Page 12 - Tropic Magazine Issue 19

EDITOR’S

LETTER

Alfoil awakening
I bought eco-friendly aluminum foil at the supermarket the
other day. It took a little time, once I marvelled at the miracle
of how they managed to manufacture 100% recycled alfoil.
As thin as a crepe and just as delicate, how do they even find
enough scrap foil to repurpose it into something new and
smooth and environmentally friendly? Do they scour landfill
for scrunched up balls of used alfoil and melt them down
into liquid metal? How do they press them into ultra-thin
sheets, rolls and rolls and rolls of them? Amazing. Anyway,
my 9-year-old daughter was super impressed. She wouldn’t
let me choose the normal, standard, everyday alfoil I’ve been
Nike shoes made with recycled material buying since forever, back when normal, standard, everyday
alfoil was the only type available. “Dad... we have to save the
planet,” she pleaded, her hopeful pout and batting eyelashes
used to maximum effect. So, from now on, we are saving the
planet, one strip of shiny silver sheeting at a time. And it got
me thinking. This whole eco-friendly, sustainability thing
is kind of a big deal. I had the same thought after attending
Cairns Regional Council’s Ecofiesta in June. Thousands upon
thousands of locals attended the event at the cruise liner
terminal, all of them eager to learn how they too could save
the planet. Attendance at Ecofiesta is up 30% over the past
two years. Something’s going on, something green. Not in any
kind of extreme, political way. It’s more like a tilt in the axis
of consumerism, a slow awakening in awareness, a nudge in a
Apple headquarters greener direction. The supermarket shelves don’t lie. When it
comes to eco-friendly products, recycled alfoil is just the tip of
the iceberg. Sorry, bad metaphor in the circumstances. But you
get my drift.

CORPORATES GO GREEN
Whether you’re a metal straw sipping climate change believer
or think it’s a scam peddled by scientists to guarantee future
grant funding, the trend is clear: sustainability is too big to
ignore. The world’s biggest, most lucrative brands already
know this.
Apple is going green, powering its new multi-billion dollar
headquarters in California with 100% renewable energy and
using recycled and reclaimed materials in its phones and
tablets. Around 75% of all Nike shoes and apparel now contain

12 • Tropic • Issue 19