Peak Water...Is Water a Renewable Resource?

Peak Water...Is water a renewable Resource?

Peak water is reached when the rate of water demand exceeds the rate at which water resources used for supply can be replenished. Therefore, all water supplies can be considered finite as they can all be depleted by over exploitation.  So while the total volume of water in the hydrological cycle remains the same, the availability of water does alter.  This is particularly true of aquifers (groundwater) and static water bodies such as lakes and reservoirs where the water may take a long time to replenish. So water availability is strongly linked to rainfall and the ability to retain this water within resources which is difficult as increasing intensity of water reduces infiltration.

Due to increasing demand from population growth, migration to urban centres and for agriculture, it is possible that a state of peak water could be reached in many areas if present trends continue.  By 2025 it is estimated that 1.8 billion people will be living with absolute water scarcity and in excess of 4 billion of the world’s population may be subject to water stress.  

A question I am often asked is how does a renewable resource become finite?  The answer is not as straight forward as first appears.  Water availability is governed by a number of possible factors: Over-abstraction  (i.e. using it before it can be replenish thereby exhausting the supply and causing significant and often permanent ecological damage), not returning water to hydrological resources, saltwater intrusion often caused by over-abstraction, pollution  of resources and finally climate change effects (glacier loss, reduced stream flow, evaporation of lakes).  Comparatively only a very small amount of water is regularly renewed by rain and snowfall, resulting in only a small volume of water available on a sustainable basis.  So all water supplies have an optimal abstraction rate to ensure they are sustainable, but once exceeded then supplies are doomed to failure.  As we saw in Section 3.2, a modified Hubbert curve applies to any resource that can be harvested faster than it can be replaced. This applies to all water resources but especially to groundwaters.

Peak water is defined in three different ways according to the impact on the resource as:  peak renewable, peak non-renewable or peak ecological water.

Peak Renewable Water comes from resources that are quickly replenished such as rivers and streams, shallow aquifers that recharge relatively quickly and rainwater systems.  These resources are constantly renewed by rainfall or snow melt; however this does not mean these resources can provide unlimited supplies of water.   If demand exceeds 100% of the renewable supply then the “peak renewable” limit is reached.  For many major river catchments globally, the peak renewable water limit has been reached.  For example, in excess of 100% of the average flow of the Colorado River is already allocated through legal agreements with the seven US States and Mexico. So in a typical year the river flow can now fall to zero before it reaches the sea.  Similarly the River Thames can during periods of low flow fall below the volume of water abstracted.  The river is prevented from drying up due to over-abstraction by returning wastewater after treatment to the river which is then reused numerous times as it approaches London. Due to the high population within the catchment, the Environment Agency has classified the area as seriously water stressed with towns and cities along the length of the Thames such as Swindon, Oxford and London itself, at risk of water shortages and restrictions during periods of dry weather.

Peak Non-renewable Water  comes from resources that are effectively non-renewable aquifers that have  very slow recharge rates , or contain ancient water that was captured and stored  hundreds or thousands of years ago  and is no longer being recharged ( a problem that will be exacerbated by climate change), or groundwater systems that have been damaged by compaction or other physical changes.

Abstraction in excess of natural recharge rates becomes increasingly difficult and expensive as the water table drops which results in a peak of production, followed by diminishing abstraction rates and accompanied by a rapid decline in quality as deeper more mineralized waters (i.e. increasingly salty to the taste) are accessed. Worldwide, a significant fraction of current agricultural production depends on non-renewable groundwater (e.g. North China plains, India, Ogallala Aquifer in the Great Plains of the United States) and the loss of these through over-exploitation threatens the reliability of long-term food supplies in these regions.

When the use of water from a groundwater aquifer far exceeds natural recharge rates, this stock of groundwater will be depleted or fall to a level where the cost of extraction exceeds the value of the water when used, very much like oil fields. The problem is that climate change often results in less rainfall creating a greater dependence on aquifers for supply.

Peak Ecological Water is water abstracted for human use which leads to ecological damage greater than the value of the water to humans. The human population already uses almost 50% of all renewable and accessible freshwater leading to serious ecological effects to both freshwater resources and transitional habitats such as wetlands.  Since 1900, half of the world’s wetlands have disappeared while approximately 50% of freshwater species have become extinct since 1970, faster than the decline of species either on land or in the sea. Water supports both man’s need and that of its natural flora and fauna.  These fragile environments need to be preserved for overall planet health. The simple fact that water supply quality is often a close relationship with the ecosystem, with most water bodies able to self purify its water constantly removing pollutants and improving quality overall. However, the problem has been in putting an economic value on ecological systems (sometimes referred to as ecological services) and nature as a whole; whereas water used by humans can be easily quantified economically.  In the mistaken assumption that such values are zero has led to them being highly discounted, underappreciated, or ignored in water policy decisions in many areas.   Over-abstraction is a major problem in many rivers in southern England that are fed from the aquifer below.  As more groundwater is abstracted then the water table falls as does the water level in the river.

