Low Carbon | News & Views

Fungus out! The frog resistance is here

FROGS across Australia and the US may be recovering from a fungal disease that has devastated populations around the world.

“It’s happening across a number of species,” says Michael Mahony at the University of Newcastle in New South Wales, who completed a 20-year study of frogs along the Great Dividing Range in Australia for the Earthwatch Institute. Between 1990 and 1998 the populations of several frog species crashed due to chytridiomycosis infection (chytrid) caused by the pathogen Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis, but Mahony’s surveys suggest that the frogs are re-establishing.

Barred river frogs (Mixophyes esiteratus) disappeared, he says, but now up to 30 of the animals have returned to streams across Australia’s Central Coast. The tusked-frog (Adelotus) and several tree frog species (Litoria) have also returned there. Ross Alford at James Cook University in Townsville, Queensland, says tree frogs are also repopulating other areas of the state after their numbers nosedived. Some have even reached pre-infection levels.

In the US there are also signs of recovery. Roland Knapp at Sierra Nevada Aquatic Research Laboratory at the University of California says mountain yellow-legged frogs (Rana muscosas) – once “driven virtually to extinction” – are returning. The big question is: are frogs now beating chytrid?

Using electronic tagging to track frogs, Knapp (Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, DOI: 10.1073/pnas.0912886107) and Mahony have separately found that recovering frogs are living with low-level infections of the fungus.

It is possible, they say, that the fungus has weakened in recovering areas. Knapp says there is evidence that the frogs are evolving. Initial findings from his team show that frogs from recovered populations can survive when challenged with a fungal strain, unlike frogs with no previous exposure to the fungus, which died after it colonised their skin.

At Vanderbilt University Medical Centre, Nashville, Alford and Louise Rollins-Smith found that a population of Australian green-eyed tree frogs previously decimated by the fungus produced more anti-microbial peptides – which inhibit fungal growth – on their skin than a less affected population (Diversity and Distribution, vol 16, p 703). “It’s quite likely that populations are adapting and developing better defences,” says Rollins-Smith.

Worldwide, most amphibian communities are not recovering, though earlier this year Ursina Tobler at the University of Zurich, Switzerland, showed for the first time that even in devastated populations, some tadpoles can survive infection.

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Cancún analysis: Dawn breaks on low-carbon world

From The New Scientist

Cancún’s climate conference was largely a diplomatic triumph. No nations promised to up their emissions reduction targets from those pledged in Copenhagen. The compromise text that the delegates applauded was only work in progress, full of pledges to settle differences later – differences like the fate of the Kyoto protocol, legally binding emissions targets and the role of carbon markets. The firmest commitment was to meet again next year in Durban, South Africa.

And yet behind the scenes, at side events across Cancún, the architecture of a remarkable new low-carbon world was on display – a world with ambition as great in developing nations as in the rich world.

Dozens of nations – rich and poor, forested and industrialised – came to Cancún having put flesh on promises made in Copenhagen, many of which were unilateral and do not depend on a UN agreement at all. If the talks ultimately founder in Durban or later, that momentum might just save the world without the leadership of the UN or the authority of a UN agreement.
Banking on change

Brazil, which promised to cut greenhouse gas emissions by 36 to 39 per cent from business-as-usual by 2020, declared that it was on the verge of eliminating one of its biggest sources of emissions: deforestation in the Amazon. Forest loss is down by three-quarters, from 27,000 square kilometres in 2004 to 6500 in the past year.

Satellite monitoring and better policing has helped. But so has a new national ambition. Last week the country’s biggest bank, Banco de Brasil, said soya farmers wanting loans must prove their beans are not grown on newly deforested land.

Meanwhile, researchers from Brazil’s state-backed agricultural research corporation, EMBRAPA, unveiled a plan for national low-carbon agriculture which could meet half of the government’s Copenhagen promise. Gustavo Mozzer said no-till agriculture, which keeps more carbon in the soil, would become the norm for farmers. And ranchers would rehabilitate cattle pastures, turning them from the main driver of deforestation into carbon sinks. In total over 150,000 square kilometres of degraded pastures are earmarked to be rehabilitated in the next decade.

In other signs of independent action, the European Union has made law its promise to cut emissions by 20 per cent below 1990 levels by 2020. In the US, Barack Obama’s Copenhagen promise of a 17 per cent cut below 2005 levels by 2020 was derailed by mid-term elections in October, but the country remains the world’s biggest investor in the research and development of green energy. And Texas has some of the world’s largest wind farms – not through any love of the UN or concern for climate, but because wind power is profitable.

