Institutional Sustainability Model

Sustainable World -- Sustainability at Harvard University

• Supporting and Empowering the Community
• Having Strong Leadership and Goals
• Innovating Through Collaboration
• Fostering Change With Tools and Resources
• Taking Time to Reward and Recognize

Energy from floating algae pods

Offshore Membrane Enclosures for Growing Algae (OMEGA) is an innovative method to grow algae, clean waste water, capture carbon dioxide and to ultimately produce biofuel without competing with agriculture for water, fertilizer or land.

NASA's OMEGA system consists of large flexible plastic tubes, called photobioreactors. Floating in seawater, the photobioreactors contain freshwater algae growing in waste water. These algae are among the fastest growing plants on Earth. 

The algae use energy from the sun, carbon dioxide and nutrients from the waste water to produce biomass that can be converted into biofuels as well as other useful products such as fertilizer and animal food. The algae clean the waste water by removing nutrients that otherwise would contribute to marine deadzone formation.

NASA's project goals are to investigate the technical feasibility of a unique floating algae cultivation system and prepare the way for commercial application. Research by scientist and engineers has demonstrated that OMEGA is an effective way to grow micro-algae and treat waste water on a small scale.

The OMEGA system is being investigated by NASA as an alternative way to produce aviation fuels. Potential implications of replacing fossil fuels include reducing the release of green house gases, decreasing ocean acidification and enhancing national security.

For more on story: http://www.nasa.gov/centers/ames/research/OMEGA/index.html

Clean energy: Fuel for debate

Continuing on my previous posts on biofuels, It is great to see that  European Commission announced policy on 17th sepetember to support second generation biofuels such as those based on algae, garbage and agricultural waste after citing concerns of increasing food prices and deforestation

 

Clean energy sectors face a murky future with solar and wind industries embroiled in recent trade disputes and the European Union moving to restrict crop-based biofuels in its transport fuel mix.

But despite these challenges, chairman of the Sustainable Energy Association of Singapore Edwin Khew says the outlook for renewable energy industries remains positive. Speaking to Eco-Business in a recent interview, Mr Khew said: “If you look deeper, they are all positive happenings for the market and for technology.”

 

For example, stiff competition and a glut in the solar parts market – which US and Europe solar manufacturers say is due to Chinese firms flooding the market with below-cost products in a process known as ‘dumping’ – has cut prices for solar equipment in half.

Mr Khew noted that lower prices for solar and wind manufacturing components have made wind and solar farms more affordable, allowing them to compete with fossil fuels and reach grid parity sooner.

“This should attract greater investment into these renewable energy sectors where returns on investment are seen to be shorter and more attractive,” he explained.

Mr Khew, whose organization provides a way for clean energy companies and funders to meet and collaborate on projects, noted that viable solutions to clean energy challenges will require cooperation and dialogue amongst government, private sector, academics and financial institutions.

The upcoming Singapore International Energy Week (SIEW), to be held from 22 to 25 October at the Sands Expo and Convention Centre, will feature such a discussion on future energy challenges.

Mr Khew noted that this year’s conference, with the theme “Shaping a New Energy Landscape”, is a great opportunity to “acclerate clean energy technologies, businesses and economies”.

Energy security is one of the biggest challenges facing countries, including Singapore, which as a city-state lacks its own conventional energy sources.

“Today, there is always the need to find better and cheaper ways of producing energy, water, and food. This is especially true with the added challenges of climate change impacts such as increased typhoons, hurricanes, droughts, floods and earthquakes,” he noted.

 

As for biofuels, Dr Christoph Weber, president of global biofuel firm JATRO, said that he welcomed the turnaround of the EU energy policy, as crop-based biofuels have led to unwanted consequences worldwide by contributing to the increase of food prices, poverty, world hunger and deforestation.

“The EC is finally recognizing the fact that the use of food-crops for fuel is problematic, if not counterproductive,” he noted. He added that it was good news for the jatropha industry, which produces advanced biofuels and bio-kerosene, because the plant is grown on land unsuited for agriculture. Globally, anywhere between 500 million and 2 billion hectares of such land is available, he estimated.

“Producing jatropha on marginal land will keep food on the table and the rainforest untouched,” said Dr Weber.

JATRO, which has secured land use rights for commercial scale jatropha and bio energy crop production on more than 1 million hectares in Indonesia, Vietnam, Thailand, Cambodia and Laos, is producing biofuels for the aviation industry.