 It is not only rivers that are drying up due to over abstraction and global warming but some of the largest freshwater lakes in the world such as the Aryl Sea and Lakes Chad and Victoria in Africa. Link   In the USA, water abstraction and water use peaked during 1975 to 1980 but has stabilized since.  This should have affected economic growth but has been able to continue  to grow by implementing better water management strategies to satisfy the new needs of industry.  This has been achieved through water conservation, stricter regulations, water efficient and improved technology, education, water pricing etc.  So US citizens are now using less water per capita than ever before.   However, many regions of the U.S. face water scarcity (e.g. the arid west) and new areas of water scarcity continue to develop due to climate change (e.g. southeast and Great Lakes region) which all indicate that peak water has been reached . The key question is how long can economic growth be sustained without water becoming a limiting factor? More information.

Will water shortages affect us in Ireland and the UK?  The straight answer is yes, and to some extent already is.  No one is exempt from the peak water crisis.  Due to global warming most arid regions will probably run out of water in less than two decades.  In wetter areas, peak water has been reached due to: heavy use of water; pollution of resources (often associated with urbanization); infrastructure not being completed to keep up with demand (China, India) and finally inadequate infrastructure (London, Dublin).

Agriculture represents at least 70% of freshwater use worldwide and with the demand for food soaring, especially as a result of climate change and increasing crop failure (e.g. China rice failure in 2011) then demand for irrigation and livestock watering will continue to be a major drain on supplies 

Extract from: Gray, N.F. (2015) Facing up to Global Warming: What is Going on and How You Can Make a Difference, Springer, New York. 
@nickgraytcd

EU carbon price crisis leads to intervention

http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/europes-carbon-
trading-market/2013/05/05/d0729d0a-b5da-11e2-92f3-
f291801936b8_graphic.html

The EU has agreed to carbon market reform measures in an attempt to deal with the oversupply of carbon credits in the market that has resulted in a sustained collapse of the traded price for the EU emissions allowance (EUA). Introduction of the market stability reserve will be brought forward to 2019 in an attempt raise EUA prices which are currently trading at  just €7.66 per tonne CO₂e (May, 2015). Forecasts had suggested that this price would stagnate or at best rise to between €8.70-18.30 per tonne CO₂e by 2020, so the EU has been forced into action.  The new measures are predicted to triple the EUA price by 2020. 

In a recent interview Professor Nick Gray of Trinity College Dublin and author of Facing up to Global Warming welcomed the news but reiterated that ‘the price will still be well below that  required to stimulate either investment in renewable and alternative energies or mitigation measures.  The new measures will of course help to raise and even stabilize prices, but forecasts have generally been overly optimistic, so we could still end up with a very low carbon price by the end of the decade.  With the cost of carbon-capture predicted to level out at around €50-60 per tonne of CO₂e, we have to ask ourselves again just how much we should be paying for offsetting carbon emissions.’  

Post: Pete Ferris

Eating Insects To Save The World, Don’t Let It Bug You!

Source: http://www.ibtimes.com/cupcakes
-made-insects-food-thought-photos-555117

Minestrone with buffalo worms and mealworms (grasshopper garnish optional); termite porridge; ‘land shrimp snack’ made of grasshoppers or locusts with hot pepper oil, lime and salt and protein bars made with cricket flour. These are just a handful of recipes from “The Insect Cookbook: Food For a Sustainable Planet” published by Dutch entomologists Arnold van Huis and Marcel Dicke, along with cooking instructor Henk van Garp[1]. The books main aim is to open our eyes to the fact that our aversion to insects as a food source is senseless and outdated. Unlike livestock and other forms of animal protein, insects are plentiful and nearly everywhere. Whilst, culturally we tend to overlook the possibility of caring for ourselves by insect means, they are a nutrient-rich and sustainable food-source that deserve consideration.

Jon Foley, head of the Institute for the Environment at the University of Minnesota, recently referred to the global food crisis as ‘the other inconvenient truth’ stating that he believes we are at a ‘critical crossroads’. Currently, the population of the world increases by about 75 million people each year. According to the United Nations Panel on Global Sustainability, the world will need at least 50% more food and 30% more water by 2030[2]. As developing countries adapt to modern needs and their economies grow, their demand for meat will increase and to meet this we will need to triple our food production. Unfortunately with current agricultural practices this is an impossible goal.

Source: http://finedininglovers.cdn.crosscast-
system.com/ImageAlbum/3216
/original_694-a.jpg

A recent report issued by the U.N.’s Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) promoted human consumption of insects as an environmentally sustainable means of feeding the planet. Although it was met with disgust and tossed aside by many, others such as food expert, Ruth Reichl, former editor-in-chief of Gourmet and award winning author recently told the New York Times that “We should all be eating insects, and we all will be eating insects. They are a perfectly reasonable source of protein.”   Like it or not, eating insects (or entomophagy) provides a far more sustainable source of protein than our existing consumption of meat and animal products. Also, most edible insects are very protein rich while being comparatively very lean. For example, a cricket has all the essential amino acids that beef contains but is far higher in iron and calcium. Other insects can provide other micronutrients such as B-vitamins, beta-carotene, and vitamin E.