Meanwhile California’s cap-and-trade law, once seen as a blueprint for a federal scheme, comes into force regardless of any UN treaty in 2012. Already Californian corporations are planning ways to cut emissions at home and offset more abroad. In Cancún the Governors’ Climate and Forest Taskforce, launched two years ago by Arnold Schwarzenegger and other state governors around the world, showcased offset projects in Acre in Brazil, Campeche in Mexico, Nigeria’s Cross River state and Indonesia’s Aceh.

The hope is to incorporate such schemes into the UN climate agreement’s own programme for channelling western money into forest conservation, known as Reduced Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation (REDD).

The rules for REDD were broadly agreed in Cancún. But Daniel Nepstad, a leading forest ecologist now with the Amazon Environmental Research Institute, said REDD could go ahead even if the wider UN deal falters, funded by carbon traders in the EU, California and elsewhere.

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Brits ‘not focussing on smarter driving techniques’

Drivers are focussing on buying more economical cars rather than learning more fuel-efficient driving techniques.

Nigel Underdown, Energy Saving Trust’s head of transport advice, explained that many motorists are yet to understand “how big an impact their driving style has on the final outcome”.

“Smarter driving relies primarily on better anticipation – reading the road and traffic conditions to avoid harsh acceleration and harsh braking,” he explained.

Maintaining a steady speed and changing to a higher gear at low revs was also said to be important. Mr Underdown explained that on average adopting this style could help drivers improve by as much as 15 per cent.

The Energy Saving Trust is currently holding its national energy saving week, with each day focussing on a different aspect of conserving power.

Tuesday October 26th will educate members of the public about insulation, followed by a day dedicated to generating energy and one dealing with energy saving products, before attention turns to energy-efficient transport on Friday October 29th.

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One-fifth of world’s back-boned animals face extinction, study warns

One species is added to the endangered list every week as the risk of extinction spreads to almost one-fifth of the world’s vertebrates, according to a landmark study released today.

The Evolution Lost report, published in the journal Science by more than 100 of the world’s leading zoologists and botanists, found that populations of mammal, bird, reptile, amphibian and fish species had declined by an average of 30% in the past 40 years.

Multiple factors have contributed to the demise, including logging, agricultural land conversion, over-exploitation, population growth, pollution and the impact of invasive alien species.

The worst die-off has occurred in south-east Asia, where hunting, dam building and the conversion of forest to palm oil plantations and paddy fields has been most dramatic. But Australia and the Andes have also suffered significant losses.

Land mammal populations are estimated to have declined by one-quarter, marine fish by one-fifth and freshwater fish by almost two-thirds, noted the study, which analyses the states of 25,000 back-boned animals on the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) “red list” of threatened species.

“The backbone of biodiversity is being eroded,” said veteran American ecologist and writer Prof Edward O Wilson. “One small step up the red list is one giant leap forward towards extinction. This is just a small window on the global losses currently taking place.”

The report has been released during a crucial United Nations biodiversity conference in Nagoya that aims to draw up a new global action plan to halt the demise of plant and animal life on Earth.

While current conservation strategies have failed to reverse the decline in wildlife and ecosystems, the authors of the report say the situation would be far worse without the establishment of nature reserves, breeding programmes and protection plans.

Such measures have helped 64 species recover, including the several that were eradicated in the wild but then reintroduced, such as the California condor and black-footed ferret in the United States and Przewalski’s horse in Mongolia.

The study estimates that an extra 20% of species, such as the black stilt, a wading bird endemic to New Zealand, would have moved higher into the threatened categories without conservation measures. The white rhino and humpback whale have also moved out of the “intensive care ward” thanks to prolonged protection measures.

But the pressures on wildlife are outweighing the support provided by conservation efforts. None of the UN’s 2010 targets to maintain species and habitats have been achieved.

Julia Marton-Lefèvre, director general of the IUCN, called on the negotiators at Nagoya to raise their efforts to save biodiversity. “This is clear evidence of why we absolutely must emerge from Nagoya with a strategic plan of action to direct our efforts for biodiversity in the coming decade,” she said. “Conservation does work, but it needs our support and it needs it fast.”

Many species are in a perilous position. The family of life most at risk may be the oldest seed plants. Two-thirds of cyads are in a critical condition due to illegal harvesting and trade. If current trends continue, the authors say the plants will go the way of the dinosaurs.

A separate study coordinated by the Royal Botanic Gardens at Kew suggested that just over one-fifth of plant species are threatened – mostly in the tropics – due to man-made habitat loss. But the extent of the risk remains unclear.

