Smart Energy Conservation
Energy efficient and sustainable companies display a sense of organizational effectiveness that allows them to make good use of the energy conservation technology, suggests Ian Jarvis of Enerlife Consulting in a recent Financial Post article. Saving energy is linked to increased comfort and productivity, which in turn gives people more of a sense of control over their environment.
cc: Manitoba Hydro Place
Europeans have been constructing smart buildings and using energy audits in design for years. Similar smart buildings are now starting to be built in North America. Winnipeg’s Manitoba Hydro Place is a leading example of an intelligent building, with onsite weather stations and a digital management system that adjusts outside temperature-controlled vents every 3 hours.
For smart buildings to achieve successful energy conservation, the people in the buildings have to think about what’s happening around them and how they impact their environment. To be truly sustainable, they need to have a realistic sense of how they are using energy. However, a recent study found that many people believe they can save energy with small, ineffective behavior changes, and underestimate the major effects of switching to efficient, currently available technologies.
Too many people are just trying to save energy by doing what is cheap and easy, suggests the survey. Energy conservation advocates have tended to encourage actions like turning off lights to save energy, rather than focusing on the biggest energy savers including higher-mileage vehicles and installing room rather than central air conditioning.
Part of the problem is lack of awareness of the big energy savers. Luckily, giving people better information about energy conservation will make up for the current psychology and will lead to people making better decisions about using energy. Have a look at the “Savings from green measures” graph in the Economist that is from the study.
Just by becoming more efficient in their households and vehicles, people can substantially decline their energy consumption within the decade.
Tags: buildings, Conservation, design, energy, environment, Manitoba Hydro Place, smart, sustainable, Technology
Water Footprints
It’s August, hot in many places, and “everyone” is talking about water. A lot of water may be used in summertime for lawns and swimming pools, but we all have a year round footprint that uses an amazing amount of water. As WWF Canada recently wrote, even as we consume breakfast we’re devouring food that used water through running factories to growing crops. And it’s a lot:
A single cup of coffee = 140 litres (Enough fresh water to fill to fill your mug 777 times)
One slice of white bread = 40 litres (Enough water to fill a fish tank)
A single egg = 200 litres (Enough fresh water to fill a rain barrel)
Dinner’s worse – A steak dinner = 15,500 litres (Enough fresh water to fill a small swimming pool)
Meanwhile, the BC Sustainable Energy Association states that we must act now to protect our rivers, streams and groundwater, and to balance competing demands for this precious and limited resource. The BC Legislature is currently considering how to modernize our Water Act, and the BCSEA has an online petition that asks the BC Legislature to prioritize environmental and social needs for water and involve the public in decisions about water. If you’re in BC, check out the petition.
Tags: energy, environmental, petition, sustainable, water, WWF Canada
One Million Trees
Earth Day Network recently announced it had found partners in 15 countries who together will plan one million trees in 2010 as part of the Avatar Home Tree Initiative. The Initiative is a partnership program between Earth Day Network and Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment, with the purpose of reducing greenhouse gas emissions and supporting sustainable development and reforestation around our world.
Each of the one million trees to be planted will be added to Earth Day Network’s Billion Acts of Green program as well as pledged towards the UN Environmental Program Billion Tree Campaign, a worldwide tree planting initiative by the UN Environment Programme. Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment will insert a unique code inside the Avatar Blu-ray/DVD which lets fans adopt one of the one million trees being planted.
Tree Canada will work to reforest almost 2,000 acres of pine forest in southeastern Manitoba that were destroyed by hurricane force winds in 2005.
In the UK, The Woodland Trust will provide free tree packs and online support to communities as part of their More Trees, More Good campaign. The UK has only 4% native woodland cover, but the Woodland Trust suggests that at least twice as many native trees and woods are needed to maintain healthy populations of wildlife and people, and to combat climate change and improve the environment. Clive Anderson, Sean Bean, and Barry Davison are among the British celebrities who are supporting this program.
In the United States, the tree planting will be sponsored by three organizations. MillionTreesNYC in New York focuses on increasing green spaces and the urban health environment for low to middle income neighborhoods. In San Franciso, Friends of the Urban Forest help citizens plant and care for street trees and sidewalk gardens, particularly in low income areas. And in Los Angeles, TreePeople improves city life by planting trees, including fruit trees which will provide a free source of fruit to help low-income citizens eat healthier.
For information about the other 12 countries involved in the Avatar Home Tree Initiative, see Earth Day Network’s press release.
Tags: Avatar, Earth Day, reforestation, sustainable, tree, Twentieth Century Fox, UN, Woodland Trust
UNEP Travel and Conservation
The UN Environment Programme (UNEP) is linking travel with conservation in order to conserve the Arctic’s habitat.
The UN News Centre reports that a joint campaign by conservation groups and tour operators in the 1990’s has helped set up protected areas in Svalbard, Norway. Svalbard is the closest tourism outpost to the North Pole, which is 1,000 kilometres away. The sustainable tourism initiative has enacted new laws protecting biodiversity and has led to the successful protection of polar bears and other native species in the area.
