MyCoPlast

What is the Anthropocene?

The age of humans has arrived: the Anthropocene. What is the Anthropocene, and how should we deal with it?

Or to be fair: technically we still live in the Holocene. The Holocene is a period that began 11.700 years ago, when the last ice age ended. However, more and more people (scientists) are convinced the Holocene ended in the middle of the last century, to make way for the Anthropocene. The Anthropocene is a different era. It’s an era characterized by the huge impact of humans on their planet. In this era, human beings will change their atmosphere and their climate. In this process, species will (almost) extinct, forests will be cut down and the oceans will be polluted. The human being has penetrated into the pores of the earth, leaving a trail of destruction. During the Anthropocene, everything will change forever.

Anthropocene or not? Geologists can’t agree

While we see the earth changing in front of our eyes, geologists can’t agree on the signals of the Anthropocene. They are searching for a signal, to be found in the layers of the earth, that characterizes the start of the Anthropocene, and thus the end of the Holocene. The discussion is ongoing, and until a decision has been made, the Anthropocene is only and informal term, first used about 75 years ago.

A different concept

So, although scientists can’t really agree on whether we are officially living in the Anthropocene, we can see with our own eyes that we live in a ‘conceptually different time’. This is how Faber calls it in his new book. Living in the Anthropocene is not easy. In order to survive in this new era, we need to look differently to ourselves, nature and our planet. In the Anthropocene, we will need to search for new solutions within a new concept of ‘earth’.

A different earth as we know it

According to Faber, we should accept three different things.

The past wasn’t better

We need to leave the idea that the world is in destruction and is was better in the past. The Anthropocene is a result of a certain development. The development has indeed also brought good things, like social-economic development concerning social equality.

No way back

There is no way back. We can only go forward. We can only preserve the good things we have, while trying to change the bad things.

Causes and consequences, humans and nature are intertwined

Leave the idea of a strict separation between human beings and nature. People and nature are more and more intertwined. This has made the world a lot more complex. As a result, causes and consequences have mixed. For example: during droughts we ask ourselves whether it’s the result of climate change of human action? However, it is more difficult to distinguish between these two.

A second example is the urban areas we live in. It appears that animals adapt quite well to this new environment. Animals sing louder in order to overrule the noises in the city. And the legs of lizards in the city change to be more functional in the urban environment. As the difference between causes and consequences, humans and nature intertwine, complex problems arise. Like climate change. How to resolve these? Or are they unsolvable, and all we can do is trying to keep them under control?

What is the Anthropocene, and what is our personal contribution?

Let us be clear: we all contribute to the problem. Responsibility lays with individuals. We tent to easily look at governments and their responsibility to solve problems. Recently, all eyes were on the climate summit in Katowice. We have to accept that change comes from individuals, and we can’t rely on governments or institutions to solve this important and threatening problem. We have contributed to the problem and we have to deal with the consequences. This is our responsibility. Of course, our actions have consequences, and these consequences continue into the future.

In the complex urban environment, man has created its own environment. It makes that we feel weird having to deal with change. In our complex world, we cannot hide in our own cities. We have to face the changes that emerge. In the Anthropocene we need to take responsibility. This means we cannot blame big companies, industries, institutions and governments.

We have a role in the changing world. We complain about CO2 emissions, but at the same time we take a plane to go on holiday. In some areas in the world, population is declining. However, every individual is a new creative mind that can contribute to our world. Every individual has a role, also individuals in Africa and Asia, which are areas that have an increasing population. Overcrowding in cities doesn’t have to be a problem, as long as everyone can contribute.

We can embrace our new climate in the Anthropocene

In discussions on climate change, many people say that we near the end. As if it’s a few minutes before the end of the world as we know it. Faber, however, rather likes to say that we are already in the Anthropocene. The world is already changing. We can better embrace our new world and deal with it, instead of worrying what happens in the near future. Like animals in urban environments, we have to accept and adapt to our new living environment.

As we live in the Anthropocene, or at least in a different time, the first thing we need to do is to embrace our new era. We need to accept a different world, that has changed forever due to our own actions. Our world will never be the same again. Embrace the Anthropocene or, in other words, embrace our new reality. However, you want to call it.