At the release of a first Asia-wide study of plants, Ma Keping, one of China’s leading botanists, said many of the region’s 100,000 plus species of higher plants were under pressure from rapid economic development, population growth, pollution and poverty.

Scientists cautioned against focusing exclusively on flagship endangered animals when the wider and closer risk was the demise of once common species, such as bees and fish, that are crucial to the food chain.

“Future extinctions risks are projected to be high, but the biodiversity crisis is much more than extinctions,” said Henrique Miguel Pereira, who analysed several recent global environment assessments for Diversitas, the UN Environment Programme and other groups. “Much of what will happen to biodiversity in 21st century is not global extinctions, but major changes in the abundance of species and the composition of communities”.

The co-author of his paper, Paul Leadley of University Paris-Sud, France, said the trends demanded radical change. “There is no question that business-as-usual development pathways will lead to catastrophic biodiversity loss. Even optimistic scenarios for this century consistently predict extinctions and shrinking populations of many species.”

A UN-sponsored study called The Economics of Ecosystems and Biodiversity calculated the cost of losing nature at $2-5 trillion per year, predominantly in poorer parts of the world.

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Chris Huhne opens low carbon housing project

Chris Huhne has opened a low carbon housing development in Slough which is intended to educate energy suppliers about their changing role.

Developed by Scottish and Southern Energy, the ten eco homes will be studied over the next two years to establish the needs of the consumer within a low carbon society.

Some £3.5 million has been invested in creating the green community, where the buildings feature rainwater harvesting, triple glazing, enhanced insulation, solar photovoltaic panels and a renewable heat hub.

The properties, which are a mixture of family homes and one-bedroom flats, have received the highest possible rating in accordance with the Code for Sustainable Homes.

Secretary of state for energy and climate change Mr Huhne highlighted that more than a quarter of the UK’s carbon emissions come from the country’s homes.

“Slough’s project is a glimpse into the future of how we could all be living in years to come,” he added.

Figures from the energy regulator Ofgem revealed recently that record numbers of people installed solar panels on their homes in August. Since the feed-in tariff scheme was introduced in April, 6,688 homeowners have fitted the technology.

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Branches of low carbon restaurant chain to open in the UK

The low carbon restaurant chain Otarian is to open its first UK branches in London this week.

Based on the principle of vegetarianism, the chain will be the first to include information on carbon footprints to internationally recognised standards on all of its menus .

Restaurants in Wardour Street, Soho, Shaftesbury Avenue, and Covent Garden are due to open on August 20th.

Otarian operates a no air freight policy, meaning all products are delivered by road and if a reliable supply cannot be obtained the dish is altered.

Some 98 per cent of waste from the restaurant is either composted or recycled and sustainable building products, such as floor tiles made from recycled glass, are used throughout the building design.

Radhika Oswal, said that vegetarianism is the most sustainable way of living as it has “a lighter ecological footprint, reduced resource impacts, and lower carbon emissions than non-vegetarian equivalents”.

A report released earlier this year by the Centre for Alternative Technology entitled Zero Carbon Britain suggested that an 80 per cent reduction in livestock in the UK would contribute to the country producing zero emissions by 2030.

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London Cycle Hire – Jenny Jones Investigates

Jenny Jones, Green Party member of the London Assembly, investigates the London Cycle Hire scheme. Filmed on Monday 26th July.

Please send Jenny your feedback on the new scheme and your experiences of it: Jenny.Jones@london.gov.uk

What can be done to make aviation more environmentally friendly?

Air travel is a major contributor to carbon emissions from many developed countries. In 2006, aviation alone accounted for 6.4 per cent of the UK’s CO2 emissions. It is predicted that unless changes take place this figure could rise to ten per cent.   Friends of the Earth calculate that worldwide more than 600 million tonnes of carbon dioxide are emitted from flights each year, the same amount, it claims, as that released by all human activity in Africa.

What’s more, aviation can also have a significant impact on the quality of the air. Kerosene, the main component of most jet fuels, releases gases like carbon monoxide alongside CO2.   This has led to companies looking for new ways to mitigate some of the effects of flying and earlier this month United Airlines became the first commercial carrier in the US to operate a flight using synthetic jet fuel, made from natural gas.  Created by the US firm Rentech, the synthetic fuel reduces ground level pollution by emitting 96 per cent less particles from an idle engine.   The firm claims that the lower density of the fuel allows for a lighter takeoff weight, meaning less fuel is used during the flight. This fuel is also used by the US air force.