The aviation industry is focused on finding sustainable, reliable sources of biofuels to mix with conventional kerosene, and they want biofuel production scaled up as quickly as possible, he added.

Dr Weber is one of 25 experts who will be speaking at an inaugural Asia Future Energy Forum at SIEW. Some other high level speakers at SIEW include International Energy Agency executive director Maria van der Hoeven, Royal Dutch Shell executive vice-president of strategy and planning Ruth Cairnie, International Renewable Energy Agency director-general Adnan Z Amin, and Carbon War Room president Jose Maria Figueres, who is also the former president of Costa Rica.

Co-organized by Singapore’s Energy Market Authority and the Energy Studies Institute think-tank, the fifth annual SIEW will focus on four topics: Options for the Future Energy Mix; Financing Tomorrow’s Energy Needs; Keeping the Door to 2°C Open; and Connecting the Dots: Energy-Water-Food Nexus.

Ministers, policymakers and business leaders will discuss these and other issues at SIEW, which last year attracted over 20,000 delegates from over 60 countries.

Fore more on story and source:

http://www.eco-business.com/features/clean-energy-fuel-for-debate/

 

Suitable algae-to-biofuel locations identified

Follow on from my previous blog on Is Biofuels our future - This story provides some in-depth in to Algae based biofuel production....

Scientists have, for the first time, identified a number of WA sites capable of producing large quantities of commercial biofuel from microalgae.

They say the best sites for big-scale algal biofuel plants include stretches of land south of Geraldton, south-east of Exmouth and large areas near Karratha and Port Hedland.

Professor Michael Borowitzka from Murdoch University’s Algae Research and Development Centre and Assistant Professor Bryan Boruff from the School of Earth and Environment at The University of Western Australia used geographical information systems (GIS) technology to study more than 2250 km of WA coastline from Lancelin to Broome and 170 km inland.

Their report, ‘Identification of the Optimum Sites for Industrial-scale Microalgae Biofuel Production in WA using a GIS Model’, was prepared for the WA Government-funded Centre for Research into Energy for Sustainable Transport(CREST) and is the first WA-wide study of its kind.

Read more here: Sustainability Matters!

Is Biofuels our future?

                                                                                                          source: NSW office of biofuels

Today there has been much hype on the topic of biofuels. For some it’s an opportunity for new business, creating new innovation or more income through increased agricultural activity. Many governments recognise biofuel as “sustainable energy source” versus some as a way to move away from                                                
dependency on oil reach countries. Fossil fuel creates so much of carbon dioxide and pollutes our air and affects human’s livelihood. It has been well recognised that fossil fuel are harming our environment and needs to be replaced. At the same time fossil fuels are non-renewable resources which have a limit and humans are not far from reaching out those limits.

Biofuel is considered as a substitute of fossil fuel and largely involved in producing ethanol from various plants. Currently biofuel is produced from corn, soybean, rapeseed, oil palm and sugarcane. Many biofuel producers are demanding more and more of these plants for their production. Biofuel is not something new or invented in last few years. In-fact biofuel has been used by many generations for their fuel needs; for example in past or even today many poor people use plant based fuel for cooking and lighting lamp at night. Coconut oil is a good example of this. Continuously increasing demand of biofuel due to its renewable nature and recognition of alternative to fossil fuel has put pressure on farmers to produce more. It is possible that more of these plants will be diverted to producing ethanol instead of sending it for food consumption. Data shows that around 40% of the earth’s land has been converted for the purpose of agriculture. In 1960 world population was around 3 billion and in 2012 it has reached 7 billion. Humans have increased production of crops through industrialisation and use of various chemical fertilisers. We have cultivated more land in last 50years to feed the world yet today in the world there are around 800 to 900 million people are starving and going to bed without food and we are promoting to divert possible food stock to produce fuel so that we can drive our cars.

Increasing demand of biofuels will shoot up food prices and it may mean that those living under poverty lines have no or very less access to basic food items. To solve one problem of climate change we are inviting many other problems associated with the production of biofuel. Some of the corn production and its prices have already gone up in US. Products made out of corn have witnessed price increase in last decade. In 2006 the department of agriculture in US made statement that the world grain consumption will increase by 20 million tons. Out of 20 million around 14 million will be used for biofuel and only 6 million will be left for food consumption. AsiaSentinel reported on 14^th Dec 2006 that Malaysia and Indonesia will allocate 40% of combined annual palm oil yield for biodiesel production. This decision would have tremendous pressure on basic items made up of palm oil. Indonesia has the 2^nd highest rate of deforestation in the world. Clearing forest for palm oil plantation is the leading cause of deforestation.

