Q&A with a returning contributor | Aleksey Anisimov

We are pleased to welcome back one of our first contributors, Aleksey Anisimov! In this Q&A session we will be diving into some other environmental actions that Aleksey has been undertaking besides cutting off meat, as well the interdependencies between the environment and the social world around us.

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What have you been doing to offset your carbon footprint lately?

The subject of my earlier article revolved around particular food choices, and how the food we eat has one of the more profound impacts as individuals and consumers. To that effect, I have chosen to abstain from eating meat, citing the impact it has on the environment, among which the biggest offenders are lamb and beef. Of course, as a disclaimer I should note that this is not for everyone. However, just cutting beef and lamb out of our diets would have enormously beneficial effects in reducing our combined carbon footprint. Nevertheless, the impacts of animal agriculture go beyond just CO2 emissions. It has enormous consequences for forests, which are cut down en masse to produce animal feed, or the overfishing of fish in both open ocean fishing, and in aquaculture.

More recently, I have made other efforts, most notably in the driving front. For some time, I had this obsession with trying to squeeze out the greatest possible range out of my daily driver, by training good habits into my routine. However, the biggest effect you can have is simple. Just carpool. Considering that your typical compact car (take a Yaris or Mazda3), can put out 6.5 to 7.0 L/100 km in highway driving conditions, the addition of the weight of additional passengers would only have perhaps 1.0 to 2.0 L/100km. However, the per-seat consumption of the car becomes almost half of what it is being the sole occupant.

Fortunately, there are apps and web services that make this easier. These apps compensate drivers at their desired rate going from one destination to the next. And while fuel prices seem high, ridesharing easily offsets fuel maintenance expenses, cushioning even the more substantial increases. Personally, I use Pop-a-Ride, since it shares a similar interface to that of Home sharing services such as Airbnb, however, you will be sure to find similar services that operate on the same principle (Kang-a-ride, Amigo Express, to name a few).

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What others issues besides climate change and biodiversity loss do you believe we need to take care of ASAP?

Going hand-in-hand with climate change, in my opinion, is the enormous income inequality we are facing. When the largest segment of the world population struggles living paycheque to paycheque, it becomes difficult for people to engage in ways that could make an enormous difference. From voting, to making financial decisions as consumers, and less commonly, exercising their right to protest, a large portion of the population will choose to abstain in order to make ends meet.

It would be my belief that the free market is at odds with environmental welfare, and that in the grand scheme of things, it fuels the need for excess and waste as a means to increase capital. This also means exacerbating the situation for people in other parts of the world, who will be the ones supplying our needs by whatever means necessary, and oftentimes the only means of income in their own local economy – whether it be working in deforestation, fishing, animal agriculture, to name a few. This overconsumption is made possible by industries that are paying slave wages in order to achieve the greatest capital and productivity, for less, and to the delight of consumers in the west. To that effect, everything comes full circle when we realize the wealth gap we have today is in large part holding us back from meaningful, collective efforts, in bringing our environment to equilibrium.