Why is water increasingly becoming a non- renewable resource in many areas?

 There is no doubt that global warming is going to change the pattern of water availability throughout the World.  Some areas will get more rainfall, in some instances significantly higher amounts, or the same as before but as fewer and more intense rainfall events. In contrast, other areas will get less rainfall leading to severe and possibly permanent drought, a scenario currently playing out in Australia and some parts of central Africa.  It remains difficult to be precise at this stage how it will affect specific areas and there will be local variations arising from more regional trends.  Global warming will also lead to increased evaporation and plant evapo-transpiration creating more water movement between the land and the atmosphere as well as melting snow and glaciers releasing more freshwater.  

In terms of water resources there will be a continued increase in the loss of snow and ice which are often used as an important water supply resource.  Less precipitation will lead to less surface water and less aquifer recharge, with less aquifer recharge resulting in  a gradual reduction in both ground and possible surface water availability. Intense rainfall events will lead to greater loss of water as surface runoff, leading also to flooding and poorer water quality as we saw in the UK and much of Western Europe between December 2013 to February 2014.  Overall demand for water will be driven by the expected increase in temperature, although resources will have been compromised by the more erratic climate. The current trend in increase demand due to urbanization and migration will continue as more people migrate to cities, and there will be an increased water demand for irrigation and livestock. Overall less water results in poorer hygiene and greater risks of disease and disease transfer. In areas where precipitation increases sufficiently, net water supplies may not be affected or they may even increase; however, where precipitation remains the same or decreases, net water supplies will decrease overall.

In areas where snow is an important factor in water availability, the period of maximum river flow may move from late spring to early spring or even  late winter. Changes in river flow have important implications for water and flood management, irrigation, and planning. If supplies are reduced, off-stream users of water such as irrigated agriculture and in-stream users such as hydropower, fisheries, recreation and navigation could be most directly affected.  Global climate change is gradually reducing available water resources but at the same time creating greater demand – this is not a sustainable situation leading to PEAK WATER

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 becomes incrementally more  difficult as increasing intensity of precipitation 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.   Peak water is not about running out of fresh water, but the peaking and subsequent decline of the production rate of supplied water.

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.  The  Hubbert curve applies to any resource that can be harvested faster than it can be replaced (Figure 1).  This applies to all water resources but especially to groundwaters.

Figure 1. The Hubbert Curve

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 already 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 theoretically 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 closely linked to ecosystem processes and health, 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; so as more groundwater is abstracted then the water table falls causing the water level in the river to also fall and even dissapear.

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 (Figure 2).

 

Figure 2. The rapidly shrinking Aryl Sea in time sequence starting Sept 1977 (a) to June 2013 (f). 

Figure 3. Peak water in the USA compared to economic growth

In the USA, water abstraction and water use peaked during 1975 to 1980 but has stabilized since (Figure 3).  This should have affected economic growth but it 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 (Figure 4).  The key question is how long can economic growth be sustained without water becoming a limiting factor?

Figure 4. Water supply sustainability index predicted for 20050. 

More information:  http://nca2014.globalchange.gov/highlights/report-findings/water-supply)

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, industrialization and urbanization all serve to increase water consumption. 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.  

Over-abstraction causes severe ecological damage as lakes dry up and rivers fed by groundwater disappear;  a rapid reduction in water quality of groundwater due to mineralization and saltwater intrusion and increased exposure to pollution and pathogens. There are alternative methods of supplying water (i.e. supply-side management solutions) such as river transfer where water is pumped from one catchment to another using natural river systems, extended pipelines carrying water from areas of low demand to areas of high demand, international bulk water transfer using land and ocean going tankers which is already used to supply islands such as Gibraltar; desalination which is creating freshwater from sea water and even fog harvesting collecting water from sea mists and fog using fine nets.But supply-side management option are high energy solutions, so we have to also look seriously at demand-side management as the first and prefeered option for the development of sustainable water supplies. 

Nick Gray

Sources: 

Gray, N.F. (2015) Facing up to Global Warming: What is Going on and How You Can Make a Difference. Springer  International Publishing, Switzerland.

