The World of Right Here

The World of Away has been informed by the world in which we live. The creative process was informed by research into the problems our world is facing, some of which you will find below. 

UNSDGs

The United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (UNSDGs) are meant to make the world a better place. They are a series of goals meant to help countries make life better for everyone on Earth. Ratified by 192 UN member states in 2015, they are meant to guide action until 2030. 

The goals are

1. No Poverty; 
2. Zero Hunger; 
3. Good Health and Well-Being; 
4. Quality Education; 
5. Gender Equality; 
6. Clean Water and Sanitation; 
7. Affordable and Clean Energy; 
8. Decent Work and Economic Growth; 
9. Industry, Innovation, and Infrastructure; 
10. Reduced Inequalities; 
11. Sustainable Cities and Communities; 
12. Responsible Consumption and Production; 
13. Climate Action; 
14. Life Below Water; 
15. Life on Land; 
16. Peace, Justice, and Strong Institutions; and 
17. Partnerships. 

The UNSDGs replace the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) which were intended to guide global action from 2000 to 2015. The MDGs have been described by former UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon as “the most successful anti-poverty movement in history,” credited with ending extreme poverty for over 1 billion people and halving child mortality worldwide. The successes of the MDGs are widely understood, however, to have been unevenly achieved. 

Silver Skate is striving to bring our work into alignment with the goals and their vision of a more just world. 

Textile Waste

Making clothes takes lots and lots (and lots) of water. A single cotton t-shirt is estimated to require 2700 litres of fresh water to produce. Manufacturing can also harm the land and pollute the air. 

For many years, consumers in the global north have been buying more clothing and wearing each item fewer times according to United Nations research. This steadily increasing consumption of new textiles has not been matched by increases in recycling or reuse. Only 15% of used textiles are recycled. 

According to Sarah Janzen of Blenderz, an Edmonton garment recycling organization and thrift store, their organization alone receives over 1.5 tons of clothing per week. They have upcycled and recirculated 282 tons (564 000 lbs) since 2021. She does not refer to these materials as “donations” but rather “drop offs” or “recycling.” In so doing, she radically reframes the relationship between organization and patron: the organization is helping people to deal with their textile waste without it being exported — a service that the planet and the community benefits from — rather than folks doing the organization a favour.

A significant concern for Janzen is the composition of materials. About 60% of donated items contain materials that do not compost on their own, including acrylic, nylon, polyester, and spandex. Her research tells her that acrylic, spandex, and nylon takes 200 years to decompose while pollyester can take between 20-200 years. She is also concerned about Canada’s lax regulation and reporting on textile waste exports, which are often labeled “[u]sed or new rags, scrap twine, cordage, rope and cables and worn out articles of twine, cordage, rope or cables, of textile materials” in order to avoid import/export restrictions and negative press surrounding dumping of textiles into overseas markets. 

Many textiles from the Global North are shipped overseas (often to the Global South) only to end up in landfills there. This displaces the problem rather than addressing it. 

We explore these issues in The Land of Blasé.

Air Pollution and Particles

Sometimes it’s hard to breathe because of smog or smoke. But sometimes it’s the things we can’t see that are harming us. Very small particles — called particulate matter or particle pollution — emitted from smokestacks, construction sites, vehicles, and agriculture can find their way into our lungs and bloodstream and possibly even our brains. They also impact the climate because most air pollutant sources also emit CO2 and some particulate matter can itself impact the climate. 

There is cause to hope. Previous efforts have led to great changes. The 1987 Montreal Protocol was universally ratified, uniting the world in an effort to prevent the depletion of the Ozone Layer of the Earth’s atmosphere. The worldwide implementation of this agreement is estimated to have prevented 2 million people per year from developing skin cancer.

We explore these issues in Airtopia.

Plastics and Water 

Only 9% of plastics get recycled. The vast majority end up in landfills or the environment. It’s true! Canada alone discards more than 3,000,000 tonnes of plastic annually. The most commonly used plastics are not biodegradable, and so without further action will stay with us, essentially, forever. 

Many of these plastics will end up downstream in the oceans. Thanks to the circulation of ocean currents, plastics can build up in certain spots. The Great Pacific Garbage Patch (or, Garbage Island) is a massive collection of debris that exists between North America and Japan. It consists of microplastics forming a murky soup as well as larger objects that float or sink to the seabed. These plastics threaten marine life, disrupting ecosystems and polluting the food chain. Whale stomachs, for example, have been found full of plastics including fishing nets, plastic cups, and packing straps. 

Plastics are also polluting freshwater — including water closer to home — though this gets less attention. 

Plastic is a useful material that has made many things possible. Reducing plastic production (and therefore waste) and cultivating a circular economy, however, are necessary to prevent the many harms that plastics cause when they are left to wreak havoc in the world.

Lots of folks in Edmonton are taking action on item reuse and upcycling, including our partners on this project MADE in Highlands. They have a Craft Cafe space, sell local upcycled home goods, and have lots of other ideas for engaging young people (and everyone else) in creative reimaginings of how we might give new life to the things we make or buy.

We explore these issues in Oceanic Bliss.

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