However, accepting that the world has changed doesn’t mean we need to accept changes in the future. As I mentioned before, we can still preserve our world as it is, and prevent further changes to destroy the good things we have. This is another perspective. It puts us on a different stage. Instead of looking backwards on how the world has changed in the past, we now need to look forward and realize how the world might change in the future due to our own actions. We can then ask ourselves: What can we do to preserve the good things we have left on our planet?

Products made from fungi – bioplastics

Did you know you can make a lot of very useful products with fungi? For example bioplastics. However, application on a large (industrial) scale is still limited to a few examples. This is partly due to the characteristics of fungi as a mold: it’s difficult to prevent it from growing in unwanted places during the production process.

The interest in bioplastics and sustainable biofuels is increasing. As a result, the interest in industrial biotechnology that provides enzymes, is also increasing. Fungi are very effective for producing these enzymes. This way of production is already done for certain type of foods, but also for detergents, cosmetics, medicines and other healthcare products.

So how can these fungi in a form of enzymes be used to produce other products, like bioplastics? As the public discourse on plastics is growing, we are sure that bioplastics have a lot of potential in society.

Fungi in the traditional production process

Fungi is already being used for ages in the production of food. For example, the use of fungi in the production process of Japanese rice wine, is centuries old. And since at least the 10^th century AD, fungal spores are used and manipulated, for example in the production of cheese.

Already in 1894, a Japanese man called Jokichi Takamine applied for the patent on the amylase production of Aspergillus oryzae. This can be used in the production of alcohol. Since this moment, the development of fungi for industrial purposes took off. An English textbook on industrial mycology published in 1938 explained fungi as a biochemists in industry. In the book, various fungi species were described extensively. At the same time, several companies were producing enzymes that could be used commercially, of which, among others, DSM, DuPont and Unilever.

Improvements in the production of fungi

Initially, fungi were produced in a classic way with stocks and regular improvements being implemented in the production process. In the 1970s, molecular biology innovations made it possible to genetically modify (manipulate) fungi. The results was that they were able to produce specific industrial enzymes. And: fungus were able to produce its own enzymes in large quantities (like for example amylases), but it was also possible to produce enzymes from other quantities and fungi.

As a result, a wide range of applications were introduced. For example the production of another enzyme: chymosin. Earlier, this enzyme was taken from the stomach of a calf, but since the first application it was possible to produce it in isolation. This enzyme is used in the production of cheese, in the process of curdling the milk.

Another simultaneous development was the use of fungi in the pharmaceutical industry. For example to produce important proteins and insulin for the treatment of diabetes. This fungus did exist, but it was only possible to isolate a limited amount of this protein from animal and human material. This was not enough to fill the demand. Also, it appeared that the proteins that were isolated from animals could increase the risk of an allergic reactions, and even contamination with animal viruses.

The research development on fungi aloud for new, better solutions in the field of industrial biotechnology and pharmaceutical industries. The application of these findings have benefited us all, at least to some extent.

Difficulties in the production process

As I already mentioned, using fungi in production processes also has its difficulties. In the above mentioned examples, these difficulties concerning working with fungi also appeared quite rapidly. Fungi is a life creature, which basically does as it pleases. It appeared in the above mentioned production process that the foreign fungal proteins were degraded quite quickly by its proteases. These are protein splitting enzymes that the fungus itself produces.

Although solutions have been found for this problem, this degradation of proteins by proteases is still an important problem to produce non-native proteins in fungi in an efficient manner. However, the knowledge about this process, and thereby the possible solutions, has been extended intensively. This has made it possible to very precisely prevent the production of protease. Surprisingly, it also appeared that other fungus, like the fungus Trichoderma reesei, is regulated completely different. It actually appears we still know very little about fungi, and there is still a lot more to discover and investigate. The goal is simple: to find a fungus with the optimal characteristics to produce fungal proteins on an industrial scale.

To achieve this goals, more problems are to be solved. For example, the oxygen supply, the production of acids, the agility of the culture and to limit the characteristic of fungi to grow on everything and everywhere. Knowledge about the growth and reproduction of fungi is still quite limited. Research is therefor necessary.

