Facing Up To Global Warming Published

Facing Up To Global Warming: what is going on and how you can make a difference?

This new book was published today and  explores climate change and how individuals can make a difference. 

 Below is the Preface from the new book.

In 1972, a startling book was published called Limits to Growth . This book became hugely influential in the environmental movement, and while it alerted us to the fragility of our future on planet Earth, it also, inadvertently, helped to eventually undermine the credibility of environmentalism. The book predicted when certain non-renewables, including fossil fuels and metals, would become exhausted. The predictions were based on the best available knowledge at that time, but what it never envisaged in the early 1970’s, was that within a decade humans would be extracting oil, gas, and minerals in some of the remotest, extreme, and fragile places on Earth … a process that has continued and expanded to the present day. So the predictions proved incorrect in practice, but it reinforced the idea that all resources are limited and are slowly being exhausted.

This book became a driving force for many environmental scientists who realized that we have to act both collectively and individually to preserve our home, planet Earth, with its unique biosphere and which is home to millions of different living organisms of which we are just one species. For me personally, being an environmental scientist has been a long and often disappointing journey and at various times I have been shocked, scared, and often depressed by the unfolding of the current crisis which is so intertwined with global warming. But, to my surprise, in recent years I have begun to feel more hopeful that perhaps we can deal with our climate and resource problems to create a sustainable planet. So in this book, I have attempted to explain what the problems are and suggest some solutions. However, the book comes with a warning. During the 15 chapters that follow, I am going to make a lot of you really annoyed and possibly upset, I apologize in advance. I am not trying to shock; I am simply putting the facts before you so that you can make up your own mind. Neither am I telling anyone that their lifestyle is wrong, or alternatively, that they are better than the next person because they have invested in green energy or a hybrid car. The book is an overview; it is not a text on the theory of sustainability or population dynamics; it simply looks at what the individual should know and addresses some of the issues closest to our everyday lives.

There are hundreds of academic and specialist texts on sustainability, but they fail to link sustainability to tackling global warming, especially at the individual level. Adopting any form of sustainable actions in your life will cause significant effects both direct and indirect. Such actions will lead to changes that will influence economic and social norms … so sustainability if properly applied will mean socio economic change. I begin the text by giving a brief overview of the problems of climate change and the real difficulties that having such a rapidly growing population is placing on the idea of a sustainable and equitable planet. Discussions on population is always a very emotive issue and so I have simply given some basic facts, and shown that as population grows our ability to live sustainably on planet Earth becomes more challenging. So this is not a comfortable book.

Is the text political? I have tried not to be, but if you advocate changing people’s lifestyles, then it will appear to be political. Then, we have the concept that everyone on the planet matters and that the concept of global justice and human rights is important when assessing the sustainability of our own lifestyles. So trying to avert these climate-mediated crises by ensuring that everyone has enough for their needs without being wasteful is a good starting point. However, that starting point has to be an acknowledgment that all people are equal, and that we should all have the right to pursue happiness and well-being. Is this naïve? Of course it is, but what else are we to strive for in a truly global and fair society. Global warming raises serious social as well as economic questions and many of these are going to be very difficult to deal with in practice, and my aim is to try and make you think about these issues from a personal perspective. Can we have finite economic growth? Can we have finite consumerism? Unfortunately, the answer has to be no to both of these questions, which means that both economists and social geographers or planners have a lot of work to do and that we are going to have to eventually reinvent our economy and social environment to achieve these goals.

There are also many other important environmental issues that we also need to consider and many of these are also linked to global warming such as deforestation, exploitation of new fossil fuel reserves, intensification of agriculture, and overexploitation of water resources. However, many of these issues such as pollution, are less important in the context of global warming, as we now have them largely under control. We have made huge strides in dealing with air, water, and land pollution over the past 40 years, and there are scientists and regulatory bodies all dealing with these issues on an on-going basis. Such issues are predominately local or at worst regional, but rarely global, and what is important is that we have the technology and infrastructure to deal with them. But controlling carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gas emissions must now be everyone’s priority. If we have to reduce carbon emissions by 80 % by 2050 to avert a global crisis, this will mean using significantly less energy in the developed world than we currently use, and while this does not necessarily mean an immediate and huge change in our everyday lives, it does mean changes to our current lifestyles. This is not going to be easy and the burden has to be shared by everyone. However, the fact is that people feel very threatened by the idea of altering their lifestyle, even when change can be for the better. 