Currently in Norway, partners UNEP and GRID-Arendal are planning to replicate the success in Svalbard by studying how sustainable tourism can support the management and development of protected areas.
In June 2010, participants from 12 countries met in Arendal to discuss how tourism and biodiversity protection in marine protected areas can lead to conservation successes, reports UNEP. The meeting decided that financial, educational and political support are all important. Although differences between areas makes establishing criteria that can be used to replicate successful tourism/biodiversity connections difficult, the aim of UNEP’s Linking Tourism & Conservation (LT&C) initiative is to show, learn from and replicate positive examples where tourism supports the management and development of protected areas.
UNEP and GRID-Arendal are hosting a study expedition to Svalbard for conservationists, journalists and members of the public. They also plan to create an interactive map of tourist destinations engaged in conservation work that will allow travelers to view a destination’s green credentials before booking their trip. All hail green tourism!
Tags: Arctic, biodiversity, Conservation, map, sustainable, tourism, Travel, UN, UNEP
Brazilian Indians Rally
Hundreds of Brazilian Indians from across the country are gathering to protest the killing of their leaders, the theft of their land for industrial projects, and other threats to their survival, reports Survival International.
The August 16th to 20th rally is expected to draw around 800 Indians representing many of Brazil’s 233 tribes. As well, all candidates in Brazil’s upcoming presidential election have been invited.
The Indians hope to raise awareness and protest their treatment and the critical situation it has led to for many indigenous people of the Amazon. As well, they will protest the government’s plans to build a series of huge dams and roads in the Amazon.
The Indians have lived sustainably in the rainforest for many generations, and have the human right to continue. Now as Brazil undergoes development, threats to that rainforest increase. For the role the Indians play in maintaining the rainforest, which are the lungs of our planet, theirs are important voices for all of us.
Tags: Amazon, Brazil, dams, election, government, Indians, president, rainforest, rally, roads, Survival International, sustainable
Greening the Energy Grids
A recent report demonstrates how a revised global energy “revolution” could create 3.2 million jobs, with 8.5 million in the renewable energy sector alone. All while reducing energy related CO2 emissions globally by over 80% by 2050.
The June 2010 “Energy [R]evolution: A Sustainable World Energy Outlook” report provides a detailed and practical blueprint for reducing carbon emissions while achieving economic growth by replacing fossil fuels with renewable energy and energy efficiency. This phase-out of fossil fuels offers substantial benefits such as energy security and independence from world market fuel prices, as well as the creation of millions of new green jobs, reports Repower Alberta.
A sustainable future for our planet involves investing in people and local communities who can establish and maintain renewable energy sources. The vision includes decentralised energy systems, smart interactive grids, and super grids for offshore wind and solar power transportation. Renewable micro grids for people living in remote areas could reach almost 2 billion people who today lack electricity, Greenpeace reports. Highlights of the report are available on Greenpeace’s website.
The report offers three scenarios. The most advanced one allows carbon emissions to increase and peak in 2015, after which they would drop by more than 80% by 2050 when the energy supply would be generated mostly by renewable energies. Under this scenario, 95% of electricity could be produced by renewable energy by 2050, reports Repower Alberta.
Meanwhile, Sierra Club Prairie and Greenpeace have been travelling around Alberta as part of RePower Alberta, a campaign aimed at persuading the Alberta government to develop a Green Energy Strategy. The two NGO’s are organizing and presenting a series of Green Energy and Green Jobs events to educate people about Alberta’s potential for a green economy. Alberta is the only Canadian jurisdiction currently building a new coal-fired power plant, and the government recently allocated $2 billion for Carbon Capture and Storage. Increased greening is needed!
Tags: carbon emissions, CO2, coal, electricity, energy, energy security, green, Greenpeace, grid, renewable, Repower Alberta, Sierra Club, solar, sustainable, wind power
World Oceans Day
Happy World Oceans Day 2010!
A lot of groups and websites are celebrating World Oceans Day today. Here are two that you might want to check out:
The Ocean Project is hosting a World Oceans Day website at: www.theoceanproject.org/wod/
If you like eating seafood, please try to ensure it’s sustainable. SeaChoice, Canada’s most comprehensive sustainable seafood program, has a website at: www.seachoice.org
Do something good for our Oceans today!
Tags: Ocean Project, SeaChoice, seafood, sustainable, World Oceans Day
Water Matters
The need to ensure a sustainable water supply is a reality that affects everyone. Currently, the state of California is split over the issue of whether or not to support an $11 billion water bond that will be on the November 2010 state-wide ballot, according to the New York Times. The bond is supported by many businesses and prominent politicians, construction companies and irrigation districts, as well as some non profit groups such as the Nature Conservancy, National Heritage Institute, and Audubon California. On the opposing side are many groups such as the Sierra Club, Friends of the River, and Clean Water Action, who claim that the bond will do little to ensure water sustainability in the long-term.
The New York Times reports that the bond will fund billions of dollars in infrastructure upgrades such as new dams, reservoirs, canals, and water- and sewage-treatment facilities. Solutions for endangered salmon and the potential privatization of water reservoirs form part of the debate.