United Airlines sent up a team of 19 engineers and observers to assess both the performance and environmental benefits of the fuel.   However, it could be many years before synthetic jet fuels become the norm within the industry.   One option which is available now is carbon offsetting. The UK government’s offsetting scheme offers air travellers the opportunity to pay someone to make a reduction equivalent to the emissions from that flight.  Projects which the government says have already benefitted from the scheme include hydroelectric power plants in Fiji and wind energy schemes in Cyprus.

Although with the cost of such schemes being passed directly to the consumer, some may doubt how great the uptake will be.  There is also, of course, the solution of using air travel less.   The results of the United Airlines test flight are due to be released within the next week, but how long will it be before a definitive answer on how best to make the aviation industry more environmentally friendly is revealed?

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What role does the IT industry have to play in a low carbon economy?

Virtually all modern businesses rely on a sophisticated system of IT for support. So much so that some organisations spend over 50 per cent of their IT budget on the energy to power it, a new book claims.

Green IT for Sustainable Business Practice calls on those responsible for the company’s IT systems to set carbon reduction targets for themselves and become better acquainted with the regulation surrounding the industry.

However, the issues relating to the carbon emissions of IT systems are extremely complex. While they are huge consumers of energy, they provide thousands of benefits to businesses of all sizes and will have a significant role to play in the transition to a low carbon economy.

Increasingly, businesses are using virtualisation technologies, such as cloud computing, as a way of reducing their outgoings on costly IT equipment. A report by Gartner earlier this year suggested that by the year 2020, 20 per cent of firms will not own any IT assets.

This is perhaps one of the best examples of how energy-efficient technologies can have a positive impact on the bottom line.

Gartner also claimed that personal computers use ten times their weight in fossil fuels over their lifetime and PC manufacture and transportation accounts for 80 per cent of a computer’s total energy consumption. It predicts this figure will reduce to 60 per cent in 2012, as more customers look for information on carbon dioxide emissions before purchasing a product.

Beyond this IT solutions like video conferencing can allow firms to reduce their reliance on road transport and aviation. As well as reducing carbon emissions, this helps boost efficiency, and again can lead to a positive effect on the bottom line.

Hi-tech IT systems installed in vehicles can also cut carbon emissions by enabling technology to operate more effectively and informing users of their energy usage.

With the book predicting that in the future the IT could fall under the same level of scrutiny as the aviation industry, is it time that companies begin to consider the role of technology in moving towards a low carbon economy? And, exactly how far should that role extend?

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What role will natural gas play in a low carbon economy?

One of the most fundamental changes which needs to be made if the world is to stop global warming and create a new low carbon economy is for its population to decrease its dependence on fossil fuels.

The fact that an alternative to fossil fuels would have to be discovered was an accepted truth before climate change even became an issue and alternative energy sources have been in development for many years.

Now solar power, wind power and hydroelectricity have become part the UK’s energy mix, however they need to play a much larger part.

But what role will natural gas have in the low carbon economy?

A study by the World Watch Institute concludes that natural gas will be a key player in the US’s transition to a low carbon economy. The move from coal to gas has already played a large part in the UK’s emission reductions over the past two decades.

The authors of the research stated that natural gas, particularly that which is now being uncovered from unconventional reserves, is far less “carbon intensive” than both oil and gas.

They added that natural gas can be used in conjunction with renewable energy sources to provide “flexible backup” when there is a large demand on power, which simply could not be done with coal.

However, if people come to see natural gas as a viable resource to perform this role it could have a negative impact on the development of energy storage technologies. This concern is heightened by the fact that using natural gas for this purpose is only a very short term solution, as the production of gas from the North Sea will be 80 per cent less than it was in 2004 by 2015.

And this could be where the real sticking point lies. Will presenting natural gas as part of the transition to a low carbon economy dissuade people from searching for alternatives?

The BBC reported last year that upgraded figures on the level of natural gas reserves in the US makes it more cost effective to extract and means it will support long term supply. This makes the use of natural gas a reality in the US’s plans for a low carbon economy.

New drilling techniques enabled the country to tap into reserves within tight sands and shale rock, however there have been concerns over the environmental impact of this drilling.

Rune Bjornson, head of the gas division at Statoil, claimed that if Europe was to convert its coal power stations to natural gas then carbon emissions would be reduced by 40 per cent.

The World Watch Institute study concludes by saying that replacing the use of oil and coal with natural gas will help reduce carbon emissions and improve air quality.

What needs to be done now is finding a way of using natural gas to its fullest advantage, while ensuring its impact on carbon emissions is as low as possible. The question is how will this be done?

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