It is very unfortunate that we have ignored the impact of biofuel in the hope of finding alternative solution of fossil fuel. Deforestation will accelerate, and food prices will increase, less feedstock for animal and all of these will contribute to climate change. After all it does not stop usage of fossil fuel since it is heavily used in order to produce biofuel. Currently majority of plants use fossil fuel to produce biofuel. Their plants, machinery, logistics, transport and many other surrounding supports uses huge amount of fossil fuel.

Time is very crucial and the effect of biofuel may be reversible in next 10 to 20years from now on. The world really needs to demand strict international policies in order to provide sustainable solution instead of just an alternate solution. One of the sustainable solutions that are available today is through capturing of CO2 and harvesting algae. Algae produced from CO2 can be used for biofuel or spirulina. The leftover from algae biofuel production can be used as a feedstock for animals. I hope that the government and other international organisations support the sustainable solutions rather than quick fixes.

Limits to Growth & Our Common Future

Sustainable development has become well recognised concept since the publications of “Limits to Growth” and “Our Common Future”. The link between environment and development was institutionalised and the term “Sustainable Development” was popularised and brought firmly onto the international agenda in 1987 in the report Our Common Future. (Cox, 2008, 237). Publication of the report “Our Common Future” initiated and supported to lay foundation for Sustainable Development and Environmental Economics. The report highlighted serious “environmental concerns” mainly related to developing countries and the global environment. (Resources for the Future, 2011, pg, 1)

Limits to Growth report focused on ecological limits and economic growth. The Limits to Growth developed a neo-Malthusian model which assumed that growth in “population and industrial capital” would lead to increase in demand for basic food items and scarce resources which were assumed to be absolutely finite. Limits to Growth have highlighted the issues that world will be facing over the next century on the population explosion, overshooting non-renewable resources and collapsing of the world economy and growth. The report focuses on exceeding limits, overshooting and collapsing.

Limits to Growth report argued on the complexities of the social and environmental issues covering poverty, urbanisation, environmental degradation, unemployment, education, other economic problems and (Meadows et al, 1972, 10) emphasised overshooting world’s resources and by-products of resources such as waste and pollutions are thrown into planet without understanding the capacity of the planet to absorb. The report highlighted “ecological limits” to “physical scale of economic activity”, economic welfare to be derived from the growth of economic activity and social limits to economic growth.

Limits to Growth world model was purposefully built to study “five major trends of global concern – accelerating industrialisation, rapid population growth, widespread malnutrition, depletion of non-renewable resources, and a deteriorating environment.” The model forecasted the changes to the world until 2100 and explained how population growth and the use of natural resources are linked together and why there should be a limit to growth.  The model of exponential growth suggests that the growth has costs and benefits, Not only population growth, but economic growth, the model does not count social and environmental degradation cost but suggests a “slower growth”, “no growth or negative growth” (The Sustainability Institute, 1999, pg, 1) Publication of this report created many debates since then and the follow up events by UN which created awareness of challenges that the world will be facing if it continued to prosper at this speed while consuming the same amount of non-renewable resources and producing ever increasing population.

Our Common Future was greatly supported by the international community; the definition of sustainable development introduced by Brundtland meant “development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.” The report provided comprehensive guide to sustainability, which included social, economic, political-institutional and environmental issues. Our Common Future initiated request to adopt policies focusing sustainable development to all the Governments. The concept suggest to have limits - not absolute limits and manage present state of technology and social enterprises in such a way so they can create a path towards sustainable future based on the current environmental issues (Dresner, 2008, pg, 35). Many Countries/Cultures/Organisations have recognised the need for sustainable development over the period of time.

Our Common Future, the report emphasised about economic and social development through the term “Sustainable Development”. The report “Our Common Future compared to Limits to Growth made it very clear that Growth is necessary and can be achieved but requires policy adjustment. Compare to Limits to Growth, Sustainable development is seen as new economic evolution by the commission (Institute for Humanities Research, 1987, pg 1). Brundtland Commissions sees the link between development and environment as interdependent and complementary (Auty and Brown, 1997, Page, 11) and inseparable, not only is it possible to have development without environmental degradation, but development is a necessary pre cursor to environmental sustainability. The approach taken by the report clearly underlines the relationship between poverty, food security, industry, energy, resource depletion, peace, security, development and environment. The report states “Growth is absolutely necessary to overcome mass poverty” (WCED, 1987) is a holistic approach of sustainable development. 

