Sustainable | News & Views

Report warns of climate change impact on infrastructure

Climate change could cripple UK infrastructure in the future if action is not taken to mitigate its effects, a new report has warned.

Engineering the Future was presented to the government’s chief scientific advisor this week and states, unless measures are taken to protect infrastructure, climate change “could have seriously detrimental effects on UK society and the economy”.

Lord Browne of Madingley, president of the Royal College of Engineering, which compiled the report, said: “Climate change is a genuine risk. While efforts must continue towards mitigating its effects, we need to think very carefully about how we adapt to the changing climatic conditions that are anticipated over the coming century.”

He added that engineering “is one of the best chances we have” of dealing with issues such as rising sea levels.

Last year, the Met Office dramatically revised its worst case scenario for rising sea levels, more than halving its prediction to 6ft from 13ft.

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ASDA and Marks & Spencer lead assault on packaging waste crisis – but will it work?

Taken from The Ecologist Online

As UK supermarkets scramble to reduce packaging in the face of growing legislation and consumer demand, Aimee Steen talks exclusively to those tackling the problem at high street stores and asks what role customers have to play

There’s not much a joint of beef can do to be offensive. Unless you’re vegetarian, in which case steering clear of the meat aisle in the supermarket is probably the best option. Lincolnshire trading standards, however, did have a problem with a Sainsbury’s Taste the Difference joint. It wasn’t too big, it wasn’t too small, it wasn’t claiming it was delicious when it actually didn’t have much on a bog-standard burger. It simply had too much packaging.

It was a landmark case, believed to be the first packaging prosecution brought against a major supermarket, but it was dropped just before it was due to be heard in October 2010. Lincolnshire council decided that the offending product had, in fact, had its packaging sufficiently reduced. Sainsbury’s claimed that the product’s packaging had already been reduced by 53 per cent and would be reduced by a further 10 per cent. All in all, we will never know whether the case would have been successful.

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UN forest protection plans failing because of land scarcity and demand for food

Taken from The Ecologist Online

REDD-type forest agreements ignore indigenous populations and are seeing a scramble for forest ‘carbon credits’ by governments and individuals, warns study

Schemes that pay countries to protect their forests are failing to stop deforestation because they ignore economic drivers such as land scarcity, demand for food, and biofuels, according to a study published this week.

At the UN climate talks in Mexico last December the international community agreed to provide money to less industrialised countries for projects that protect their rainforests (projects loosely termed as Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Degradation (REDD)). Over the next decade it has been estimated as much as $35 billion could be provided to such schemes every year to reduce deforestation.

However, this has resulted in a growing number of land grabs by governments and individuals who are motivated by a desire to take advantage of forest-based carbon credits, says a study by the International Union of Forest Research Organisations (IUFRO).

The authors say the UN-led forest protection plan to transform forests into storehouses for carbon, or for biodiversity or some other narrow purpose, will fail. Instead, they say, REDD-type projects should focus more on supporting regional and national efforts to tackle the economic and local factors driving deforestation.

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Frogs re-evolved lost lower teeth

Taken from BBC Online

Tree-dwelling Gastrotheca guentheri are the only frogs with teeth on both their upper and lower jaw. The reappearance of these lower teeth after such a long time fuels debate about whether complex traits are lost in evolution or if they can resurface. Scientists suggest this new evidence identifies a “loophole” in previous theories.

The Gastrotheca genus of frogs carry eggs on their backs
Commonly known as “marsupial frogs”, the Gastrotheca genus carry their eggs in pouches. Unlike marsupial mammals such as kangaroos however, the frogs’ pouches are on their backs. The species Gastrotheca guentheri is even more unusual, being the only known frog to have teeth on its lower jaw.

Dr John Wiens led a team of scientists from Stony Brook University, New York to investigate this exceptional feature. Their findings are reported in the journal Evolution.

“I combined data from fossils and DNA sequences with new statistical methods and showed that frogs lost their teeth on the lower jaw more than 230 million years ago, but that they re-appeared in G. guentheri within the past 20 million years,” explains Dr Wiens.

In the past, scientists have argued that traits “lost” in evolution cannot return, an assertion known as Dollo’s law. The return of lower jaw (mandible) teeth in G. guentheri after more than 200 million years could make evolutionary biologists reconsider this law.

“The loss of mandibular teeth in the ancestor of modern frogs and their re-appearance in G. guentheri provides very strong evidence for the controversial idea that complex anatomical traits that are evolutionarily lost can re-evolve, even after being absent for hundreds of millions of years,” Dr Wiens says.

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Papier-mache milk bottle arrives in UK supermarkets

Taken from The Guardian

A Suffolk-based inventor believes he may have found the answer to Britain’s rapidly developing landfill crisis.

Each day some 15m plastic bottles are used in the UK, many ending up on the country’s burgeoning waste mountains. And as the average plastic bottle takes 500 years to decompose, this legacy will have an impact on generations to come.

