, as many people are, because of the environment I grew up in. My mother didn't grow up in a very wealthy family, thus she always had to hold back.
Consequently, she often buys a lot of things and throws them away when she gets tired of them. Every day she prepares more food than we could eat; she never allows leftovers. She obviously makes a lot of waste each day without thinking.
Coming from such a background, I literally threw away countless things before I cared. However, although New Zealand is an island country like Japan, where I grew up, it had a completely different mindset and they gave me a chance to rethink my lifestyle.
First of all, I am working on an activity called No Meat Monday. This is an activity advocated by Sir Paul McCartney, which started in the UK in 2009, for the purpose of protecting the global environment. As of 2023, 36 countries have announced their membership. This activity is very simple: just stop eating meat on Mondays.
Around the time I learned about this activity, I adopted a cat from an animal shelter. Therefore, I started questioning the idea of eating the same animals as my beloved pets. So, my idea was for my partner and I to start eating less meat.
However, I wondered if we were relying too much on animal protein. Surely, eating meat is easy to get protein. As I searched deeper, I learned about water pollution from livestock waste and carbon dioxide emissions from meat processing plants.
In particular, we discovered a report stating that methane gas emitted by animals such as cows has about 25 times the greenhouse effect as carbon dioxide.
After learning this, I went to the meat section of the supermarket and saw a lot of meat, and not only that, also a lot of processed meat. Most of them inevitably use plastic trays and plastic wrap.
Furthermore, at the cash register, the staff will use two plastic bags to pack the meat product. Based on these facts, I thought that reducing the consumption of animal protein is one way I can combat global warming.
Eating is something that everyone does every day, so it is easy to make small changes. Moreover, if we don't buy meat, we don't use gas or electricity, and we don't use a lot of plastic.
Next, as much as possible, I don't buy new things. In New Zealand, reuse system has been the norm, because there is no major online shop like Amazon.
So many people often use thrift shops. They call them "opportunity shops". In other words, it has the meaning of giving clothes, furniture, etc. a second chance.
I believe that fast fashion that we often see in shopping malls are cheap and very easy to find. However, they are produced in large quantities, sold, and thrown away. In my country, Japan, clothing is often separated and recycled as much as possible, before they go to the dump, but most of it is still incinerated or sent to landfills.
That's reason to use opportunity shops, where you can donate and purchase at the same time, greatly contributes to reducing waste.
On a related note, I like buying antique furniture. I think that cheap furniture made for single use is fragile, difficult to repair, and even easier to dispose of quickly. However, furniture made using genuine, high-quality materials and through proper processes can be repaired and used a long time.
In fact, I have grown attached to it, even with the scratches that appear with each use. Also, since I have used it with great care, when I no longer need it, I will look for someone to use it with care again. In this way, by being used repeatedly, fewer items are burned as garbage. In island countries, there is very little land that can be used as landfill, so it is not uncommon to find huge opportunity shops next to garbage incineration facilities.
For me, living in New Zealand is to change my mind to rethink environmental issues. When you become conscious, you become able to see many problems, and consciousness also leads to changes in behavior, and one person's actions lead to someone else's actions.
When you buy something, think even a little bit about whether the old item can be restored. It may be a small change, but it would be a big change. In my country, there is a word called "Mottainai.'' It has the meaning of reusing, reducing, recycling, and respecting things.
The literal translation is "waste,'' but mottainai can be used not only for things, but also for time, and for all waste. This phrase was introduced in a speech at the United Nations General Assembly in 2004 by Wangar Maathai, a Kenyan political activist who was the first African to win the Nobel Peace Prize in the environmental field.
She tried to tell us even if you don't engage in global environmental protection activities, if you can find the "mottainai" hidden in your everyday life, you can change the global environment for the better little by little.
We repeat this small choice often. At that time, you can choose and purchase from companies that are doing good things for the environment, and if it's food, you can think about the quantity and packaging. If we choose the way we consume, big companies will adapt to our desires.
Based on my observation, it is important that we share what we want to do about environmental issues and what kind of future we want to create for no mottainai, rather than choosing between whether we can do it or not. I can't solve all environmental issues only by myself, and they will also not be solved tomorrow. Environmental problems are a result of our daily lives, so depending on our awareness, we should be able to gradually stop them from occurring.
この課題は割と簡単だったと感じます！得意分野かも！
評価100/100
今日も読んでいただき、ありがとうございました！面白いと思ったら、ポチッと押してくださいね〜！
※ブログ文章やイラストの無断転写禁止。誤字脱字は報告しなくて、私なんかに時間を使っていただかなくて、大丈夫ですよ〜！他のことに時間使って下さい笑