Fungi used for the production of other materials and bioplastics

As described above, fungi are used in the production process of enzymes and proteins used in the pharmaceutical industry. Additionally, fungi are also a great resource in the production of raw materials in the chemical industry. In these industries, fungi are used in particular in the production of acids (for example citric acid, itaconic acid and gluconic acid), which can produce a large amount of fungi. These resources are used in the production of for example bioplastics, but have a wide range of applications in industrial production sectors.

The use of fungi to produce bioplastics involves a complicated biochemical synthesis in the fungal cell. Several genes of the fungus play a role in manipulating the synthesis. This part of the industrial application of fungi also undergoes a continuous need for further research. In the case of the use of fungi for bioplastics, further research concerns the understanding and control of the biosynthesis of fungi to produce more of these acids.

The developments in related fields of research help tremendously. Like for example system biology to allow to take a snapshot impression of the genes, metabolites and proteins of fungi. And next to compare these in different conditions to understand more about its processes and characteristics in different situations. This knowledge will help researchers to further develop the production processes in which fungi are involved. And it helps researchers to find solutions for problems in the production process, such as concerning protease formation, the control of biochemical solutions and the manipulation of fungal growth characteristics.

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CO2 compensation, how does it work?

We all know about pollution, CO2 emissions, the greenhouse effect, global warming and climate change. These issues are all interrelated, and start with … us. We all contribute to climate change with the choices we make. We can all contribute to limiting our role in global warming and climate change. For example by living more sustainably. Or by CO2 compensation. What is CO2 compensation and how does it work?

Many things we do directly or indirectly cause the release of CO2 gasses. Small changes you make in your own life, do make a difference. Like:

Making your home more energy-efficient.
Eat more consciously, by eating less meat, locally and seasonal.
Use sustainable modes of transportation.

By decreasing your CO2 footprint, you limit your role in global warming and climate change. However, we cannot completely avoid CO2 emissions, and it is difficult to take responsibility for someone else’s actions. But, you can compensate CO2 emissions. For example by planting trees elsewhere or by supporting projects for the production of green energy.

First prevent, then compensate CO2 emissions

To reduce your personal CO2 footprint, it is important to first try to avoid or prevent unnecessary CO2 emissions. Secondly, you can focus on compensating CO2 emissions you cannot really prevent. The CO2 emissions you cannot avoid or prevent, you can compensate.

Tips to avoid CO2 emissions

Measure you own CO2 footprint, for example through this CO2 footprint calculator, to figure out in which areas you can compensate CO2 emissions.
Avoid the airplane. Try to choose a vacation destination closer to home, that is accessible by bus, train of (electric and/or shared) car. Just a simple comparison: with a sustainable life for one entire year you save the same amount of CO2 that you emit with only one flight to your holiday destination. Or in other words: flying evaporates all your efforts to reduce CO2 emissions and prevent global warming, because flying is just incredible polluting. And besides: there are many great travel destinations closer to home.
Make you home more energy efficient. You can directly influence the CO2 emissions of your own energy consumption. Reduce your own energy consumption. How? Read these tips on a sustainable lifestyle.
Use green energy. Another direct choice you can make to reduce your CO2 footprint, is by choosing a green energy supplier in your home. Or by installing solar panels on your house.
Eat less meat. Many greenhouse gases are produced in the production process of meat. By eating less meat, you directly limit your CO2 footprint substantially.

Ways of CO2 compensation

That being said, the next step is to compensate the CO2 you’ve caused. There are different ways for CO2 compensation. The three most important ones, are these:

Planting trees. Trees extract CO2 from the atmosphere and release oxygen. They absorbed CO2 and release oxygen. Sounds great, doesn’t it? Additionally, trees store CO2 as they grow bigger. As they’ve fully grown, they don’t store extra CO2 anymore, but trees do keep the stored CO2. They do continue releasing oxygen in the atmosphere. When the wood of these trees is burned, the stored CO2 is being released again. In a CO2 compensation effort, it is therefor important to replace fully grown trees again to continue to store CO2.
Reduce activities that cause CO2 emissions, and replace them with environmental more friendly alternatives. For example: replace grey energy (coal burning power stations) with green energy (windmills).
Invest in green energy projects. The development of the green energy sector will reduce greenhouse gas emissions. So this is a great green investment opportunity.

