Affordable Mallorca | ULTIMATE GUIDE Sustainable Living

If we continue, the quotation on our collective tombstone will be: This species did not understand exponential growth. Daniel Christian Wahl

A warmer planet incubates infectious diseases. With our interconnectedness as species, through migrations – documented and undocumented, we currently have a global pandemic of a virulent coronavirus, COVID-19. People are now speaking “before Coronavirus” and “after Coronavirus” because we all sense the marker than times are now different. We are now compelled to make more rational decisions based on our common welfare. Long gone are the days of lone wolfs, mavericks and independent thinkers acting selfishly.

Recent History #

Many of us remember when the weather on Mallorca was predictably 300+ days of sun and warmth with a rainy season that was manageable. Now, residents and tourists alike are struggling to make social plans, modify housing and sort out costs of living on an island with uncertainties.

Whether we are talking to friends, reading comments on social media or watching the TV news, a growing concern is loudly reverberating all around us. What will become of our island, Spain and Our Planet Earth as the human race fails to incorporate drastic changes to dramatically reduce our use of natural resources.

Ahead of the UN COP25 Climate Change Conference in Madrid held 2-13 December 2019, the European Parliament had approved a resolution declaring a climate and environmental emergency in Europe and the World. They wanted the Commission to ensure that all relevant legislative and budgetary proposals were fully aligned with the objective of limiting global warming to under 1.5°C by 2050, reduce emissions 55% by 2030 and make dramatic reductions in aviation and shipping.

Industry leaders were on board to help support these efforts but much will need to be done to get the second largest emitter – The United States – back to the table. Unfortunately, no resolutions were passed with any meaningful initiatives and the world’s species continued to experience intense stress.

Enter COVID-19. This is the new normal.

Ahead of the UN COP25 Climate Change Conference in Madrid 2-13 December, the European Parliament has approved a resolution declaring a climate and environmental emergency in Europe and the World. They also want the Commission to ensure that all relevant legislative and budgetary proposals are fully aligned with the objective of limiting global warming to under 1.5°C by 2050, reduce emissions 55% by 2030 and make dramatic reductions in aviation and shipping. Fortunately, industry leaders are on board to help support these efforts but much will need to be done to get the second larger emitter – The United States – back to the table.

On the Balearic Islands, we experience the consequences of the man's impact on the environment first hand - - extreme heat and droughts in summer, torrential downpours followed by devastating earth slides like the one we've seen last year in Sant Llorenc des Cardassar, tornadoes of unheard-of dimensions, oceans swamped with plastic and a real plague of jellyfish along the southeast shores.

We also see the devastating effects of uncontrolled tourism to the islands with more than 20+ million people on Mallorca. While the island’s villages to the East are not populated year round, the overcrowding in Palma and the Southwest of the island pushes resources beyond the scope of healthy regeneration.

We at Affordable Mallorca care about our wonderful Planet Earth and love these islands. In our ULTIMATE GUIDE Sustainable Living we introduce you to environmental projects, show you how and where you can volunteer to make a difference, how you can take action for more sustainable living and how we can all work together reduce our carbon footprint and alter our lifestyle to reduce our environmental impact. Let's all join efforts and make this world a cleaner, safer place.

Below, find links to articles that help you better understand that people on Mallorca understand the stakes we face and are making efforts toward survival. Change agents live among us. Get to know them, their work and join us as we forge a path toward the Future for us all.

Christer Söderberg: Meet the social entrepreneur and climate change activist – “by necessity he says, not by choice…” Read more >>