Environment

Could indigenous knowledge systems combat climate change?

www.themirrorinspires.com As the global scientific community combines technology and brains to track climate change patterns and effects, indigenous populations have been noting these changes in a landscape they know intimately. In the Philippines and Indonesia, scientists and nongovernmental organisations are working with indigenous communities to map territories for future research and for hazard mapping during times of natural disasters. In India, farmers in arid and semi-arid regions rotate crops and change the dates for sowing seeds based on climate conditions. In the Koli community of Mumbai, they change their fish catch patterns to enhance the availability of fish in the future. This is part of the Navdanya programme, which promotes biodiversity conservation with the help of local tribal people. Among its activities, the programme maintains and engages with religious and tribal traditions such as rainwater harvesting, growing medicinal plants and maintaining biodiversity by conserving varietal flora and fauna. “Indigenous peoples across the globe have been confronting climate change and variability on a regular basis due to their heavy dependence on natural resources for their livelihoods,” says Vijaya Gupta from the National Institute of Industrial Engineering in Mumbai. The unique knowledge systems held by indigenous populations can play an important role in monitoring small climatic changes and events that might go unnoticed by scientific tracking. During the July 2015 climate change conference in Paris, scientists called on the global research community to seize the opportunity to collaborate with indigenous populations that are often taken for granted. “Indigenous people are living on the land so they are being exposed to ecological changes. [Thus], they would be able to monitor, evaluate and read the signs … of how we are adapting to climate change,” explains Anne Poelina, managing director of Madjulla Inc., an indigenous non-governmental community development organisation based in Australia. In order […]

Cities need more ‘living green’, concludes International conference

The importance of ‘living green’ was brought to the attention of sixteen countries at an International Green City Conference this month. Becoming the greenest city in the world, using plants to manage stormwater threats, how to implement greening and change the public mindset, how buildings need to be able to ‘heal people and the benefits of a ‘Green City’, were all on the agenda. Organised by the International Association of Horticultural Producers (AIPH) and the Canadian Nursery Landscape Association (CNLA) the event was held in Vancouver, Canada on 14-18 March. Sponsored by TD and Davey Trees, it attracted delegates who are committed to greening city landscapes. Vancouver is working towards being the greenest city in the world by 2020. The former Mayor of Vancouver and Premier of British Columbia, Mike Harcourt, opened the conference by demonstrating that Vancouver has had an environmental focus since the 1980s when back then they were already looking at alternatives to cars and different energy sources as well as planning the city to be more sustainable. For a long time it has been a philosophy of Vancouver that there is a close link between greening the city, economic sustainability and livability. Vancouver Urban Forest Strategy which has a target of achieving 22% tree coverage in the city by 2050 was introduced by Bill Stephen from the City of Vancouver. In a densely populated city this is a big challenge as growing space has reduced with city development, but initiatives such as ‘Street tree cooling networks’, the ‘citizen forester’ and planting 150,000 trees by 2020 will all help in reaching the goal. Local examples of green city projects were provided from the University of British Columbia, including the East Clayton Neighbourhood Project, introduced by Patrick Condon and Sara Barron, and how plants have been used to […]

Closing the loop for greener production

A method developed by A*STAR for analysing the financial benefits of incorporating the recycling and reuse of materials in manufacturing processes is expected to encourage more companies to adopt environmentally friendly production practices. Increasing global consumerism is leading to a waste time bomb. All too often, products that reach the end of their useful life are either incinerated, releasing harmful byproducts into the atmosphere, or dumped in landfill sites, which are rapidly becoming full. Both individuals and multinational companies could take greater responsibility for reducing waste by recycling. “Manufacturers are facing ever increasing pressure due to resource scarcity and environmental legislation,” says Jonathan Sze Choong Low from the A*STAR Singapore Institute of Manufacturing Technology. “Dealing with it by just reducing resource consumption will not hold up anymore.” Now, Low and his co-workers have extended the traditional linear production chain that links the manufacturer to the supplier to the consumer so that it leads back to the manufacturer once the product is no longer of use — creating a so-called closed-loop supply chain. A crucial link in a closed-loop supply chain is the process of reinserting recovered parts and materials back into the original manufacturing process — known as a closed-loop production system. Such integrated reuse of resources clearly benefits the environment, but businesses need to be certain that a production system is financially viable before they will adopt it. Low and his colleagues have now created a cost-modeling technique that simplifies this analysis. Their procedure considers the product as a collection of recyclable subunits. In contrast, previous models considered the product as a whole, but this approach is complicated since different components have different closed loops. “The product structure-based integrated life cycle analysis, or PSILA, technique we have developed allows users to break down a complex closed-loop production system into […]

Will electric cars cause the next oil crisis?

