These 5 achievements show that we can really make a difference by living sustainably

Did you know that 70 years ago you couldn’t swim in many Swiss lakes and rivers because they were so polluted?

As late as the 1950s, municipal, commercial and industrial wastewater was fed directly into Swiss waters. The water stank, foam and carpets of algae formed.

However, the Swiss voters did not want to accept this situation. In 1967, she launched the popular initiative “Protection of water bodies from pollution”. As a result, politicians became aware of the issue and in 1971 enacted the second Water Protection Act.

Sewage and treatment plants were installed. For example, carbon, phosphorus and nitrogen can be removed from the wastewater. In the early 1980s, the water became increasingly cleaner and reached a high quality.

That’s why nowadays you can jump into almost every lake in Switzerland without hesitation – when the weather is a bit warmer.

Do you sometimes have little hope for our planet? It doesn’t have to be that way. Because nature has the power to take back what man has destroyed. You just have to let them. This is impressively demonstrated by the example of Chernobyl.

In 1986, one of the worst environmental disasters in recent times occurred near the Ukrainian city of Pripyat. An explosion occurred in reactor block 4 of the Chernobyl nuclear power plant. This made an area of ​​2,600 square kilometers a no-go zone. The city of Pripyat resembled a ghost town in which all life seemed to have died out.

But even in the places with the highest radiation levels, it took only three years for the plants to recover from the blast. Today, life around Chernobyl has really blossomed. Elk, deer, deer and wolves live again in the forests around the nuclear power plant. The population of many animals and plants is even larger than before the disaster.

The long-term successes follow, but first a short commercial break:

And now back to the story…

So if areas arise where people retreat, nature can recover. You can also see that on perhaps the most famous beach in Asia: Maya Bay on the island of Phi Phi Leh. This was made famous by the movie “The Beach”, which attracted crowds of tourists every day.

Nature suffered under the crowds. The ships destroyed the coral off the island with their anchors. The sunscreen that tourists used also affected nature. It is estimated that 90 percent of the corals have been destroyed. The wildlife on the island is also coming under increasing pressure, not least because of the litter left behind by tourists.

And so, in 2018, the Thai authorities decided to close the beach for a few months. Just before it should have risen again, the Covid pandemic came. In the end, the beach remained closed to tourists for almost four years.

A blessing for nature.

Hundreds of Blacktip Reef Sharks swim through the sea at the beach again today. Before the closure, they had almost completely disappeared. The coral reef has also been restored. Conservationists planted 30,000 coral fragments during the closure, which are now attracting a variety of fish again.

The tourist ships are now only allowed to moor at a newly constructed jetty so that the corals are no longer damaged. Tourists are no longer allowed to swim and their numbers are limited. In return, they can still marvel at nature in a few years. Thai authorities say the current regulations are sustainable.

As recently as the middle of the last decade, millions and millions of plastic bags were handed out in supermarkets in Kenya every year. They polluted the environment and clogged drainage systems, causing flooding in the rainy season. In addition, 50 percent of the cows had plastic bags in their stomachs. In the summer of 2017, the government therefore banned its use.

The ban has had its effect. Two years later, the government said that 80 percent of the population would no longer use plastic bags. There would now be less plastic in the stomachs of cows. Plastic bags used to be hung from trees near Nairobi, a WWF activist told the BBC. “Today we don’t see them anymore.”

One of the driving figures behind the ban is James Wakibia. With his work, the photojournalist persistently demonstrated the effects of plastic bags on the environment. He was therefore happy with the new law of the government. Today, he says, the image in public squares and streets has definitely changed. But that’s not enough for him. He is currently photographing plastic bottles – and hopes that they too will soon be banned.

Not only the example of James Wakibia shows that you as an individual can bring about lasting changes. In the 1990s, the Brazilian couple Salgado set themselves the task of reforesting the deforested area on their livestock farm. Trees covered only 0.5 percent of the area. The rest was dry and destroyed.

The project was gigantic, as the couple’s land measures 68 million square meters – the equivalent of about 10,000 football fields. But the Salgados were serious. They formed an organization and hired volunteers. From then on, dozens of people planted seedlings, removed weeds, and tended the new plants.

Since 2019, more than two million tree seedlings have been planted on Salgados land. Where 20 years ago was a desert of dust, there is now a tropical jungle. The reforestation has not only led to the return of more than 170 species of birds, 33 mammals and 15 species of amphibians. Soil erosion has also decreased, and the area gets more rain and slightly cooler weather because of the forest. (cma)