We also need to understand that some sectors of society are using more than their fair share of global resources, but that in the context of global warming everyone must act responsibly if we are to succeed in mitigating climate change. Those in developing countries also desire the technology, food, travel, etc. we enjoy, and to break this cycle we in the developed world need to begin to pull back from our current high-energy lifestyle while allowing the poorer nations to develop and become sustainable.

This book will never be welcomed by those who are pretty happy with the status quo and who have not become genuinely concerned, possibly scared, by the possibility of what global warming may do to our home, planet Earth. This is a very general text that looks at different aspects of our lives which we, as individuals, have control over. It is simple things like travel, food, recycling, using resources … all those things which we are all involved in on a daily basis; and how our actions affect the future of planet Earth and our ability to sustain that ever growing human population. I hope that this book will help you think and act from a position of knowledge and reassurance.

I hope that the majority of you will be reassured that we are beginning to tackle global warming successfully, but in order to succeed in stabilizing our new climate, and I believe we can, we need your help through direct action. You really can make a difference. This book is a personal journey and during it I will be asking you to do various things. Some are critical others will be just things that I hope you will try, but to work, I need a commitment from you. The journey is not free, it comes at a cost, and you have to decide just how much you are willing to pay for your planet.

This is about your future.

Nick Gray

Trinity Centre for the Environment

Link: http://www.springer.com/gp/book/9783319201450

https://twitter.com/Nickgraytcd

Living sustainably without hot water

Last week an electrical fault in my flat left me without hot water for a few days. At first, I shrugged it off as a cold shower was unpleasant, and didn’t leave me feeling as clean as I would after a hot one, but this lefty me increasingly annoyed. As the week went on, however, my attitude changed. Washing the dishes with cold-water was difficult and time-consuming. So too was the work-around  boiling water manually as both my kettle and microwave are quite small. They were inadequate substitutes for a broken water heater designed for 4 people.

I noticed though that without my heater, I was consuming much less water. Showers were uncomfortable and quick and the water used washing dishes was kept to a bare minimum, because of the time that would be used getting more. Then, in the middle of the week, the electrician called and fixed the heater. I had hot water again, more than I could ever want.

After that, however, I began to think, in terms of water/carbon footprints, embedded emissions, etc. What had been the difference, in those terms, between the days without my heater and any average day in my life? The difference seemed staggering, the average shower uses 3.5 litres per minute, and with cold water I’d gone from 5 minute to 1 minute showers. The amount saved, 15 litres, was already one third of the water poverty threshold. In the bigger picture, this was negligible; not even 10% of the daily average per capita usage in Ireland. But this was where I could exert control over my water usage, and begin to approximate sustainable levels of consumption. I can’t really know the specific environmental footprints of everything I consume, and while I have time to boil the kettle, I don’t have time to do an in-depth investigation of every different brand of bread.

In the broader picture, the change I effect in my own habits is marginal: most of the (unsustainable amount) of water I use is embedded in the products I use - 1,000 litres used in the production of a carton of milk, 1,300 litres in the production of a loaf of bread etc. Maybe my gesture is partially an evasion. The real problems we face with water are ones of distribution. It doesn’t matter if I use 120 litres or 180. What matters at this moment is that I will have access to this amount regardless. Of course I cannot change this on my own, but through my approximations of sustainable living, a proportion of the finite amount of usable water on the planet (my savings counted for roughly a third of what a person needs at minimum every day) is “freed up”. If this was done on a broad scale, it would be half the battle in constructing a global society that manages, distributes, and uses water sustainably.

Cathal Murphy

RAIN HARVESTING: HAVE YOU HEARD OF IT YET?