But now, inspired by a papier-mache balloon that his son made at school, Martin Myerscough believes he has come up with the answer. The GreenBottle, which looks remarkably like the conventional two-litre plastic bottles on supermarket shelves, comprises a sturdy paper shell with a plastic liner to keep the milk fresh.

Once the lining is ripped out, the paper shell can be quickly flattened and recycled up to seven times – plastic bottles can be recycled only once. Alternatively the paper bottle can be turned into compost within a matter of several weeks.

The bottle has been trialled at Asda stores in East Anglia and a national roll-out across the supermarket chain will start this week, beginning in Cornwall.

Myerscough dreamt up the idea for Greenbottle after talking to a man in his local pub. “A chap I row with was running the local landfill, so I asked him what was the main problem and he said plastic bottles, especially milk bottles, and that set me thinking.”

Recalling his son’s efforts with papier-mache, Myerscough played around with several designs before coming up with a prototype.

Currently 1,000 two-litre bottles are supplied to shops around Suffolk, and Myerscough claims customers have been “overwhelmingly positive”.

There are plans to make the next generation of bottles entirely from paper and to sell products to other industries, such as detergent and shampoo manufacturers.

Asda’s decision to introduce the bottles nationally should help bring costs of production down. “The price is the same as a plastic bottle,” Myerscough said. “Our target is to be competitive with plastic bottles.”

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Public belief in climate change weathers storm, poll shows

Taken from The Guardian

The public’s belief in global warming as a man-made danger has weathered the storm of climate controversies and cold weather intact, according to a Guardian/ICM opinion poll published today.

Asked if climate change was a current or imminent threat, 83% of Britons agreed, with just 14% saying global warming poses no threat. Compared with August 2009, when the same question was asked, opinion remained steady despite a series of events in the intervening 18 months that might have made people less certain about the perils of climate change. Emails between climate researchers that were released online in November 2009 had led to unfounded suggestions that the scientific basis for global warming was flawed. World leaders also failed to agree to a global deal to combat warming and a mistake over the melting of Himalayan glaciers was handled badly by the UN’s science panel.

Supporters of action on climate change, from government to business to campaigners, will be relieved that this series of negative news failed to increase scepticism significantly. Polling by other organisations in early 2010 suggested a rise in the proportion of those unconvinced of the danger of climate change. But over the 18-month period between the ICM polls, the proportion of people saying climate change is not a current threat rose by just 3% and was balanced by a 3% rise in those saying it is a threat, representing a small polarisation of the opposing viewpoints.

The UK also suffered two unusually cold winters in 2009 and 2010. But three times more people said the freezing weather had actually made them worry more about global warming than those who were less worried. The finding runs counter to the idea that people are influenced more by local conditions than by reports of globally rising temperatures. It may also indicate an understanding of how warming is projected to increase extreme weather events and that people distinguish between changes in short-term weather and long-term climate.

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Weekly green glossary: Assam, Hydroxyl radical and natural disasters

Taken from The Independent

Buzz words for the week ending January 07.

Assam – The world renowned tea brand is beginning to be affected by climate change, according to reports. (Guardian)

Bees – New research confirms that bee populations are dwindling, which could have catastrophic effects on agricultural production. (Reuters)

Blackbirds – and other wildlife have been dying in huge numbers across some parts of the United States , leaving scientists baffled as to the cause of their death. (CBC News)

Bluefin – The controversy surrounding the fishing of endangered Bluefin tuna hasn’t dampened the enthusiasms of Japanese gastronomes, where one of the fish sold for a record breaking €298,711. (Guardian)

Chukchi – Alaskan residents and conservation groups have succeeded in challenging permits held by Shell Oil to drill exploratory wells in the areas of Beaufort and Chukchi. (Associated Press)

Hydroxyl radical – A new study shows that levels of Hydroxyl radical, an atmospheric substance that acts in a similar fashion to a detergent, maybe more stable than previously believed, providing a stronger scientific basis for emission regulations. (NY Times green blog)

La Nina – the weather phenomena that has left a part of Australia the size of Germany and France flooded. (Reuters)

Natural disasters – In terms of natural disasters, 2010 was one of the deadliest years, with a total of 295,000 people losing their lives to earthquakes, hurricanes, floods, forest fires and other natural catastrophes. (AFP)

Plastic bags – Italy became the latest country to ban the use of non-biodegradable plastic bags on January 1; however, retailers are still being allowed to use up their stocks. (Environmental Leader)

Tidal power – American company Verdant Power has submitted an application to install 30 new tidal power turbines in New York’s East River. If successful, the turbines could generate power for the city. (Intelligent Energy Portal)

ULE - American safety certification firm Underwriters Laboratory Environment (ULE) has created a sustainability standard for mobile phone manufacturers. (Green Biz)

Unilever - has unveiled what is believed to be one of the greenest headquarters (HQ) ever built. The HQ of the company behind Vaseline is located in Hamburg and is equipped with LED lights and efficient heating systems. (Inhabitat)

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UK plastic bag use on the rise

Taken from The Guardian Online

Plastic bag use in Britain is on the rise after the limited success of a voluntary agreement by retailers to cut the number of bags given to shoppers, according to figures compiled this week.