Fig 2 The Aryl Sea was once a massive freshwater lake but is now rapidly shrinking due to excessive abstraction from the rivers that flow into it. The letters a to b show the time sequence of area since September, 1977 to June, 2013. As abstraction has continued the lake has become increasingly polluted, nutrient enriched and mineralized causing extensive ecological damage. This has happened since the mid 1970’s! Source: UNEP  http://na.unep.net/geas/getUNEPPageWithArticleIDScript.php?article_id=108  Reproduced with permission of the United Nations Environment Programme, Nairobi, Kenya.

Fig 3 Peak water in the USA has been reached, but continued economic growth has continued by implementing a water demand management approach to the available water supply which is now at peak.  Reproduced with permission of the National Academy of Sciences, Washington D.C., USA.

Fig 4 Water supply sustainability index predicted for 2050. In the USA it is estimated that water shortages will become increasingly severe as a consequence of global warming (Source: The National Climate Assessment, http://www.globalchange.gov/

Germany achieves new energy generation from renewable levels

Germany is making enormous strides in developing its use of renewables for energy generation which reached 23.4% in 2014,and being one of the few countries to have a geothermal power station.  For a full breakdown and analysis visit

Nick Gray 

@Nickgraytcd

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

The Self-Powered House

 With sustainability becoming the latest buzzword to infiltrate itself into our workplace, education system and media, isn’t it about time we took a serious look at in our homes? The increasing emphasis on our need to provide a cleaner, more green future for our children has lead to advancements in technology that have made renewable energy sources readily available for household installment.

Despite the technology being available and an apparent thirst for more sustainable solutions towards energy, we only see these techniques employed on the governmental scale and rarely on the individual household scale. Why is this? Is it cost, practicality, maintenance or some other reason?

Micro Wind Turbines

Wind turbines are generators that are installed on the top of a mast that harness energy from prevailing winds. As expected as wind speeds increase the amount of energy generated also increases. This mans that appropriate wind speeds are required for this renewable energy technique. The lowest wind speeds needed to generate energy is a reliable 3m/s (6.7mph) wind with the maximum wind speed being 15m/s (33mph).

Any energy created by the wind turbine will be consumed initially by the household property. If the household is unable to consume all of the energy then the excess energy created will be spilled back into the grid. The household will then be paid for each kWh exported to the grid.

Costs

The price for your excess energy can vary but currently in Ireland the rate is 19c/kWh for the first 3000 units and then 9c/kWh thereafter. There is currently no tax relief for wind turbines but a scheme maybe introduced soon.

The cost for the smallest 1kw tower is €5,334 rising to €22,643 for the much larger and productive 5kw tower. There is also cheaper DIY and special offers to be found on wind turbines. It is of course important to remember that once the unit is installed the energy is free.

More information on costs can be found at: http://www.windturbines.ie

Maintenance

The working life of the best quality wind turbines is 20 with annual maintenance check-ups. However, due to the nature of the generation damage can occur after the first strong storm.

The average time needed for an investment in an average size turbine is between 10-12 years, there are however, many factor affecting this such as maintenance, damage, power production and demand.

Solar Panels

Another common and accessible alternative to wind turbines is solar panels. Traditional household solar panels will be attached to the residents south-facing roof. There are A 6m² solar panel can produce the energy equivalent of a 3kW immersion heater running for 2.5 hours each day, even in Irelands overcast climate. Solar panels work off radiation emitted from the sun and so can still generate power despite overcast skies. This allows Irelands climate to be as productive as Paris and 70% of the Mediterranean coast.

The two main types of solar panel instillation are those of photovoltaic panels and active solar water heaters. The solar water heaters reduce energy bills and carbon footprints along with producing a constant supply of hot water. The photovoltaic panels are like the wind turbines and provide a source of electricity directly to the house and connected to the grid for spill over. The payment for the spill over energy is the same as mentioned above.  

Costs

The costs of solar panels vary from product to product due to size, quality, power generation and lifespan. At the lower end of the scale a 20 tube water heating system would currently cost €3,300 and photovoltaic systems starting from €3,910.

There are currently government schemes in place to assist with the instillation of solar panels in Ireland calculated at €250 per m² installed up to a maximum of €1800.

