Month: January 2020

Statement from Ranjit Baxi, Founding President of the Global Recycling Foundation

30 January 2020

“Last week, at the World Economic Forum (WEF), U.S. President Donald Trump announced that his country will join the Trillion Trees initiative, which aims to grow, restore and conserve one trillion trees around the world. The project, which has already received support from several countries such as India, Ethiopia, Australia, Pakistan, and Colombia, aims to unite governments, organizations, businesses and individuals in the fight to restore biodiversity and combat the climate emergency.

“It is vital that we all work together to address the climate emergency, and it is particularly important that major nations commit their support in the fight for a greener future. Reforestation projects such as this are exceedingly important; as well as capturing carbon from the atmosphere, they also reduce air pollution, foster biodiversity, provide cleaner water and encourage rainfall. The Global Recycling Foundation applauds this drive for reforestation, promoting the movement for clean air and a clean environment.

“We now need all world leaders to use this project as a springboard for further change and continue to recognize the critical importance of reforestation. If we are to mitigate the climate emergency’s catastrophic effects, we need to ensure that this is just the first step in the drive for widespread climate action.”

Statement from Ranjit Baxi, Founding President of the Global Recycling Foundation

23 January 2020

“This week Greta Thunberg took central stage in Davos, at the World Economic Forum (WEF); the world’s leaders and press sitting up and taking notice of the dire warnings from a 16 year old school girl, who continues to present overwhelming scientific facts proving the dire state of the climate emergency. She implores us to treat this critical climate crisis with the importance it deserves. We are, she says, fast running out of time to act on climate change, even to give us just a 67% chance of keeping the global temperature rise to below 1.5%.

“As we face this climate emergency of unprecedented proportions, the Global Recycling Foundation applauds the WEF for all that it’s doing to make the annual meeting carbon-neutral. The 2020 event’s menu is now at least 50% plant-based and one day is solely dedicated to vegetarian food. Regarding transport, event cars and buses are now 88% hybrid, compared to 66% in 2019. Additionally, there will be free shuttles, public buses and discounted train tickets on offer and the Forum is completely removing single-use plastic for beverages and bags. But is it enough?

“Time is ticking, we have uncomfortable choices to make, and we need a leader like WEF to continue their efforts and inspire organizations around the world to follow suit. In order to make a splash to mitigate the climate emergency’s catastrophic effects, we need to turn a ripple of change into a wave and ensure that the positive impact of recycling is heard.”