Not only are insects often more nutritious but they are also a potential solution to the current inefficient food system because of their marginal environmental impact. In general, insects are extremely inexpensive and relatively safe and only require a fraction of the feed, space, water and maintenance of conventional livestock. The current livestock industry is estimated to be responsible for 17-18% of greenhouse emissions and accounts for 70% of all land cleared for agriculture[3]. Almost half of global water is used to produce animal-based foods. Insects, on the other hand, can live off agricultural byproducts such as food waste (e.g. fruit peels) and only a tiny portion of them produce methane, with those that do only producing very small amounts. Also as insects are poikilothermic (i.e. their body temperature remains the same as their surroundings), they are much more efficient at converting nutrition into protein. For instance, crickets need 12 times less food than cattle to produce the same amount of protein and unlike the cruel practice of factory farming, crickets and other bugs actually thrive when they are packed on top of each other[4]. Convinced yet?

With an estimated 1417 species of insects being regularly eaten by over 2 billion people across 3,000 ethnic groups in 80% of countries around the world, it seems it is the Westerners who will suffer most in the long run. But why are we so squeamish when it comes to the idea of chomping down on nice slice of crittle (a cricket and peanut brittle hybrid)?

Most of the Western world readily eats prawns and shrimp, which are arthropods-just, like insects, spiders and millipedes! Therefore, we need to get over this idea that insects are disgusting and stop trying to live in an insect-free world where everything is sterile and clean (after all we wouldn’t be here without the pollinating insects!). But before you get too excited and run down to the local park with a homemade pooter, take heed of the following advice. Like plants, some insects are good for you and some are toxic, aswell as the fact that you can never be sure that wild insects haven’t been exposed to pesticides, therefore, only farmed insects should be consumed. There are also several ‘pestaurants’ opening up around the world with a variety of insects to suit every palate. Experts also caution that we must be careful to develop sustainable cultivation and harvesting methods, as there are examples of human overconsumption that has led to the collapse of some insect species.

Jakub Dzamba, a man who’s researching radical approaches to urban agriculture, is working to build insect farms that can go right into the walls of an apartment building. The idea is that families could feed their food scraps and leftovers to the crickets, and then eat those same crickets, thus solving the dual agricultural problems of production and distribution.  It would therefore seem that these six-legged critters might just find a spot at our table in the not-so-distant future. If we can just start to accept and overcome our fear of munching on food that creeps and crawls, the future looks a little brighter for us humans. Unfortunately, I’m not so sure the same can be said for the future of our possible new food source, who have more of a reason now than ever, to stay away from the ‘light’!

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[1] http://www.bostonglobe.com/ideas/2014/03/15/the-joy-cooking-insects/732s4mXQ5obmD7I7gdIXoJ/story.html

[2] http://www.theguardian.com/sustainable-business/securing-a-sustainable-future

[3] http://www.fao.org/ag/magazine/0612sp1.htm

[4] http://www.nydailynews.com/life-style/eats/big-food-crickets-insects-article-1.1440422?pgno=1

Josh Hayes

Trinity College Dublin participates in first Intervarsity BioBlitz

On 1^st and 2^nd of May four teams of scientists, in four different universities, will race against time to see how many plants and animals can be recorded on their campus in a 24-hour period. TCD is one of four universities taking part in the event, which also includes DCU, NUI Galway and UCC.
But anyone around campus can join in by visiting the BioBlitz Public Lab upstairs in the Science Gallery. The Lab will open at 9.30am on Friday, 2^nd of May and provides a great opportunity to meet the scientists involved and find out about the plants and animals that inhabit the TCD campus. Visitors can join in one of three different plant walks at 9.30 which will survey TCD’s gardens, or find out about bugs, birds and moths at the Lab.
One of the key aims of BioBlitz is to raise awareness about biodiversity. As part of the TCD BioBlitz public engagement programme 4^th class from St. Mary’s Boys school will visit the Gallery for a workshop on pollinators with Green Bee Education (www.greenbeeeducation.com). The class will make nests for solitary bees which will positioned around campus and will be revisited with a primary school class at next year’s BioBlitz.
Students and staff are being encouraged to get involved by raising awareness of Irish wildlife and the BioBlitz event through social media. Different species flyers created by @daveendangered have been distributed across the campus with specific social media contact details. This is an opportunity for everyone to support the BioBlitz and get involved by creating a SpeciesSelfie through e-mail, twitter and facebook.
For more information about the BioBlitz or how you can get involved please contact Dr Rachel Kavanagh at tcdcbr@tcd.ie.

Visit the Science Gallery on Friday, 2nd May to join in the fun.