While some claim that more infrastructure would broaden water resources, opponents claim that the bond does little to promote sustainable water usage. Further, the No On The Water Bond Association (www.nowaterbond.com) insists that the bond would create more debt burden for Californians for an inefficient system that may damage downstream ecosystems. Also, only a little over 2% of the bond would fund conservation programs.
The real answer to the question of sustainability is not simply building more waste treatment facilities, suggests the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. Citizens must become more responsible water users. This means that conservation must begin at home through living green and funding initiatives that get to the root of the problem as opposed to building over it.
We need to look no further than Habitat for Humanity’s Green Living Initiative in Tucson. The initiative has established a gray water system, which allows users with the turn of a handle the option of draining faucet/shower waters into their lawns/gardens as opposed to the sewers.
Education about the importance of water conservation should start in schools, which are enormous consumers of water. The EPA offers assistance to educators through programs such as ‘Tools for Schools’ which offer “background information for teachers and several student activities introducing water conservation principles”.
The water crisis began due to a lack of knowledge and respect for sustainable practices; we cannot afford to let it end the same way.
Tags: California, Conservation, EPA, gray water, Green Living, Habitat for Humanity, sustainable, Tools for Schools, water, Water bond
Palm Oil and Rainforest Destruction
In Guatemala just over a year ago, I flew in a small plane so low over the rainforest that we could see some large birds circle and land in a tree. For the first time in my life, I witnessed what I’ve read about tropical rainforests for years – the grassy sections where the forest has been chopped down, the dirt areas where now nothing will grow, and the little clumps of forest that are too small for anything larger than a coatimundi to live in. “What was there before?” I wondered. “What animals have we lost? What medicinal plants?”
“What you saw in Guatemala is not very different from what you see flying over the Amazon, [or] over parts of Southeast Asia or Africa,” Leila Salazar-Lopez of the Rainforest Action Network (RAN) told me today. “Anywhere where there’s rainforest, they are literally on the chopping block.”
Agribusiness is responsible for much of the destruction. RAN’s Rainforest Agribusiness campaign is focused on trying to protect tropical rainforest from the alarmingly fast expansion into rainforests. One of the commodities responsible for this is palm oil.
Palm oil is in about 50% of our consumer goods, including snack foods, cereals, detergents, cosmetics and even biofuels. Most people don’t know that, Leila told me. The reason palm oil is such a globally-expanding commodity is that it’s cheap – it’s the least expensive source of vegetable oil in the world.
Unfortunately, palm oil is a tropical plant, originally from Africa, and can only be grown in the tropics. About 90% of it is from Indonesia and Malaysia. “The highest rate of deforestation in the world is in Indonesia. They got a Guinness Book of World Records acknowledgement – they’re destroying 20 square miles of rainforest every day – that’s about three football fields,” Leila explained. Indonesia has destroyed around half of its rainforest already, over the last few decades. Due to increased demand for palm oil, the Indonesian government has already announced plans to convert another 18 million hectares into palm oil plantations by 2020. That’s “approximately the size of Missouri,” as Leila put into perspective.
So much rainforest land has been cleared, burned or drained; people have been evicted from their homes; and it’s negatively affecting our climate. Animals are being displaced from their habitats and don’t have anywhere to live, including some incredible species such as the orangutan, Sumatran tiger, Sumatran elephant and the sunbear. “These animals are very, very threatened from palm oil plantation expansion,” Leila added. As well, up to 20 million Indonesians depend on forests for survival. If “forests are cut down, [the people] can’t harvest food, they can’t hunt, they can’t live in the way they’ve been living for thousands of years.”
RAN is campaigning to stop the destruction of any more rainforest for this commodity. They suggest that companies that are using palm oil should research their supply chain and find out where the palm oil is coming from. They need to let their suppliers know that they “only want socially and environmentally responsible palm oil, [and] don’t want palm oil that comes from destroyed rainforests that displaces communities and destroys the climate. We don’t want that kind of palm oil,” Leila advised.
There’s a Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO) that has principles and standards that companies should follow, at a minimum. Companies should act responsibly and source palm oil only from suppliers who protect high conservation value forests and get the free consent of forest communities.
RAN is speaking with global companies such as Cargill, trying to get their message understood and adopted. More information is available on RAN’s website.
Leila also suggested that you download Green: The Film – a documentary that shows through images and music what rainforest destruction due to palm oil looks like from the viewpoint of an orangutan. It’s a realistic portrayal of how the animals are being impacted on a daily basis.
Tags: agri business, agriculture, Cargill, Climate Change, Conservation, endangered, Green: The Film, Guatemala, Indonesia, palm oil, rainforest, Rainforest Action Network, rainforest destruction, RAN, RSPO, sustainable, sustainable palm oil
Climate-Friendly Food – in the Friday File
Considering the vast quantities of food produced, what is a foodie who wants to support the planet to do? A few climate-friendly food tips - in The Friday File. You can reach the Friday File by either clicking on “Fridays” in the navigation bar up top on this page, or by clicking on The Friday File under Categories.
Tags: agriculture, climate-friendly food, David Suzuki, feast, Food Network, food quantities, packaging, Small Steps, sustainable, USDA
