Episode 143

[FOCUS] Is Our Shopping Experience Designed For Convenience?

Episode Summary: This episode delves into a discussion on the Shopping Experience and Convenience selected from Episode 38. 

Leekei and Olabanji discuss the shift from glass to plastic bottles and the financial incentives that are used to encourage the return of glass containers. 

They explore how the food industry has opted for plastics over glass for the sake of convenience. Olabanji also talks about the potential for reusing plastic bottles. They conclude by realizing that modern shopping practices prioritize convenience over sustainability

To listen to the full episode of ‘Is Our Shopping Experience Designed For Convenience?’ go here.

For more information on the project and to order your copy of the Carbon Almanac, visit thecarbonalmanac.org

Want to join in the conversation?

Visit thecarbonalmanac.org/podcasts and send us a voice message on this episode or any other climate-related ideas and perspectives.

Don’t Take Our Word For It, Look It Up!

You can read about the full article on Tyranny of Convenience by Tim Wu on pages 6-9 of The Carbon Almanac and on the website you can tap the footnotes link and type in 008

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Featuring Carbon Almanac Contributor Olabanji Stephen and Leekei Tang.

Olabanji is from Lagos Nigeria, he’s a Creative Director and visual designer that helps brands gain clarity, deliver meaningful experiences and build tribes through Design & Strategy. He founded Jorney - a community designed to help people stay productive, accountable, and do their best work.

Leekei is a fashion business founder, a business coach, an international development expert and podcaster from Paris, France.

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The CarbonSessions Podcast is produced and edited by Leekei Tang, Steve Heatherington and Rob Slater.

Transcript
Speaker:

Anyway, we we're talking

about conscious buying today.

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Yes.

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You were telling me, me the story about

the drink that you got and, uh, so

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maybe you could share this story again.

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Yeah.

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Happy to.

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Happy to.

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So I'm a very big fan of Zobo.

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Zobo is a local drink.

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Man.

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I wish I could show you a picture.

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Zoba is a local drink, . It's

made from flowers.

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Those flowers, they like roses, but it's

made from flowers and it's really healthy.

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Even there's research that says

that it helps to prevent cancer.

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Yeah.

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It's a really rich drink.

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Mm-hmm.

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. So I resolve to taking that and

please disclaimer, I'm not a

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doctor, so don't go drinks cooks.

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Um, I'm just saying like,

rumor has it, so has it.

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Mm-hmm.

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Anyway.

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You know, I go to buy it from a particular

vendor and each time I get there,

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they want to give me plastic, right?

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So I like it a lot, but I can't

buy it every time because it

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always comes in this, you know, in

quote disposable containers and.

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You know, that's a lay back for me.

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Cause like why, why can't she just refuel?

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And so I asked, I asked the lady, right?

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I'm like, Hey, can I bring my own bottles

so that you can just pour it into my

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bottle and then you can reuse your bottle?

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And she said, No.

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Why don't you just take

the bottom like it's free?

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You don't, you're not paying for it.

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I'm like, No, I'm not paying for it.

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But, well, I am paying for it

because if, if I throw it away, it

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becomes dangerous to the environ.

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and I started educating her and I

said, Do you know that it takes around

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a million years for plastic to decay?

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And she opened them out wide and she

couldn't believe it . And I was like,

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Yeah, it, it takes around that time and,

you know, I started giving her a bit

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of a crash course on, on climate change

and, and the things that are causing it,

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And, and that, that was fun.

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I mean, the look on her

face was like, uh, okay.

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So she gave me the, the benefit of always

bringing my containers and then they, they

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refuel my containers each time I go there,

So I just always go my own containers

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and then they can refuel theirs back.

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Right, . Almost immediately.

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But do you bring it clean?

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You clean it yourself?

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Yeah, I clean it myself.

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So I mean, it's my container.

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Um, it's clean, then I take it

there, and then they just refill.

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They, they fuel my container and then they

have theirs back to, to refuel as well.

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Um, yeah.

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Yeah.

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This reminds me also when I was a child

back in the eighties, the bottles of

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soda that we got were in glass bottles.

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And so you go to the, to the

shop, you buy them and you.

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, well they take a deposit.

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Hmm.

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And then when you return the

bottle, the glass bottle,

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then they return the deposit.

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And I really enjoy that.

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Yeah.

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When I was a kid, I really enjoyed

that because I was allowed to

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keep the money of the deposit.

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Yeah.

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That, that, that was fun.

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Uh, and, and that's interesting cuz

similar to what, to what happened, You

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know, to me also growing up, it, it

still happens actually here in Nigeria.

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If you buy a bottle of

Coke or Pepsi, you drop a.

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And then you can take the bottle,

and then you bring the bottle back,

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and then you get your deposit.

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And there are these trucks that

deliver the drinks in bulk to

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the vendors that sell them.

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So when they come, they take the

empty bottles in crates and then

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they give you the drinks, the field

one, you know, in crates as well.

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Else you would have to pay for any

bottle that is missing in the cre.

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So people kind of

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Yeah.

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So there, there was some

value to the bottle.

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Yeah.

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So that's quite interesting too.

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And, and that brings me

to the question, right?

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Like the idea of convenience.

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Is quite hurtful, because it's easy

to, to the, the bottle in a trash

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can and just go on with your life.

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You don't have to clean

it in the glass bottle.

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You can break it.

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Yeah, you can break it.

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Uh, it's dangerous.

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Yeah.

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It's so cold.

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Dangerous, . That's right.

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We're just, I don't know.

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I think we've had this

conversation one time.

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The tragedy of convenience.

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Is it the tragedy of convenience?

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Yes.

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Actually, it's an article.

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It's a, it's one of the

first article in the al.

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It's one of the first one.

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Oh, wow.

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That's interesting.

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Right?

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Cause things that are easy,

especially with packaging, are, are

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very hurtful to, to the ecosystem.

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And going the extra mile

to take your own bottle.

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Like me.

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Yeah.

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Or buying it in a glass bottle and

then returning it to the vendors would

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actually, you know, go a long way.

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If we can develop a culture.

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Well, but I think it's not only

a problem of culture because

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uh, where I live in France,

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When it comes to the climate, we don’t need more marketing or anxiety. We need established facts and a plan for collective action.

The climate is the fundamental issue of our time, and now we face a critical decision. Whether to be optimistic or fatalistic, whether to profess skepticism or to take action. Yet it seems we can barely agree on what is really going on, let alone what needs to be done. We urgently need facts, not opinions. Insights, not statistics. And a shift from thinking about climate change as a “me” problem to a “we” problem.

The Carbon Almanac is a once-in-a-lifetime collaboration between hundreds of writers, researchers, thinkers, and illustrators that focuses on what we know, what has come before, and what might happen next. Drawing on over 1,000 data points, the book uses cartoons, quotes, illustrations, tables, histories, and articles to lay out carbon’s impact on our food system, ocean acidity, agriculture, energy, biodiversity, extreme weather events, the economy, human health, and best and worst-case scenarios. Visually engaging and built to share, The Carbon Almanac is the definitive source for facts and the basis for a global movement to fight climate change.

This isn’t what the oil companies, marketers, activists, or politicians want you to believe. This is what’s really happening, right now. Our planet is in trouble, and no one concerned group, corporation, country, or hemisphere can address this on its own. Self-interest only increases the problem. We are in this together. And it’s not too late to for concerted, collective action for change.