Some inventions are an immediate success. When Apple released the iPhone in 2007, customers lined up outside stores, desperate to get their hands on what the media called the Jesus phone, a reference to the device’s popularity. Other innovations aren’t quite as successful. Take electric cars. They’ve been around longer than you might think – they were first invented early in the 19th century – but were quickly overshadowed by their oil-guzzling counterparts. For a long time, it looked as though things were set to stay that way. Despite all the benefits – electric cars could help cut carbon emissions and air pollution, for example – there were very few takers. In 2011, President Barack Obama predicted there would be 1 million plug-in cars on US roads by 2015. He was off by over 700,000. But electric vehicles might be set for a revival: “A shift is under way that will lead to widespread adoption of EVs in the next decade,” Bloomberg reported last week. What’s behind the change? It’s simple, really: electric vehicles are set to get a whole lot cheaper. While many people liked the idea behind electric vehicles, even with government subsidies they’re too expensive: “If there’s a price penalty, people just don’t buy,” Carlos Ghosn of Renault-Nissan told the Guardian last year. His company sells more than half of the world’s electric cars. One of the reasons for the price difference between electric and conventional vehicles is scale. Of the billions of cars on the world’s roads, only 1% of new cars are electric, which means higher production costs. Another is the cost of the batteries that power electric cars. And this is where the big changes are happening. Battery prices fell by 35% last year, and it’s a trend that will probably continue. As the […]

Tiger population rebounding

A new study by a team of Thai and international scientists finds that a depleted tiger population in Thailand is rebounding thanks to enhanced protection measures. This is the only site in Southeast Asia where tigers are confirmed to be increasing in population. It is also the first-ever long-term study of tiger population dynamics in Southeast Asia. Moreover, the scientists feel even better days lay ahead for this population of the iconic carnivores. The Government of Thailand in collaboration with WCS (Wildlife Conservation Society) established an intensive patrol system in in Huai Kha Khaeng Wildlife Sanctuary (HKK) in 2006 to curb poaching of tigers and their prey, and to recover what is possibly the largest remaining “source” population of wild tigers in mainland Southeast Asia. Monitoring of the population from 2005-2012 identified 90 individual tigers and an improvement in tiger survival and recruitment over time. “The protection effort is paying off as the years have progressed, as indicated by the increase in recruitment, and we expect the tiger population to increase even more rapidly in the years to come,” said Somphot Duangchantrasiri, the lead author of the study.” To monitor the tigers, the scientists employed rigorous, annually repeated camera trap surveys (where tigers are photographed and individually identified from their stripe patterns) combined with advanced statistical models. “This collaboration between WCS and the Thai government used the most up-to-date methodologies for counting tigers,” said Dr. Ullas Karanth, a senior scientist with WCS and one of the authors of the study. “It’s gratifying to see such rigorous science being used to inform critical conservation management decisions.” Analyses of the tigers’ long-term photo-capture histories and calculations of tiger abundances and densities, annual rates of survival, recruitment and other information provided scientists with direct, comprehensive measures of the dynamics of the wild tiger […]

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 […]

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.

Deforestation briefing: Palmed off – Rumble in the Jungle

By April Streeter Changes, or at least assurances of changes, are coming to the palm oil industry, a mega-business blamed for much of the deforestation in tropical nations Three of the largest palm oil producers and traders unveiled zero deforestation plans last year, affecting 60% of the global palm oil industry. Wilmar International, which has a 45% market share, Cargill with 10% and Golden Agri-Resources with 5% pledged “to end deforestation in the palm oil trade, both through direct corporate policies and through their demands from the supply chain”, according to US Food News. The three announced their plans along with the Indonesian government at the UN Climate Summit held in 2014. US-based commodities trader Cargill last year also unveiled a pledge that the palm oil it produces, trades or processes will no longer come from deforested lands, carbon-rich peat lands or be linked to “exploitation of rights of indigenous peoples and local communities”, according to a company statement released in July 2014. “It is critical that all parts of the palm oil supply chain – from plantations to retailers – collaborate and act in an environmentally sustainable and socially responsible manner,” the statement notes. The company pledged to involve multiple stakeholders and engage in a constant review and improvement process. Unilever is driving beef sustainability Wilmar, though, recently was cited in a report for abuses of human and environmental rights while acquiring a large parcel of land in Cross River State, Nigeria. The report was released jointly by Friends of the Earth US and Environmental Rights Action-Nigeria. According to the report, the company failed to acquire the free, prior and informed consent of communities directly affected by its operations, did not complete satisfactory environmental and social impact assessments and did not follow through on promises of infrastructure development and […]

Destruction of our soil more serious than climate change

An international soil scientist says restocking the world’s arable soil with carbon is more important than climate change. Dr John Baker says too many people around the world treat soil like dirt when it should be revered because “our lives depend on it.” He believes that because soil isn’t sexy, is not on our radar and is metaphorically beneath us, it’s taken for granted by many farmers and ignored by politicians and city dwellers. “Instead people are besotted by climate change when improving soil health and feeding the world is more important,” he says. “Climate change, while serious, is not going to starve you but the rape of our soil over the last 1,000 years through traditional tillage methods, is already leading to reduced crop yields and will eventually result in famine and malnutrition.” Dr Baker says alarming figures provided by the United National Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) and the UK Farmers Weekly suggest the quality of soil is rapidly diminishing. FAO predicts the world, on average, has 60 more years of growing crops left while the Farmers Weekly claims that only 100 harvests remain in the UK. Eighty percent of the world’s food comes from crops. Ironically climate change and soil health are closely related and can benefit each other Dr Baker, who has a MAgrSc in soil science and Ph.D in agricultural engineering from Massey University, New Zealand, explains. “Soil health is strongly influenced by the amount of carbon in the soil. That carbon has been oxidised by conventional tillage (ploughing) and even minimum tillage and discharged as carbon dioxide back into the atmosphere. Tillage does nothing to recapture it,” he says. “As a result the carbon that was in the soil is now in the atmosphere and contributes to climate change when it should be back […]

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