Source: http://kscst.org.in/

Last weekend I had the pleasure of looking out the window to endless hours of rain. It dawned on me that each house in my estate was failing to take advantage of  the potential savings to be made from the water falling from the sky. Out of shear boredom I decided to collect the rainwater in an old oil drum and then a few days later use this water to water the flower beds in the garden with a jerry can. Although it was unnecessary as the garden was saturated from the previous few days of rain, I carried out the task in order to evaluate the practicality of collecting rain water in order to utilise it for mundane water consuming tasks, such as watering the flowers. Not to my surprise, there were ample amounts of water for the plants and even a bit to spare.

This set me thinking of how feasible would it be to construct a water collecting unit in my back garden (possibly on the shed roof to take advantage of the forces of gravity), to which one could attach a hose pipe (I believe jerry cans to be a bit out dated) and hey presto you have a free water source. This may seem totally irrelevant at present but when water meters are introduced, and money is leaking from that external back garden tap then we will see the method in the madness.

The idea of collecting rainwater in order to use for mundane tasks extends beyond your mother’s flower bed (or even your own). There is no reason why rainwater can’t be used to wash a car, fill a water balloon or even clean the decking. It is evident that more sustainable methods of consumption (in this case for water consumption) exist all around us, it just requires a little ingenuity and innovation to realise a more practical and sustainable way of life.

When I eventually got around to researching “rain harvesting”, as it turned out to be called, I discovered that there already exists numerous companies providing such services (below are links to some of their websites). However, such companies appear to be under the radar with regards to public interests. No doubt this will change with some clever marketing post the introduction of water meters to Irish households in the near future.

To give some gravitas to my argument, the following quote taken from the Irish Water Treatment Association’s website, highlights, in my view, the necessity and complete feasibility of rain harvesting in Ireland;

‘Much of the water we use doesn't need to be of drinking quality. In fact studies show that 55 per cent of domestic treated water could be substituted for rainwater while 85 per cent of water used for commerce and industry does not need to be of drinking standard’.

It makes all the sense in the world, right? Even the ancients were at it!

Darren Morrell 

Some rain harvesting companies:

http://www.rainharvesting.ie/; http://rainman.ie/; http://raincatchers.ie/; http://www.hrdtec.com

Water, water everywhere...?

I’ll be the first to admit that I’m not known for my water conservation awareness. Growing up on an island with seemingly endless water has left me somewhat detached from the reality of the need to conserve water. To be honest, I’ve always found that we have too much… constant rain, rivers, canals, lakes, and, of course, the Atlantic Ocean. However, the recent media coverage about upcoming water charges and the need to conserve it left me thinking, what if I could no longer simply turn my tap to get the water that I needed; no longer run to the local shop to buy it?

The very thought of this is completely alien to me. Not to be able to turn on the tap to brush my teeth, no water to heat my house, no 15 minute shower in the morning, no water to cook or to make tea with, no water to wash my dishes or clothes, and above all else, no water to drink. But, like I said, we’re an island country. There’s water everywhere. So I thought of where I could go to collect water. A canal runs just behind where I live, but rather than fight off rats, and getting tangled in old bicycles and trollies, I had to think of some cleaner options. It soon dawned on me that this was not a simple task. Any sources of water I could think of were tainted by urban life. Polluted, dirty water was all I could find. Either that, or undrinkable sea water.

Assuming that there were no clean fresh-water wells around, I would have to get out of the city. I would have to trace a river far enough to its origin to minimise pollution. How long would I have to follow the river upstream to find a fresher supply of water? Taking the Liffey as my example, the answer is roughly 20km, or so Google Maps tells me. To walk, this would take a mind-numbing 3 hours 59 minutes. By car, 27 minutes in light traffic. Even if I filled a car full of water and stored it in my home, I would have to make serious changes. Gone would be the days of my leisurely showers, the ease of my dishwasher, and the comfort of my heating.

I would have to think of ways of making my water last. I decided to actually try these over the course of a day, to see how hard it would be to think consciously about my water consumption. Quick showers (with simultaneous teeth brushing), measured water for tea, and washing all dishes together in a basin, were the easy ones. Toilet flushing and clothes washing weren’t so easy to avoid. I very quickly realised how clean and safe water was taken advantage of in this country, and that many small measures could be taken to minimise waste. Perhaps the notion of no clean water wasn’t so farfetched. For millions of people, this is a constant reality. Though we’re a small island in the grand scheme of things, a little goes a long way. And we must all work to change our misguided attitude towards water.