The environmental threat has now been accepted worldwide by policy makers and academics compared to 1972 and 1987 at the time of Limits to Growth and Our Common Future. There has been great emphasis throughout the world on the idea and approaches to the concept of sustainable development. The last 3 decades has witnessed a fundamental change in the Government and Business thinking about environment and development. At the 20^th anniversary of Limits to Growth, the team published updated book called “Beyond the Limits” with the evidence of their world3 scenarios predictions. The evidence claimed that humanity was moving deeper into unsustainable territory. (The Sustainability Institute, 2004, pg. 4). Club of Rome also published 30yr update, where they have produced a more comprehensive updates to original report and concluded that “humanity is dangerously in a state of overshoot”. (The Sustainability Institute, 2004, pg. 5). Limits to Growth an experts conclusion was fearless, if not presumptuous, development of a “formal, written model of the world” (Stefanovic, 2000, pg. 17) in contrast the Brundtland Report, which avoided the pretensions of “expert predictions,” seeking instead to “serve notice” of the need to for change and to suggest “a pathway by the people of the world may enlarge their spheres of co-operation.” (Stefanovic, 2000, pg. 18) Limits to Growth & Our Common Future will always be remembered in the history of the concept of “Sustainable development” through the findings, analysis and recommendations for the world to drive towards sustainability.

1. Arizona State University, Institute for Humanities research, 1987 (http://leopold.asu.edu/sustainability/sites/default/files/Warren,%20World%20Commission,%20Brundtland.pdf).

2.      Auty R. M and K Brown, 1997, Approaches to Sustainable Development, A Cassell Imprint, London, Page-11, par. 3

3.      Boyd, D. 2011, Approaches to Sustainable Development Reader, Learning Materials, School of Social Science and Humanities.

4.      Club of Rome (Resource), 2010

http://connect.clubofrome.org/ecms/files/resources/What_was_the_message_of_Limits_to_Growth.pdf 

5.      World Commission on Environment And Development,  1987, http://www.un-documents.net/ocf-02.htm 

6.      Meadows, D, Randers, J, Meadows, D, A Synopsis of Limits to Growth – 30yr update, The Sustainability Institute, 2004, pg. 3 - 25, (http://www.sustainer.org/pubs/limitstogrowth.pdf

7.      Resources for the future, 2002, pg. 1, par. 2, http://www.rff.org/documents/RFF-DP-02-03.pdf.

8.      Stefanovic, I. L, 2000, Safeguarding our common future: rethinking sustainable development, State University of New York Press, Albany, pg. 18

Impact of Global Warming on World Economy

Introduction:

The consequence of global warming will be felt across social, environmental and economic part of human life; for example social impact through increasing floods, droughts and environmental impact through melting ice, increase in temperature and economic impacts through market uncertainty, loss of business and agricultural activities. Global warming is a direct result of unnatural anthropogenic activities that has been proved by science and will have an impact on the world economies in many ways such as; fresh water resources, agricultural activities, sea-level rise, health of ecosystem, human health, quality of life and overall cost impacts to the economy. Globalisation has contributed in many ways towards climate change through increased quick turnover of human and natural capital in various activities and trade.

Climate change is evident as explored in this essay and has already taken place in many parts of the world. Any impact  to fresh water resources, agriculture, sea-level rise, earth’s ecosystem or human health will have follow on effect on quality of life of humans. The world has become ONE global economy. Monetary impacts of climate change are not easy to estimate but it can dramatically affect the GDP of any country that is vulnerable to climate change. Developing nations will require continuous support from developed countries along with the expertise to combat with climate change effects. The result can be devastating if carbon emissions are not controlled. Monetary impact is one part but the overall cost to the life on earth can be devastating.