The BioBlitz is an initiative of the National Biodiversity Data Centre and An Taisce Green Campus.  This initiative is supported in Trinity College by Trinity Centre for Biodiversity Research, the School of Natural Science, The TCD Green Committee and the MSc students in Biodiversity and Conservation and Environmental Science.

 Dr Rachel Kavanagh

Earth Day 2014

Earth Day is an annual event celebrated each year on April 22^nd where events are held to support a sustainable world.  Started in 1970 by John McConnel, a peace activist, and Gaylord Nelson, a US Senator, Earth Day celebrates the first day of spring in the Northern hemisphere by inviting individuals and groups from around the world to get involved.  Link


Each year there is a new focus and this year’s theme is Green Cities.  Climate change fuels migration into cities where well over half of our global population now resides…this means that cities will have to adapt and evolve as they grow.

Nick Gray

Ignorance is Bliss, but Knowledge is Power – the importance of education in the move towards sustainable living

I had always considered myself a relatively ‘eco-friendly’ person, enjoying time spent outdoors, despising litter and pollution, growing up in a countryside household that values the environment. I reassured myself that by recycling plastic bottles, walking short distances and by availing of public transport as opposed to driving a car that I was able to justify endless of television and laptop use, recreational shopping and an occasional flight to Europe for a holiday in the sun. In recent years I have since come to accept that I can no longer engage in the same consumption practices of the past without a sharp pang of guilt. The ‘you-should-know-better’ voice inside my head (that developed as a result of four years of environmental and sustainability-related lectures) now lingers when I queue to pay for a heavily packaged pair of shoes, or a box of fruit that has been transported thousands of miles from its source of origin. Education has indeed opened my eyes to the reality of my contribution to increasing carbon emissions and the associated consequences.

As suggested by the title of this blog, to me, ignorance was bliss. Although I was aware that my energy consumption practices far outweigh those of people my age in other parts of the world, it was a thought that rarely crossed my mind. Thus, for several years I was blissfully engaging in the unsustainable mass-consumption economy I was born into. Taking a rather Orthodox Marxist perspective, I would argue that the environmental issues at hand today are inherently interlinked with this capitalist system and that the current crisis of the situation necessitates a demand for scientific, technological and other developments to improve our current understanding and the methods employed for resolving these issues. This information then needs to be distributed to and understood by people of all ages, across all levels of society, in both the public and private sector. In short, we need education.

As my awareness of the extent of the global environment issues grew, I must admit the temptation to adopt a despondent, existential attitude was there – after all, given the magnitude of the situation, if nobody else was making changes what difference could I make? However I ultimately believe that knowledge, particularly knowledge pertaining to the effects of an individual’s lifestyle and personal choices, has the ability to empower and inspire meaningful action. The role of education in this regard has become increasingly recognised by actors and organisations across multiple spheres. Departments of Education worldwide and multinational organisations such as UNESCO and the WWF run programmes in support of sustainability-based education. Such courses aim to promote sustainable lifestyle choices and often take a particular focus on the education of younger generations. In August 2013 for example, the Irish Department of Education and Skills launched a plan to develop the ‘National Strategy onEducation for Sustainable Development in Ireland’. This strategy expresses the significance of education. It aims to establish sustainable development learning at all levels of the education system and to promote public awareness and create support for education for sustainable development. I strongly believe the implementation of such strategies, as part of a wider movement that recognises the importance of education, is the first step in the long road to sustainable living.

Claire Quinn

Further information:
Nevin, E., 2008. Education and sustainable development. Available at: http://www.developmenteducationreview.com/issue6-focus4
Journal of Education for Sustainable Development, 2013.  Available at: http://jsd.sagepub.com/

Eco Living, Ahoy Mate!

The idea of living in an 8 by 20 foot steel box is enough to get you a few raised eyebrows and ‘are you mad?’ comments. But what if that box was spacious, homely, fully transportable, cheap, fire and flood proof, fully functional and designed to your own taste whilst keeping your ecological footprint to a minimum? If that sounds a bit better than maybe you are in the market for the latest green home, a converted shipping container.

http://ecovidainternational.com/eco-design-and-construction/
can-you-build-with-shipping-containers-in-spain/

Taking reuse to a new level there has been an upsurge in the use of old, disused containers in to modern, quickly assembled and environmentally friendly homes throughout the globe. It has been estimated that there are up to 24 million containers that will never be used to transport cargo again and not only do these make great temporary homes for those in crisis (they were used as emergency accommodation for people after the 1988 earthquake in Armenia) they also make excellent contemporary office and living space (there’s even one down the road from me being used as stables!). One important aspect is that they are cheap to acquire in the first place. A quick scan of buyandsell.ie shows some for sale for as little as €1,600 + VAT.