More information can be found at: www.eirgreen.com

Looking Forward

These two renewable energy schemes on scratch the surface of systems available at the household level today. Hopefully with increased awareness of these systems and continued government grants we will see a marked increase in the uptake of systems such as these.

Charlie Blakemore

The 21st century, The age of expiration!

I-phones, I-pads, MRI scanners, solar panels, computer chips, superconductors and spacecrafts, if I asked you what do all of these objects have in common what would you say? That they are all examples of technology, the age of science, products that are improving our lives and future? This all may be true but the answer I was looking for was that all of these products may not be around in the next century.

It may seem bizarre that objects that we associate as symbols of the future may not be around in the future. The rare earth metals and gases used to manufacture these products are non-renewable and are only present on earth in finite amounts. Helium which is critical for superconductors, space exploration and medical technology will run out in 25 years. Global hafnium supplies, which are utilised in the manufacturing of the chip in this computer, is predicted to be exhausted by 2017 (yes,it is the year 2013 now!) The screen you may be reading this off may be an LCD screen and if so say goodbye as indium, the main component, will be exhausted by 2020. Zinc...2037, uranium...2090, copper...2100...

It is disheartening, especially to me as a scientist, that the major advances of the past few years in medicine, nano-and micro-technology will probably not be commercially viable to expand on due to the lack of rare metals, that the recent advances in renewable energy such as hybrid batteries, energy-efficient lighting and solar panels will ironically come to a halt as the non-renewable resources used exhaust. But as well as being disheartened, a worry has begun to creep in as I consider how we are beginning to depend on these new technologies. 28% of helium supplies are used to super-cool magnets for MRI scanners. What will happen when this runs out in less than 30 years? Does anyone have a back-up plan?

We claim to be a caring species who are trying to live sustainably so that the future generations, our children and grandchildren, can have the chance to experience the amazing world that we live in today. Unfortunately, they will have to deal with the past generations mistakes, from climate change to ozone layer depletion and its consequences such as higher global levels of cancers and other diseases. These generations will need much greater control over their environments than we do today and therefore, much better technology in order to survive.

We need to claim responsibility, even if industries and governments won’t. Can more efficient goods with longer lives be designed? Is the recreational use of these rare materials acceptable? Awareness needs to be raised now if we have any chance of halting the exploitation and expiration, as I for one could not live with the guilt of knowing that in the future a sick child may die due to a lack of MRI scanners all because we wasted the helium needed to cool these machines in our party balloons!

Ailis O’Carroll

Is green the new black?

Is green the new black? 

Every year, during the Spring/Sumer and Autumn/Winter Fashion Weeks, fashion houses showcase their latest designs, setting the tone for the latest trends and fashions. High street shops take note of the up-and-coming trends, and produce affordable alternatives to the luxury brand pieces. While these products may save you money, the cost of mass-clothes production on the environment can be over whelming. Many of the materials used for the production of both high street and luxury brand clothes are non-sustainable, and can have a hugely negative impact on the environment.

According to Green Choices, the environmental impacts of materials used for clothes are varied. Nylon is unsustainable in that it takes between 30 and 40 years to decompose. In addition, the production of nylon results in the formation of nitrous oxide (commonly known as laughing gas). Nitrous oxide is a greenhouse gas, and is 310 times more potent than CO₂.

Viscose, a major component of both high street and luxury brand clothing, is an artificial fibre made from wood pulp. To make space for the plantations needed to generate wood pulp many forests have to be cleared, causing huge disruption to the natural fauna and flora in the area. The trees planted for wood pulp are often eucalyptus, which draws up large amounts of water through its roots. This causes problems in regions where water is scarce, and will disrupt the soil and vegetation surrounding the plantations. Cotton uses more insecticides than any other single crop. Each year, cotton producers use more than 10% of all pesticides and 25% of all insecticides globally.

However, while growing enough non-organic cotton for one t-shirt uses 257 gallons of water, the benefits of organic cotton are huge. The Swedish high street fashion house H&M are the world’s largest user of organic cotton for the second year in a row, and they should be commended for this. It would be fair to refer to H&M as a model company for sustainable high street fashion. In December 2012, the company launched an incentive to recycle old clothes. For every every bag of old, ripped, or stained clothes returned to the store, you receive a voucher for H&M. There is also their conscious foundation, which, according to their website ‘aims to improve the quality of life of people in the countries where H&M operates’.

