doug

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Posts by Doug Green:

Food waste

SINGAPORE: If you and your family made it a point to finish every morsel of your Chinese New Year meals, then you have all done exceptionally well. This is because every year, Singapore sees hundreds of thousands of tonnes of food going to waste. According to the National Environment Agency, the country wasted approximately 790,000 tonnes of food in 2014. During the Chinese New Year period, food waste increases by up to 20 per cent. As a small country with limited agricultural ability, Singapore is heavily reliant on imports for food. In 2014, Singapore spent US$10.6 billion (S$14.8 billion) importing 5.93 million tonnes of food. But out of that, 13 per cent of its imports, or US$1.4 billion worth of it, end up as waste. Since 2004, food wastage has increased almost 50 per cent, while food imports have been steadily increasing by 37 per cent over the same period. “As the country gets more affluent, society gets richer, more people have more income to buy food,” said Mr Eugene Tay, the founder of sustainability consultancy, Green Future Solutions, in an interview with Channel NewsAsia’s It Figures. “We can buy a lot of food imported from different countries. You buy more stuff, and you can’t finish it, and it expires and then it goes to waste.” In Singapore, food wastage has been traced to each and every step in the lifecycle of food production, from farm to dinner plates. At the root: The Farm Mr Alan Toh has been managing his farm, Yili Vegetation, for almost two decades. It is one of 200 small farms in Singapore. Along with his son, Mr Zheng Jie, he is part of Singapore’s agriculture industry, which occupies just 1 per cent of the island’s land space. With only four hectares of land to work […]

Protecting their crops through green technologies, Caribbean women fend for themselves

Through workshops, women farmers in Barbados, Grenada and Jamaica are learning more sustainable farming techniques and securing their livelihoods. Often totally dependent on rainfall for irrigation, battling increasingly longer droughts and intense bursts when the rain does come, Caribbean women farmers are looking to more sustainable means of crop production. With UN Women support, the Caribbean Policy Development Centre (CPDC) has led a project focused on women agricultural producers’ role in sustainable development in the Caribbean. Implemented in Barbados, Grenada and Jamaica, the project aims to reduce women’s lack of access to resources. Their crops include Irish potatoes, organic mushrooms, strawberries, vegetables and other fruit for the production of juices, pepper sauces and dried fruits. The women sell them at local markets in their communities and to tourists. “After I began growing mushrooms, I was able to support my family. For now, I sell mainly to hotels,” says 52-year-old Theresia Msacky, from Grenada. For many women, farming is their only income, particularly if they have children still in school. Through workshops on the evolving green economy – an approach that will result in improved human well-being and reduced inequalities, while not exposing future generations to significant environmental risks and ecological scarcities– the women learn to use more sustainable farming methods as a more stable and reliable way of making a living. Theresia said the workshops taught her about the value and importance of protecting the environment for her livelihood. She learned about water conservation and rain-water harvesting. “We learned about the importance of crop rotation,” she explains, “not planting an entire area in one crop but rotating the area … and using natural materials in the environment to conserve the moisture and increase the fertility of the soil. Now I am also using natural barriers like lemongrass to eradicate the […]

10 visions of the future

www.themirrorinspires.com Most books report on what has already happened. John O’Brien has written one that describes the future. But it’s not just built on his ideas. Visions 2100: Stories from Your Future presents scenarios from 80 of the world’s leading environmental thinkers and influencers. 1. Robogardeners, LaserBubbles and Parceldrones are things Like most people, my family and I grow lots of our own food. (Ok, Robogardeners do most of the work. But we tell them what we’d like). We eat real meat occasionally, and Newmeat more regularly. The kids like Newmeat better but they don’t really have adult palettes yet. We travel by bike. We all have Copenhagen Wheels for the hills and I love our LaserBubbles that protect us in the rain. We live just a few kilometres from work and school. Parceldrones carry the big things for us when we go shopping. 2. There’s an app to share human poo Every resource – even human waste – is used to its highest capacity via ‘Need and Want’ sharing apps. All of our stuff is designed to neatly turn into other stuff – or fuel. We dress in virtual, chameleon-like clothing for our virtual adventures to make holographic videos to show our virtual friends. We are free to live vibrantly without being overwhelmed. 3. The elderly don’t live alone Elder lifecare re-integrated into AllAge areas is massive now. Add all the required cooling, catering, shared resource-cycling has changed so much of our lifestyle, architecture and spatial planning. Then the on and offshore arcology, plans advanced for Moon and Mars and already on Antarctica. So, we see it works when it makes sense for economy, society and ecology. 4. Women take charge Did having an all-female G7 Summit ten years earlier have anything to do with the smoothness of the […]

And the winner is…Jerry Hall

In a week where film and television awards were to take centre stage there was an upstaging announcement regarding Rupert Murdoch and Jerry Hall. They got engaged! Somehow Rup always gets to be the centre of attention. Whether its the family battle about who is going to run the country when he retires, the hearings in London about hacking, the re appointment to a pivotal role of Rebecca Brooks or his influence this year on the Australian elections. He is always making a noise. If Jerry is marrying Rup for love and not money – that’s wonderful. If Jerry has drawn up the ‘legals’ then I hope they don’t separate. He would have been much wiser to have donated a financial package to the Syrian refugees who would probably then have enough money to rebuild their own country…and appointment a new leader. What is fascinating about all this is that Rupert Murdoch is a busy man. He’s running a great media empire with lots of different claws ( newspapers, films, television etc) and still has time at his age to get engaged and probably married for the fourth time. The whole thing is more hysterical than Coronation Street or the US presidential race. His kids must be pulling their hair out in their attempt to get him to sit at his desk of a day instead of wondering around finding a new marriage partner. And another thing, if he outlives Jerry, is he a beneficiary to her will…or doesn’t he need the money? www.themirrorinspires.com and on FaceBook @ The Elephant in the Conversation.