By contrast, in Ireland, which imposed a tax on plastic bags in 2002, the number of plastic bags has plummeted. Consumers in the UK now use nearly four times as many plastic bags as those in Ireland.

According to the figures by the New Statesman from official government sources, the number of bags used a month by each person in the UK dropped from 11 in 2002 to 7.2 in 2009, but then rose again to 7.7 last year – equivalent to 475m bags in total per month. In Ireland, the equivalent figure – compiled from plastic bag tax receipts – has dropped from 27 in 2002 to 2 in 2009, suggesting that the tax is having a strong impact on consumer behaviour.

“Ireland’s shoppers are enjoying freedom from the endless unnecessary plastic bags, as these figures show,” said Julian Kirby, resource use campaigner for Friends of the Earth. “A standard charge in England would help save resources and cut climate-changing gases.”

Four years ago, single-use plastic bags became an environmental issue in the UK, after the residents of Modbury, Devon, banned them from the village. Photographs of wild animals caught up in plastic bags drew attention to the damage the bags were causing, and the Daily Mail joined the campaign, with a call in 2008 to “Banish the bags”, so that “our streets, fields, parks, seas, rivers and beaches will be cleaner for our grandchildren to enjoy”.

But, despite support from many sides, Gordon Brown backed away from imposing either a ban or a levy on the bags, and instead allowed retailers to create a voluntary agreement. The New Statesman’s waste policy report suggests the agreement – although initially leading to a drop in bag use – has had only a limited success.

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Sales of sustainable seafood soar in UK supermarkets

Taken from The Guardian Online

Sales of “alternative” species of fish and seafood have soared after being championed in Channel 4’s newFish Fightcampaign, the UK’s leading supermarkets reported today.

Consumers are favouring coley, dab, mussels, squid and sardines over the staple salmon, cod and tuna following the programmes last week, which highlighted the wasteful use of “discard” in fishing practices while encouraging shoppers to take the pressure off popular fish stocks by being more adventurous in what they eat.

The cook and Guardian writer Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall, credited with boosting demand for higher-welfare chicken three years ago, has taken the lead in the new campaign.Programmes from fellow chef Jamie Oliver have shown consumers new ways of cooking less popular species such as mussels, squid and trout.

Sainsbury’s said sales of “bycatch” from its fresh fish counter had been “promising” overall, while sales of pollack had leapt by 167% week on week. It said customers had responded well to the fish featured in Jamie Oliver’s programmes with sales of British and MSC-certified mackerel up 60% and mussels up 16%.

Sales of its sustainable “line and pole caught” canned tuna increased by 17% over the last week, while sales of organic salmon grew by 16% and normal salmon sales remained unchanged.

Tesco, the UK’s biggest fish retailer, said it had seen an increase in sales of between 25 and 45% for fresh sardines, coley, brown crab, sprats and whiting in the week since the first programmes. It said in a statement: “We sell around 40 species of fish on our fresh counters and our staff are trained to advise customers on trying new varieties. Sales of fresh cod, herring, mussels, mackerel and canned tuna also increased compared to last week.”

But the supermarket was singled out by Fearnley-Whittingstall for misleading labelling on its canned tuna, leading the company to pledge to catch 100% of its own-brand canned tuna using the “pole and line” method. Tesco last week came fifth out of the major supermarkets in a 2011 league table of sustainable tuna, compiled by Greenpeace.

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Surprising by-products of green oil

By lowcarboneconomy

With all the gathering interest in bio fuel crops, it is interesting to see some of the by-products the green oil industry is producing whilst farming the sustainable green oil crops.

The Millettia pinnata plantations in Queensland, Australia have many varied by-products, some of which would surprise even the most hardened advocate for bio fuel crops.

They utilise many natural ways to develop their crop yields and harness the experience of many years in the agriculture industry. They keep a huge number of bees on the plantation – as they manage to get the crops to flower for most of the year, thus virtually removing the old problem of seasons, this means the bees have a food source all year round. The abundant food for the bees allows them to produce a very high yield of honey, which is harvested and sold as one of the by-products of the green oil plantations. This approach removes the reliance on buying in bee hives to pollinate the crops, and removes some of the threats associated with colony collapse disorder which is threatening bee populations all over the world. It is thought that colony collapse disorder is being made worse by the practice of farms buying in bees for short periods of time to pollinate their crops – this could increase the spread of mites and viruses over much larger areas than the bees would normally cover, and allowing the bees to mix with other bees they would not normally come in contact with.

The plantations also provide cattle feed produced from the seed pods after they have been processed and the oil has been extracted. This biomass is called seed cake and is an extremely valuable source of cattle feed. The rest of the biomass is used to create biofertilizer; this is made up of prunings and cuttings from the Millettia trees themselves.

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