Stella McCartney SS’13, Paris Fashion Week 2012

(Image source: Her World Plus)

Stella McCartney is renowned for being an activist for the environment. None of her products use real fur or leather, and she is a campaigner for animal rights. However, the Stella McCartney fashion house is part owned by the PPR Group, which owns other fashion houses, including Gucci, which don’t sanction the use of fur.

One of 60 totes by Yves Saint Laurent,

made of partially recycled

plastic bags

(Image source: Ecouterre)

Some progress is being made in luxury brands and their use of sustainable and eco-friendly materials. An article in Ecocuterre written in April 2012 outlined how the PPR Group had uncovered a five-year plan to reduce its environmental and social footprint. One piece featured in the article, was a bag by Yves Saint Laurent. The Muse Two Artisanal Recycled handbag is made from recycled plastic bags and organic cotton, and retails at $1,720. Only 60 were made, and bags could only be purchased online. I really felt that this was a shame, as the price already limits the potential consumer range. Having samples of the bag in store allows it to be seen by a wider audience and further promotes the message that sustainable fashion is in.



British model Lily Cole

(Image source: My Fashion Life)

In my opinion, shopping in second hand and vintage stores is one of the most practical methods of ensuring you’re dressing sustainably. The clothes have already been produced, and by buying restored, donated or vintage clothes, you’re not putting pressure on the environment in terms of more clothes being produced. Shops such as Lucy's Lounge in Dublin offer a fantastic range of affordable second hand and vintage clothes, and most charity shops are a hub for affordable, second-hand finds. Siopaella is a personal favourite shop of mine; you can pick up luxury and high-street brands in mint condition for a fraction of the original price. It’s an environmentally sound way of shopping and it will save you a small fortune. Thanks to initiatives such as Red Carpet Green Dress, the use of dressing sustainably is becoming more and more fashionable (pun intended). Promoting both the benefits of sustainable fashion, and the consequences of unsustainable clothes production is vital in ensuring that green will permanently become the new black.

Kate Purcell

 

Bill Gates on Zero Carbon Energy

Bill Gates presents an interesting TED talk about the need to develop alternative energy sources to develop Zero carbon emissions globally by 2050.  The thing that comes over for me is the need to set a realistic and fixed price for carbon emissions to stimulate the type of research that we need right now.

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

New Broad Curriculum Course for 2011/12

Course Outline

New Broad Curriculum Course for 2011/12

The course begins by exploring the scientific background to the key global environmental problems facing us today (i.e. climate change, biodiversity, pollution, natural resources, population, socio-political divisions).  We will be investigating whether these threats are real and identifying what the actual challenges facing us are from a global, regional, local and personal perspective. What will post-climate change society be like?  Is global change as much of a moral issue as it is an environmental or economic one? Sustainability is central to dealing with these global problems and this concept is examined in detail, including the key mechanisms to achieve it.  In doing so we will examine our own contribution to environmental change and explore how this can be mitigated.  The course takes a hard critical look at the mechanisms for change (i.e. offsetting, recycling, renewables, travel etc.) and looks at what can be done. The course provides a platform for you to create your own action plan to deal with a changing planet.

Course Aims

Broad Curriculum courses aim to develop curiosity and analytical ability, creativity and reflectiveness, adaptability and breadth of reading, ethical responsibility, international outlook, articulacy, literacy and numeracy.

Course Objectives

By the end of the course, you should be able to:

1. Explain the scientific background to current global environmental change.

2. Describe how global change may affect ecosystems and human populations.

3. Understand the concepts that form the basis of sustainability

4. Know how to measure global impacts and how to reduce them.

5. Have a clear plan of action as to how you can live more sustainably and help mitigate global environmental change.

Assessment

The course involves set reading as well as a number of personal actions.  Assessment will involve a series of interactive activities including preparing a short statement about your concerns for the future; completing on-line surveys; producing personal carbon and water footprints; designing a personal action plan; and contributing material for either the blog or website. The course is equivalent to 5 ECTS.

The object of this course is to change the way you live or to make you very angry, possibly both.