Eco-conscious consumers say it’s not easy being green

A Victoria University of Wellington researcher has uncovered why environmentally concerned consumers don’t always buy green products. School of Marketing and International Business lecturer Dr Micael-Lee Johnstone undertook research with Macquarie University’s Dr Lay Peng Tan to explore the gap between consumers’ largely positive attitudes towards the environment and their comparatively un-environmental purchasing habits. “Despite consumers’ positive attitudes about the environment, and their growing environmental consciousness, several studies have revealed an inconsistency between green attitudes and behaviour,” Dr Johnstone says. Dr Johnstone and Dr Tan conducted several focus groups to gain a greater understanding of consumers’ green consumptive habits and their perceptions of green products in the hope of explaining the gap. One of the strongest themes to emerge from their research are consumers’ perceptions that it is too hard to be green, something that can lead to inaction. “According to our focus groups, being environmentally responsible takes time, effort and money,” Dr Johnstone says. “There is also a perception that one needs to be knowledgeable, have self-discipline and be prepared to make personal sacrifices to be green.” Some factors were internal, for example, some consumers didn’t feel ready to be green as they thought doing so would require giving up daily niceties. Others felt external factors, such as the unavailability of green products, or the not-so-green habits of their housemates, made it more difficult to make green choices. Participants also felt geographic location influenced their consumptive habits. Urban consumers felt their setting made it harder to be eco-friendly, whereas those who lived in non-urban areas were more likely to be motivated by their natural surroundings to buy green products. Another major reason for eco-conscious consumers not buying eco-friendly products is what Dr Johnstone and Dr Tan dubbed “green reservations” where there is a perception among some consumers that choosing […]

Sustainability changing cities for the better

More than 800 experts in planning, urban design and commercial property will come together at the City of Sydney-sponsored Green Cities conference to discuss sustainable building initiatives. The annual conference, run by the Property Council of Australia and the Green Building Council of Australia, will attract some of the most innovative and influential specialists in the field, from 22–24 March, in Sydney. The City will showcase its leading sustainability projects at the conference, which provides a platform for professionals to share knowledge and explore the latest ideas on sustainable buildings, cities and communities. “Eighty per cent of the greenhouse gas emissions in the City of Sydney area come from buildings, so it’s important we look for new ways to create sustainable, energy efficient developments,” Lord Mayor Clover Moore said. “Central Sydney and the inner city are home to many commercial and residential properties, which have embraced new sustainable technologies and innovative building techniques. “These energy-saving technologies and designs are evolving fast, so this conference gives planners, designers and commercial developers an opportunity to share their practical experience and insights into making Sydney’s new high-density developments innovative and sustainable.” The City will provide $20,000 in cash sponsorship for the conference, which is now in its tenth year and attracts more than 800 delegates from across the Asia-Pacific region for three days of practical site tours, hands-on masterclasses, networking events and inspiring speakers. Next year’s conference theme is ‘Disruption’ and will include discussions about: • The importance of pedestrian zones in George Street and integrated transport planning; • Creating connected cities with light rail, cycling and walking; • Sustainable urban renewal projects, such as Green Square; • The issues related to city growth, densification, social and environmental sustainability; • Affordable housing for a diverse population; and • Wellness in the workplace. Green […]

How to Change the World – Greenpeace

How to Save the World

In 1971 a brave group of young activists set sail from Vancouver in an old fishing boat. Their mission: to stop Nixon’s atomic bomb tests in Amchitka, a tiny island off the west coast of Alaska. It was from these humble but courageous beginnings that the global organisation that we now know as Greenpeace was born. Chronicling the fascinating untold story behind the modern environmental movement, this gripping new film tells the story of eco-hero Robert Hunter and how he, alongside a group of like-minded and idealistic young friends in the ’70s, would be instrumental in altering the way we now look at the world and our place within it.

Disruptive technologies – where to from here?

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Who’s with Tony (Blair)?

Tony Abbott went to London and at a dinner suggested that Europe stop the refugees coming in. But more of that later. Tony Blair held a press conference before the release of the Chilcot Report so he wouldn’t appear to be such a bad guy over the disintegration of the Middle East. He is a war criminal waiting to happen and George W Bush and maybe John Howard won’t be far behind. Even The Donald, one of the most pompous and awe-deflating Republican presidential candidates the world has ever seen, gets it. He said recently that Saddam Hussein and Muammar Gaddafi ought to be still alive and we wouldn’t be in such a mess. The Donald said what we are all thinking and not expressing enough. The USA and its allies have made a pretty big mess and don’t know how to get out of it. Vladimir Putin is becoming a folk hero in Syria as he goes about his business of getting rid of Isis in a steady, let’s bomb them now kind of a way. And Isis…well they wouldn’t be about if the west had left the Middle East alone all those years ago. It’s a big mess and it’s going to be awfully hard to fix it. War creates pain and right now thousands and thousands of refugees are trying to find some peace in faraway fields in Europe. Back to Tony Blair…in the UK officials want him to stand trial for his role in all this. Anger abounds and the Chilcot Report may well be the mechanism to make this happen. Tony Abbott is telling Europe to do what Australia did…turn the people back…protect your borders and let Assad and all his mates look after their own people. –The Elephant in the Conversation

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