The fact that these homes are making use of a discarded material already makes them smart ecologically but many of them have incorporated features to make them that bit more sustainable. Some containers sport solar panels angled on the roof and others have small wind turbines and energy efficient windows. Another eco-friendly aspect it that it takes very little time for the setup of these homes which facilitates less disturbance to nature and also that they are transportable meaning they are not permanent in that area. Timber is also not required in the way that it usually is for many other house builds. One company has designed an ‘ecopod’ container to show just how sustainable you can make them. The ‘ecopod’ has recycled flooring, a solar powered fridge, a compostable toilet, wall sockets and 12v lighting that is powered by the roof mounted solar panel.

http://www.designtopnews.com/architecture-design/greentainer-eco-fied-
container-architecture/

If you think you need to compromise on the design aspect of the house in order to gain all these benefits think again. The containers can be piled high on top of one another, or fused together creating a manipulated masterpiece. They can be changed past the point of recognition or left in their original state bringing an urban renewal feel to the place there are also ones designed to disappear in to the natural background. The architectural possibilities are endless once you remember to think outside the box (a steel one in this case!).

Have a look at the links below if you want to see some globally inspiring uses of containers from skate parks to student housing: http://www.popularmechanics.com/home/shipping-container-homes-460309#slide-1

http://ecopods.ca/

Nicole Fagan

The Potential of Geothermal Power

The development of more sustainable, cleaner and cheaper sources of energy is being driven by the depletion of fossil fuels and their impact on our environment through release of greenhouse gases. Geothermal energy is one of these upcoming new sources that today is relatively untapped but its potential can be seen in countries such as  Iceland where 25% of its electricity and 90% of its heating is obtained from geothermal power.^[1] This energy is derived from the thermal energy beneath the earth's surface that resulted from the original formation of the earth as well as the radioactive decay of elements uranium, thorium and potassium. On average one kilometre of depth corresponds to a rise in temperature of about 20^oC. The temperature inside the earth melts rock and also heats up water trapped in cracked and porous rock to create geothermal reservoirs of hot water and steam. Geothermal power plants rely on these reservoirs to harness the heat energy to produce electricity by drilling deep wells into the earth and piping steam or hot water to the surface and using it to drive generator turbines.^[2] This water is then piped back into the reservoir through injection wells to be reheated and thus with careful management to maintain the viability of these reservoirs  makes this process of obtaining energy, sustainable. Geothermal power plants emit approximately 1% of the sulphur dioxide, <1% of the nitrous oxide and 5% of the carbon dioxide that is emitted by a similar sized coal-fired power plant.^[3] Geothermal energy has an advantage over other renewable energy resources such as solar or wind energy in that it can provide us with  a consistent and more reliable supply of power. There was 8,933 MW of installed capacity in 24 countries with geothermal power plants in 2005 and this has risen by almost 20% to 10,715 MW which generates 67,246 GWh/year  in 2010 according to a report by the International Geothermal Association.^[1]               

The United states leads the world in the production of geothermal electricity with an installed capacity of 3,086 MW which is equivalent to the electricity obtained from burning 60 million barrels of oil.^[1,4] This 3,086 MW relates to only less than 0.5% of the United states total electricity usage and shows how much of an untapped resource it is today. However there are a few problems that need to be overcome to promote the development of geothermal power plants. One of these problems is the high costs of drilling wells which can be between $2.3-4.0 million for a depth of 1500-3000 meters.^[5 ]Another problem is the limited areas in which the conditions are suitable, which was normally  an area near the boundaries of tectonic plates. Although this problem is currently being resolved with the development of Enhanced Geothermal Systems technology that allows us to create our own geothermal water reservoirs. With most governments know realizing the effects of green house gases on our environment, geothermal energy will definitely be considered as a potential sustainable energy resource and may even be considered better option in countries such as Ireland where the development of a nuclear power plant will most likely be met with a large opposition.

Michael Rooney

Recycled Art

The other day, while heavily procrastinating in order to avoid learning about Newton’s Laws of Physics, I came across an image when perusing my Instagram feed that grabbed my attention. The image was created by an artist known as Erika Iris Simmons who specialises in creating art using non-traditional media. This particular piece of art was a portrait of Michael Jackson and was produced using the inside reels of a cassette tape. I was honestly astounded by how recognisable and precise it was but the fact that it was made from such an accessible household item is really what got me thinking.

I proceeded to Google search ‘Recycled Art’ and was, again, blown away by what I found. More masterpieces including a chicken made from egg shells, a collage of a young boy made from newspaper clippings and even a portrait of Barack Obama made from old buttons and brooches greeted my laptop screen. Now don’t get me wrong, I know what you might be thinking. But I can assure you that I am not some kind of an art junkie who finds beauty in everything. The fact I am saying that this type of art is cool is definitely saying something! So, with further examination of the different sources of Recycled Art on the internet, I discovered an article on its benefits which again sparked my interest. I had not realised there were any benefits until I read this article which is my reason for sharing it in this blog post. I feel more people need to become aware of this amazing form of art that has been revealed to me and I’m going to try and expose it to you too while you’re here!