Daragh Poynton  

Turn off that tap!

Although the concept of water conservation seems a daunting and impossible task, as the Tesco motto states- “every little helps”. With fresh water supply contributing to only 3% of total global water resources, the idea of domestic water conservation by individuals can make a significant difference. And with the introduction of water charges in Ireland next year, never has there been a better time to use our water more wisely- especially since these charges could result in an annual household charge of €370 (euro). On a survey carried out by world water day, 9 out of 10 Irish people were oblivious to how much water they consume - extraordinarily this number has been estimated at over 150 litres a day. So how can one person expend so much?
Ponder these points:

·         One bath can use up to 50 litres of water

·         A toilet that is flushed 5-6 times a day uses 40 litres of water

·         8 litres of water is wasted each minute a tap is left on

·         A dishwasher uses around 18 litres of water per wash

·         A washing machine uses over 20 litres of water per wash

From the above findings, provided by water use it wisely, it is apparent that everyday processes can cause this incredible accumulation of water wastage. As a result I decided to spend a day attempting to minimize my water usage to around 50 litres. Straight away I knew this task was going to be difficult and that I would have to utilise my water sensibly. To begin, I normally spend at least 6 minutes in the shower so I quickly realised if I was to stay within my limit I would have to face the day without my morning shower- a terrifying thought. Also I knew by flushing the toilet 5-6 times a day I would nearly reach my target so there would have to be great consideration into how to reduce this-much to my roommates despair. Here is my account of the day:

·         Breakfast- porridge made with a cup of water and tea = 0.2 litres

·         Drinking water- 3 litres

·         Brushing teeth with tap off = 2 litres

·         Washing hands throughout the day = 2 litres

·         Flushing toilet 3 times (it was a challenge) = 24 litres

·         Dinner- boiled rice with grilled chicken = 1.2 litres

·         Dishwasher put on at end of day= 18 litres

Total consumption = 50.5 litres

While water conservation cannot happen without consideration, it is not an impossible task. I was successfully able to decrease my water usage to around 50 litres. Although this may not be feasible everyday (a shower is essential now and again, clothes need to be washed ect.), it shows that huge cut backs are possible. I found a few simple solutions can reduce water consumption particularly in individuals. By minimizing shower time to two or three minute (which none of us want to do) you can save up to 60 litres per shower. By installing water-efficient dual flush toilet you can reduce water use by 2 litres per flush (on a full flush) and by 4 litres per flush (on a reduced flush). Another aspect that I had not considered before this was turning off the tap while brushing your teeth- such a simple task that can limit water wastage to 2 litres a day. Granting that reducing water usage to less than 50 litres a day is a very hard task, there is still a lot to be said for the amount we can save- so come on… turn off that tap!

Shauna Quinn

The Reality of Water Resources

The lecture on living sustainably that I have taken this semester has really opened my eyes to how little recourses we have left and to how much we are using up the limited amount that we do have. Water is one very important resource that in the western world we are using in absolute excess. We (the human race) are using 50% of our fresh water supply. We are slowly but surely drying up rivers and lakes all over the world, such as the Aryl Sea, which was one of the four largest lakes in the world and now only holds a tenth of the water it once had.

With the majority of things we drink, eat and use, water is involved in its manufacture. This can vary from 300 liters used for 1 liter of beer to 10,850 liters used for 1 pair of jeans. We are using up the worlds water supply at an unbelievable rate. In the western world we take water for granted. We all know the figures of other human beings in different parts of the world dying of water related diseases and water deprivation so why are we not being more careful with the amount of water we use? Small change can make a difference, are only hope is that we all try harder to use less. You can be just as happy and turn the tap off when you brush your teeth, so do.

Jasmine Patel-Bolger

Water, water, everywhere...?