CO2 compensation on a worldwide level

The scope of CO2 compensation is worldwide. CO2 gasses spread through our entire atmosphere. You can compensate by supporting for example tree planting projects in Costa Rica or investing in a solar panel project in Africa. By the choices you make and the products you buy, you can also directly influence the decrease of the destruction of forests in the Brazilian Amazon. For example, by not buying products with soya ingredients for soya plantations in Brazil. Or by buying wooden products made of fair trade wood.

How does CO2 compensation work?

Some things you simply cannot do yourself. For example, planting trees when living in an apartment, or building a windmill yourself. Therefor there are organizations that arrange this for you. They offer solutions for CO2 compensation or they offer projects you can invest in. Most of them are actually intermediaries themselves. They invest your money in companies that plant trees or build wind parks.

How to compensate CO2 emissions of traveling?

There are different ways to give you money to these intermediaries, to compensate your CO2 emissions or invest your money sustainably.

For example, the CO2 you cause when flying can be compensated by compensation programs offered by airlines. In the booking process, these airlines offer to possibility to check the box to compensate your flight. The extra money this costs you (usually a few euros), is donated to an organization that provides climate compensation solutions.

FlyGRN is a booking website that holds a CO2 compensation fee for your booking. Actually, they reduce the CO2 compensation from their own fee to stimulate you to compensate your flight.

Some airlines also have a compensation program. For an extra fee you can compensate your flight by checking the CO2 compensation box. For example the CO2ZERO program of KLM.

A better alternative way to travel is to avoid a overload of CO2 emissions by choosing an alternative way to travel. For example, by taking the train, bus or (sharing a) car.

How to compensate CO2 emissions of energy consumption?

Again, better first avoid CO2 emission by energy consumption and secondly compensate these CO2 emissions. In your energy consumption, you can choose to use green energy, like energy from solar panels or windmills. However, gas consumption for your central heating, warm water or gas stove cannot be compensated. It is therefor better to replace the installations that need gas, by an installation that runs on energy. When this is not (yet) possible, several energy suppliers offer possibilities to compensate your gas consumption. For example by investing in green energy projects in other countries or by planting trees.

Where to compensate CO2 emissions?

That being said, where can you compensate your CO2 emissions? You can invest in or donate money to the following organizations to compensate CO2 emissions, among many other organizations that are active in this field:

Tree nation – Plants trees.
Carbon fund – Plants trees.
GreenSeat – Invests in sustainable energy in developing countries.
Fair Climate Fund – Various climate projects, like planting trees and biogas projects.

You can easily arrange this yourself through internet. Try to be fair, and compensate what you cause or have caused. Be reasonable, and responsible.

Together we can make a difference!

How to live a more sustainable life: 10 tips

Living a more sustainable life improves our planet and our direct living environment. But in most cases, it also helps you to live a happy and healthy life and save some money in the process. Would you like to know how to live a more sustainable life? Read my easy, accessible tips below.

Make love, not fear

Did you realize we live in the biggest ecological crisis since the beginning of human kind? As humans, and also the world we live in, we depend on a certain ecology. This is based on a certain climate, a specific range of temperature and enough sunlight and water. If these conditions change, we cannot live, nor can nature survive.

Ok, we already knew that. So how can we change? We can change by looking ahead. A sustainable life is more than solar panels and insulation. We also have to change the way we think and act. We can start small, by looking at ourselves. If we change ourselves first, then the world will become a better place to live for all of us.

First we have to love ourselves, then we can love our planet. We don’t need to fear climate change, but love our planet with its climate. In this way, we currently don’t live in an ecological disaster, but in a different reality.

10 tips for a more sustainable life

What can you do to have a more sustainable life? Some tips a more obvious for you, other more challenging. Apply those things that can make your life more sustainable in an easy, but effective way. I must point out, though, that these tips are in order of importance.

Tip 1: Switch to a green electricity supplier

Choose green energy! This is not only better for our planet. Green energy makes the air you breath in your living environment more healthier. It is such a simple step, with huge positive consequences on the long run.