Anyway, in this article outlining the benefits, they talked about how using household items in art is not only

a fun thing to do but it also reduces your energy consumption. So let me ask you this: when you throw something into the bin, do you think about where it’s going? All waste must go somewhere; be it a landfill, incineration centre or a recycling centre. Classic recycling may be better than all waste being dumped into a landfill but that doesn’t mean it has a positive effect on the environment. It still consumes not only space but also man power and money. These types of artwork take all the non-toxic junk and make useful items out of them which gives something back to both the environment and the economy.

But, the prime benefit we can acquire from this is that it saves a lot of energy. The re-production of recycled materials always requires consumption of new resources which in turn, results in more pollution and less resources. By adopting this strategy of reusing household junk, we are minimizing the energy spent on new production which directly impacts positively on climate change.

So, if you’re in any way artistic (or even if you’re not!), why not try dabbling your hand in Recycled Art? It’s fun, unique and most importantly, eco-friendly. I’ll make sure to share a new blog post with you guys showing my attempts. Don’t hesitate to share yours in the comments below. ‘Til next time, happy sustainable living!

Aoife Mullally

Image Sources:

Image 1: http://www.hongkiat.com/blog/recycled-art-masterpiece-made-from-junks/

Image 2: http://www.wikihow.com/Live-a-More-Environmentally-Friendly-Lifestyle

Image 3: http://www.corvallisadvocate.com/2013/0131-corvallis-landfill-filling-up/

Seminar: Is biodiversity a driver in the health benefits of green space?

A  Special Seminar will be held on Friday 14th February 2014, 2-3 pm in the Botany Lecture Theatre  by Dr Jenny Roe, Senior Research Leader for Health and Wellbeing, at the Stockholm Environment Institute, University of York.  The talk

 'Is biodiversity a driver in the health benefits of green space?'

examines the effect of green space on wellbeing which is a hot topic just at present. Find out more about Jenny’s research  at  http://www.york.ac.uk/sei/staff/jenny-roe/

http://www.eco-business.com/news/green-spaces-boosts-

wellbeing-urban-dwellers-study/

New look for Our New Climate website

Even in a remote part of rural Ireland you are never far away from contarils

Another year and another start to the Broad Curriculum course Living Sustainably.  This year we have altered the format of the website ournewclimate.com and hope to expand it further to support the course in a more direct way.  This year the 84 students on the course will be producing a wide range of exciting and challenging posts for the blog.  This year will also see the publication of a support course textbook for the course as well. So it’s going to be an exciting 2014.

Nick Gray

Happy Christmas from Trinity College Dublin

Wishing Everyone a Happy Christmas and a Sustainable 2014

Energy saving in public buildings

The Friends of the Earth have suggested that massive cuts in emissions as well as financial savings could be made by adopting more rigorous energy saving in schools, hospitals and other public offices.  It especially highlights buildings that are heated when empty during weekends and leaving computers switched on when not in use.  It estimates that it could save the state 1.75 billion euro over 10 years and  calls for  retrofitting such buildings with better insulation, reducing dependence on air conditioning and using low carbon heating systems. However, small changes can make a difference. A school in Clara in County Clare was able to reduce its electricity usage by 70% by simple actions such as lowering the heating setting on the central heating, using  time switches for heating rooms that were not used all the time, turning off the boiler at night and weekends, and encouraging staff and pupils to close doors and turn off lights.  Plans are already in place by the Government to reduce electricity use in over 10,000 buildings run by central and local government under the National Energy Efficiency Action Plan. It is claimed that the plan has already reduce energy usage by 33%  across the public sector.

More information: Friends of the Earth (2013) ‘Cuts that don’t hurt’. Friends of the Earth , Dublin. 

More information: The Second National Energy Plan launched in February 2013. 

Nick Gray

Irish farming and climate change

Irish farming will be affected by climate change but not as severely as more southern countries.  The problems will primarily be the reduction in summer rainfall by up to 25% and an increase in winter rainfall by 17% by mid century, with Southern and Eastern counties most affected.  This will  result in extended dry periods leading to drought, flooding, heavy rainfall events and extreme temperatures, in fact far more unpredictable weather patterns making farming activities difficult to plan and execute.  While this will mainly make tillage farming more difficult from sowing to harvesting of crops, livestock farmers will also feel the pressure from increased stress to animals  and providing water in the summer to ensuring sufficient winter fodder.  The wet summer of 2012 led to a massive fodder crisis in some parts of the country during the winter and spring of 2012/13, leading to massive imports of hay and silage from the UK and Europe. The increased prevalence of pests and diseases ,especially new pests as their ranges increase in response to higher temperatures, will affect all farming sectors.   It is not all negative because the higher temperatures will increase cereal and beet yields, which is in stark comparison to countries such as Romania and Hungary which will see a steep decline in crop yields due to water scarcity.  The solution is for the Irish farming sector  to  increase crop diversity, alter planting and harvesting regimes, develop more climate resilient crops, and to introduce water management strategies.