In parts of Ireland it only rains 150 days a year, much less than we may initially think. Our annual water consumption (per capita) in Ireland is roughly 55,000 litres. Numerous daily activities that we all take part in consume water. This is ever so true at home; from the moment we wake to moment we go to bed. We all wash our hands, cook, shower, drink tea and coffee, brush our teeth, bathe, water the garden, wash our clothes, flush the toilet, wash the car and clean the dog. But are the options we take even necessary?

Research by Ideal Standard reveals that the average Irish person uses roughly 150 litres of water per day. But 52% of us use over 108 litres per day simply showering. And 40% of us flush the toilet 5-6times per day, using around 40 litres.  Our day-to-date habits create a huge water footprint.

We must change our living habits so as to adapt to a changing world. Climate change has, in recent years, led to shortages of water in Ireland; snow fall tied up water in the winters of 2009/10 and 2010/11, and summers over the last few years (except 2011) have recorded temperatures “above normal” according to Met Éireann. These trends highlight the significance of using our water wisely and conserving it whenever necessary.

As a people we must make changes, to our lifestyles and habits. Choosing an 8 minute shower over a bath can cut the water used by 50% to 40 litres. Installing modern, dual flush toilets to replace traditional styles can reduce consumption by 80%. On an extreme level; become a herbivore! According to the British Meat blog it can take up to 15 times more water to produce one 1g of animal protein over 1g of plant protein. But there are also small things that can be done too; stop the tap while brushing your teeth, only use full washes when using the washing machine or dishwasher (no half washes), ensure the tap is fully turned off when you’re finished with it, and if it really is necessary to water those petunias, then use a watering can so that you water only what you need to.

Our futures are in our hands, and it is up to us to make the right choices. See links below:

British Meat - http://www.britishmeat.com/49.htm

Ideal Standard - http://www.idealstandard.ie/press/consumerpr/general/Article2686.aspx

Met Éireann - http://www.met.ie/climate/monthly-summary.asp

Daniel Moody

Bobble, Bobble, Bobble

The idea of Living Sustainably can be daunting, even when one has all the information necessary to change one’s lifestyle it may simply be too big a task. My own approach is to take small steps that are proven to decrease our ecological footprint and that we can spread to our friends and families.

One such step would be to decrease the amount of plastic consumed as in the production tonnes of water and oil are used, both of which are crucial to other areas of our modern lifestyles.



http://www.flickr.com/photos/waterbobble/4390944370/sizes/m/in/photostream/

 As college students our water bottles are like our comfort blankets, they accompany us everywhere and we can hardly function without them and at €1 a pop in the Arts Block café pretty cheap right? But this mass consumption and disposal of ‘single-serve’ plastic bottles is completely unsustainable. The Bobble could be a solution.

Bobble is engineered to be durable, recyclable and healthy. The aim is to buy it and keep it and it will keep you and the planet healthier. The plastic is Bisphenol A free and the carbon filter removes organic contaminants from the water. They make the argument that there is no need for the massive plastic bottle industry when we public taps are available and all we need is an appropriate device to store our water.

So maybe next year when your class are thinking of getting class hoddies somebody might suggest a class Bobble. Pick a colour that emanates your subject and make a small change that could have big affects. http://www.waterbobble.com/

Tara Mallon Doyle

 

Is water a renewable resource?

Water is technically considered a renewable resource because it can be used over and over again and it has a rain cycle. However, it is only in the short-term that water can be thought of as a renewable resource and the sustainability of this renewable resource is questionable. In the next few centuries it is thought that there will be a severe lack of drinking water, and this effect can already be seen today but with less severity. Although there is the same amount of water on the earth today as there was when the earth was formed, only 3% of this water is usable and this figure is decreasing as time passes as more and more water becomes contaminated or polluted.

One of the main reasons that water may become a non-renewable source is the population growth. The population is expanding at a speedy rate, and this is putting enormous pressure on all our resources, even the renewable ones. As more and more people need access to drinking water, our groundwater and surface water reserves are being used up. The water is being used faster than it can replenish itself, and this will inevitably lead to a water shortage in the future.

In conclusion, water should not be regarded as a renewable, unlimited resource. Rather, water conservation should take main priority and we should try to reduce our water consumption in whatever way possible.

Blaithin Stack

https://twitter.com/Nickgraytcd