Today marks the 52nd anniversary of the birth of the true modern environmental movement, however, you probably know it as Earth Day. Early in the pandemic, many hoped that the lockdowns would help the Earth heal as people began to stay home, stopped commuting, and some factories even had paused production. Unfortunately, as things are beginning to open back up emissions are on the rise again and we need to continue to think about the future consequences.
It may be hard to think of the effects climate change is going to have on our future as the tangibles are difficult to imagine. However, these effects are already appearing all around us. In 2015, a report was released by the United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNISDR) showing that after looking back over the last 20 years they found that 90 percent of major disasters have been caused by 6,457 recorded floods, storms, heatwaves, droughts and other weather-related events.1 Damage has been done to our environment, but it is never too late to take new steps towards a greener and healthier future.
It is never a better time to start making these changes in our everyday lives than today! The Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) gave a great and easy list of some of the small initiatives you can take to do your part in the fight against climate change.2 Some of these effective contributions include:
- Making sure your home is energy efficient with proper insulation and sealing any unwanted drafts to cut air-conditioning and heating costs.
- Consider your water waste. By doing things such as turning off the sink when brushing your teeth, shortening showers, or looking into fixtures and appliances that limit water usage you can cut the carbon pollution that comes from pumping, heating, and treating your water.
- Pull the plugs on some unnecessary devices you might have plugged in like fully-charged phones and cordless vacuums. This “idle load” still creates a large output from power plants and is an unnecessary emission.
There are still many other great steps to take towards a greener future and you can learn more in the NRDC article here. Medical device firms, such as Baxter, have also been making green conscious decisions for a few years now. In 2009, their product, FLEXBUMIN, became the world’s first and only medical product to receive Carbon Reduction certification from the Carbon Trust.3 Roche Diebetes Care also took steps towards sustainability by sending out pre-paid envelopes to send back some of the special plastics on their devices from Tyvek. These plastics can only be recycled by specialist centers and Roche is making the process as simple as possible to help hit their target of being carbon neutral by 2030.4
EMMA International provides full-circle solutions for all aspects of the MedTech industry. Give us a call at 248-987-4497 or email us at email@example.com to find out how we can help take your product to the next level!
1UNISDR (2015) The Human Cost of Weather Related Disasters retrieved on 4/09/2021 from: https://www.unisdr.org/2015/docs/climatechange/COP21_WeatherDisastersReport_2015_FINAL.pdf
2NRDC (July 2017) How You Can Stop Global Warming retrieved on 4/09/2021 from: https://www.nrdc.org/stories/how-you-can-stop-global-warming
3Baxter (2011) Sustainability Report retrieved on 4/19/2021 from: https://econnect.baxter.com/assets/downloads/Baxter2010SustainabilityReport_ProductResponsibility.pdf
4Diabetes Times (February 2020) Roche Diabetes Care Launches Recycling Pilot As Part Of Green Pledge retrieved on 4/19/2021 from: https://diabetestimes.co.uk/roche-diabetes-care-launches-recycling-pilot-as-part-of-green-pledge/