More information 

Nick Gray

Air pollution reaches a new high in China

冀

The airpocalypse is what people are calling the extended periods of smog that have been intensifying over the past few years in China’s capital Beijing.   In the city deaths from lung cancer have increased by 56% over the decade up to 2010 coinciding with massive industrialization and an increase in the number of cars using the city’s street exceeding 5 million. The most serious problem appears to be PM2.5, minute particles released from fires and vehicle exhausts which has strong links to lung cancer.  To counteract the effects of the smog particles all schools in the capital will be closed when smog  incidents persist for more than three days.  Twenty percent of the world’s confirmed cases of cancer now occur in china with atmopsheric pollution a major causative factor.  Seven of the top 10 most polluted cities in China are in the Hebei province in the North of the country which is a major centre for coal powered electricity generation and steel manufacturing resulting in the heavy atmospheric pollution that also contributes to the problem in Beijing.  In 2014 the city will be setting even stricter quotas on the number of new car registrations to just 150,000, a reduction of 40% over the previous year’s quota.
Nick Gray

Ireland's Greenhouse Gas Emissions 2012

Ireland's greenhouse gas emissions rose by 1% in 2012 to 57.92 million tonnes, reversing a six year downward trend.  This was primarily due to a 5.9%  increase in emissions from power generation using coal and peat, and a 3% increase from the agricultural sector due to increased livestock numbers.  Industrial and commercial emissions rose by 1.8% overall, although the cement industry alone showed a 18% increase in emissions as the economy begins to recover. Transport, residential and waste emissions all fell by 3.5, 5.9 and 2.7% respectively. The reduction in residential emissions is thought to be due to the mild winter while the reduction in waste emissions is due to a 11.7% reduction in methane emissions from landfill sites.

EPA emissions by category 1990-2012. Image.

The EPA has blamed low carbon prices for the increased use of peat and coal for electricity generation and has  called for the decoupling of carbon emissions from economic growth.

For a full news briefing: Link

Explore the full Report: Ireland's Greenhouse GasInventory 1990-2012

Nick Gray

Mobile phone ownership soars in Africa

Mobile phone usage and using the Internet all have definable carbon emissions and the ownership of mobile phones and especially smart phones is continuing to rapidly rise, and this is also the case in Africa according to a recent article in the Times Higher Education Supplement.

The economy of Africa has grown by 5% per year for the past 10 years and is predicated to continue to grow faster than any other continent over the next 5 years.  The growth of mobile phone ownership in Africa has soared as a consequence from 25 million in 2001 to 650 million in 2011.  Ownership rates are close to the global average with 86% of the planet’s population having a mobile phone connection.  The highest ownership rates in Africa are the Cote D’Ivoire at 93%,  Senegal 90%, South Africa 90%, Egypt 90%, Ghana 88%, Cameroon 86%, Nigeria 82%, Tanzania 80%, Uganda 79% and Kenya 71%.  In sub-Saharan Africa there are 40 mobile connections for each land line connection.  However, Internet penetration is poor and expensive with average current penetration only 15.6% compared to 83.6% in the UK, although this varies widely falling to just 1.2% in Somalia. The full article can be accessed here.

Dinner’s on me

The food we eat everyday forms a critical component of our carbon emissions. How we get this food and what we do with the waste form the integral part of this problem.While as consumers we have limited control over the agricultural practices, food wastage is entirely down to us. What makes this problem even more dramatic is the fact that food wastage is a completely unnecessary and avoidable in today’s modern world. Coming from an agricultural background and working part time in a local supermarket, I have experienced first-handthe huge wastage that exists among society today.

According to the Department of Agriculture’s websites, 29% of Irelands total national carbon emissions in 2009 came from the agricultural sector while food wastage accounted for approximately 15 million tons of CO₂emissions each year in the UK.  This area urgently needs to be addressed. Working part time in my local supermarket has given a prime insight into the food wastage that occurs there on a daily basis. Date checks have to be carried out on all products on a daily basis. When most products near their expiry date they are marked down in price, however meat and dairy products have to be removed a day before their ‘best-before’ or ‘use-by’ date, resulting in huge wastage. These products are simply thrown in the bin. Similarly, living on a farm has given me an insight into the wastage that occurs before products even reach the shops. Many perfectly healthy vegetables are deemed to be ‘unsellable’ due to their unusual shape or appearance. While food is wasted every day in first world countries such as Ireland, 239 million people in Africa go hungry every year.

Now that we are aware of the problem, what can be done in order to obtain our food in a more sustainable manner? Examples of sustainable initiatives at a nationwide level include:

·         In America, food collecting organizations have been established and collect food from restaurants, supermarkets and cafeterias that would otherwise be thrown out and distribute it to low income families and the homeless. If a similar plan was adopted in Ireland it would significantly reduce food wastage in supermarkets across Ireland.