Choose green energy from windmills or solar panels. Go for the very best option available. You can additionally choose to compensate your gas usage by compensation programs. This compensates the CO2 emission you cause by burning gas.

This is not only tip number 1 in this list. This is the most important and most effective step you can take to actually make a difference.

Tip 2: Put solar panels on your roof

Additionally to tip 1: if you install you own solar panels, you will also save quite some money on the long run on electricity costs, and actively safe our climate. Actually, financially speaking an investment in solar panels has a great return. It is therefor a smart investment.

Tip 3: Meditate each day

Are you always busy? As a result of stress, you don’t have the time or energy to think clearly anymore and follow your priorities. Meditation truly helps. In fact: meditation makes you more loving and allow you to be in touch with yourself.

Tip 4: Make one good gesture every day

Try to be a better person. It is quite simple. Promise yourself to try to do at least one good thing for another person every day. The occasion will reveal itself. For example: help you neighbor with groceries, give a homeless person a meal, offer your seat to the old person in the bus/metro/train, help a friend in need, etc. Or of course, buy less. If you still buy something, you can always use the TreeClicks app that plants free trees when shopping online. To be more loving is a choice.

By allowing yourself to be more loving, you show this love to the people in your social environment. Spread the love, and pay it forward!

Tips 5: Don’t kill with your own hands

Life is valuable, also insect life. Insects are like humans part of our eco-system. Don’t kill flies, spiders or bees, cause then you break the vulnerable system. Allow them to live. It’s also psychological. It helps you to be compassionate about other lives. The next step is to allow them to live by having a insect friendly garden. The bees and the birds will thank you for it.

Tip 6: Become a flexitarian, vegetarian or vegan

Meat production is not very environmental friendly, while a human body doesn’t need so much meat on a daily basis. On the other hand, a flexitarian diet is way better for your health. You‘ll look healthier and feel more energetic. Try to eat less meat, and I promise that within a few weeks you won’t miss it at all.

Tip 7: Enjoy nature

When you appreciate nature more, you’ll want to preserve it better. So enjoy nature near your house. Walk or cycle through parks forests or natural reserves. Appreciate the trees, flowers, birds and life. Nature is beautiful, and worth preserving.

Tip 8: Make you house more energy-friendly

Walk trough your house and write down in what ways you can save energy.

Replace old appliances, most of the time old appliances use an excessive amount of energy compared to new, energy friendly appliances. It’s way more eco-friendly to replace these old ones, and buy new A+++ appliances, to save quite a lot of energy.
Replace ordinary light bulbs with LED lights. LED lights use a considerable less amount of energy.
Unplug unused plugs, they still use energy.
Turn off appliances you don’t use. They still use energy, even on standby mode.
Fix leaking water taps and toilets, to prevent wasting water.
Replace your shower head with a water saving shower head. You probably won’t notice it, but it will save tens of liters of water each day.
Install a water saving toilet flush, that uses the amount of water needed to effectively flush a number 1 or number 2. More water is simply not needed.
Turn on the washing machine when it’s full, to limit the times you turn it on.
Hang clothes to dry, and use the dryer as less as possible. Drying machines are big energy users. Hanging your clothes to dry, instead of using a dryer, also makes your clothes more durable.
Clean your freezer from frost. Your freezer uses more energy when frosted.
Produce less waste. Use less plastics to produce less waste. The waste you do produce, you can easily recycle or reuse in many different ways. This will decrease the total amount of waste you dump in the garbage can.

I’m sure there are many more small changes that can make your house more sustainable. The result is a decreasing energy bill.

Tip 9: Compensate CO2 emissions on your airplane trip

Are you going to book a flight? Better choose an alternative way of transport, like a train or bus. But when this is not possible, you can compensate the CO2 emissions on your flight.

Tip 10: Eat locally, and seasonal

Local food is fresh, and therefor delicious. Non-local food has travelled a long time before it ended up on your plate, resulting in a huge CO2 emission. That is totally unnecessary. Try to choose food that is produced locally. And also: eat more seasonal food. Our off-season food has been produced in polluting green houses, while seasonal food is delicious and fits your mood. You can read more sustainable living tips in this blog.

Good luck, love and have fun!