·         Since the fall of the Celtic tiger in Ireland, there has been a growing trend towards allotment gardening where people can grow their own fruit and vegetables. I was interested to learn during the Living Sustainably course that anything grown in an allotment or garden in season is equal to 0g CO₂e kg^-1.If county councils across Ireland committed to supplying land for allotment gardening, carbon emissions would be significantly reduced.

·         In response to the emissions from agriculture, the Department of Agriculture has committed to a plan of planting new forests and maintaining good forest management in order to counteract CO₂ emissions.

However real change is needed at the basic human level and it is up to each and every one of us to change our consumer habits to ensure a sustainable planet for the future.  By committing to buying only the food we really need, to buy food that is locally produced and in season and by avoiding unnecessary food packaging we can make a big difference to the planet.

 Additional Information can be found on:

·         http://www.allotments.ie/

·         http://www.agriculture.gov.ie/

Paul

Quality v. Quantity: Mindful Living...or Frugality often gets a bad rap.

 Frugality often gets a bad rap.

Why is it that so often living “frugally” is often linked mentally with want, deprivation and hardship?  Mention the word and immediately people conjure up archaic images of teabags drying on radiators, cold showers and penny-pinching, when in reality frugality is essentially a means of achieving a quality lifestyle and fulfilling the needs of the individual in society, whilst leaving minimum negative impact on community, the planet and its resources. Admittedly, the word frugal itself is hardly the most onomatopoeically-endearing of the English language, but it does certainly does lend a solid air of reality which encompasses the essence of what frugal living is about.  For me, being frugal is a means of directing the materials and resources available to me towards a goal which I want to achieve, enabling me to complete such tasks in a less wasteful, more efficient and thoroughly-considered fashion.  In no sense do I consider there to be any level of deprivation; in fact I think cutting the clutter and distraction from ones life allows for greater clarity to shine through, enabling one to visualise plainly what are the real essentials in life and how best to go about maintaining these.  In the overwhelmingly materialistic, consumer-driven society in which we live, more and more excesses of all has lead to a devaluing of quality in favour of inferior quantity.  Here frugality can act as a life raft in the sea of superfluousness, a wake-up call forcing us to examine what matters.  Giving a brief run-down through this topic does not do it justice as by its very nature greater depth of thought is required, but frugal living can be broadly addressed in three main sections:  the why, the how and the outcome.

Frugal living is a sustainable way of life and can be viewed as a way of guaranteeing, to the best of one’s ability, that the life one leads is truly meaningful.  My own personal definition of sustainability would run something like: “Sustainability is the thought process behind mindfully living a considered life, endeavouring to maintain an equilibrium between personal development, integrity, and responsibility, such that the needs of future generations are not compromised through mismanagement of the earth’s resources by present generations.”  Lofty ideals you may think, but unless one strives toward an upward goal there would certainly be no motivation to continue on.  In the case of any goal that requires longevity, soundly-founded motivations need to be established before anything is ventured and frugal sustainability is no different.  We need to ask ourselves “Why should I do this?  What are the benefits to me personally and what are the benefits to the wider community?  Am I ready to accept that my personal decisions can and will have a large impact on those around me?”. If these questions can be answered honestly and solidly there will be sufficient motivational undercurrents to sustain one through the practical implementations of frugal living.  Starting small and incorporating small changes on a day-to-day basis, great success can be accomplished through the setting of many small, realistic and achievable goals. 

Avoiding procrastination is a definite requirement for living the frugal lifestyle, but once this reality is accepted as a hitherto-unrecognised benefit, the sky’s the limit for the creative ways in which frugality can be lived out, making your time, money and resources work hardest for you.  From practical applications such as reducing waste in the home, buying less consumer goods and increasing productivity by utilising goods to the very end of their product-life, to more fun and unique approaches such as going on self-imposed spending ‘diets’, enjoying frugal freezer-food meals and trying out ‘Meatless Mondays’.  Certainly we must realise that there is no one magic-bullet, simplistic route to achieve these goals, but we need to take every small avenue available to us, making numerous small changes.

The outcome of embarking on the frugal living path is that it allows for greater personal freedom.  Less “stuff” means a reduction in time and energy consumed whilst absorbed in (or perhaps burdened with) said “stuff”. We are afforded more time to reflect and think on our life-goals.  We are mindfully conscious of what we are doing and why we are doing it.  Savouring experiences and enjoying simple pleasures are incomparably more fulfilling than rushing through a series of tick-the-box life goals set up on a scale belonging to the Joneses.  Paring back the excess allows us to appreciate all the more how rich we really are – after all, our attention is no longer divided in multiple different ways but rather we are free to focus and enjoy the delights of a smaller number of better-curated occupations.  Each of us are the cultivator of our own person and our personal development, which in turn is amplified and combined with that of others to create the societies in which we live.  We have the right to enjoy this, but more importantly we have the responsibility to do so - not only for our own sakes’ but for the sake of our fellow man and frugal living is a powerful way to do so.

Aoife Beglin

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