Impact of global warming to world economy:

This naturally occurring greenhouse effect allows the global temperature to about 15°C to be able to sustain life on Earth. IPCC 2007 report states that eleven out of last 12 years as of 2006 rank among the warmest years in the record of earth’s surface and defines that “Warming of the climate system is unequivocal, as is now evident from observations of increases in global average air and ocean temperatures, widespread melting of snow and ice and rising global average sea level” (Pachauri, Reisinger, & IPCC Core writing team, 2007).  Since last many years’ scientists are alerting the world that climate change is taking place which is mainly caused by various activities practiced by humans. Though it will be at global scale, the change will be felt across the borders at local, regional and national level. The impact of global warming will include social, environmental and economic effect (Nursey-Bray & Palmer, 2008); for example social impact through increasing floods, droughts and environmental impact will be melting ice, increase in temperature and economic impact will be on world businesses, health of individuals and agricultural activities. Since industrial revolution, carbon dioxide has increased by 30% mainly due to human activities and deforestation (Houghton, 2005) and will continue to increase if not controlled. The Kyoto Protocol was accepted between 37 industrialised countries in Kyoto, Japan on 11 December 1997; an international agreement linked to the UN framework convention on climate change (UNFCCC). Sun constantly emits energy that strikes our earth and warms the surface. The greenhouse gases are just sufficient enough to hold and trap the heat and make earth’s temperature warm enough so the lives on the earth can survive. Since last many decades as a result of industrialisation and recently globalisations; humans have induced increasing amount of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases into the atmosphere. At large climate change will have effect on lives of people, environment and the growth of developing and developed countries. The impact of global warming will be felt across many areas such as fresh water resources, agricultural activities, sea-level rise, health of ecosystem, human health, quality of life and overall cost impacts to the economy (Houghton, 2005).

Agricultural activities: Agriculture is critical component of world’s economy. It is anticipated that global warming will create unusual changes in different parts of the world providing positive and negative outcome. For example global warming caused by carbon emissions would diminish  average yields in United States and European Community by 20 percent and Canada 18 percent and at the same time improve yield in northern Europe and Australia by 15 precent, former Soviet Union 10 percent and Japan 4 percent (Cline W. R., 1992).

Fresh water resources: Fresh water resources are fundamental element of current climate system. Water is connected to mountain, sea, atmosphere and the surface of the earth. Many of the world’s fresh water resources have already been exhausted for example in “India 75% of available water is so used” (Houghton, 2005) and according to World Bank, India faces turbulent future in regards to water due to its capacity to build new water infrastructure and storage since climate change is causing 50% of precipitation in just 15 days (EIU ViewsWire, 2006) which will have very serious impacts on water usage for agriculture and industrial activities. Longer summer and increased precipitation connected with global warming can cause diarrheal disease that lives in intestines and highly strong to chlorine disinfection (Spence, 2006).

Sea level rise: Global warming will lead to increase in earth’s temperature resulting in rise of sea-level by ice sheets melting or sliding in to ocean from Greenland and Antarctica, expanding sea water and melting other mountain glaciers (Oguz, 2009).  Many coastal areas, wetlands and fisheries will be impacted as a direct result of this change. It has been observed that increasing sea level is consistent with global warming as per IPCC Synthesis report. Only future will tell.

Earth’s ecosystem: Ecosystem is vital component of the earth’s structure. Any harm to ecosystem means disturbance in earth’s health. Climate change and increasing temperature through natural and human induced activities will have an impact on the ecosystem.

Human health: Global warming due to increased carbon emissions will have fatal impact on human health. Health of individuals can be impacted due to many reasons and climate change is definitely one of them. Global warming can affect human health in many ways either directly, indirectly or through changes in economic conditions. Change in climate can have severe impact on human body; for example person living in cooler weather is more used to cold vs person living in hotter weather. Air pollution produced through burning fossil fuel has many impacts on human health. Evidence suggests that both developed and developing nations are victims of increasing air pollution through greenhouse gas emissions (Aron & Patz, 2001). Through many changes in technology developed nations have been successful in achieving clean air but many developing nations are still struggling with poor air quality and therefore deteriorating human health. Changing weather pattern will require adjustment in human habits and ability to adopt those changes along with the required tools and capital.

Quality of life: Any impact to fresh water resources, agriculture, sea-level rise, earth’s ecosystem or human health will have follow on effect on quality of life of humans. The energy demand has increased dramatically generating CO2 and GHGs emissions. The world has become ONE global economy. Impacts of one country can easily be felt by another country. Scarce resources of poor country are being exhausted by rich countries when and where possible in this resource constraint world. According to UN Report wealth of distribution of wealth between rich and poor nations are unequal (Human Development Report, 2000) and therefore poor nations are left with worsening conditions of climate change, disturbed ecosystem, varied health issues, and lack of food and water.

Conclusion:

Economic impact of global warming will be devastating if countries are not equipped with necessary tools to identify and mitigate certain practices that emit carbon dioxide in to the atmosphere. Monetary impacts of climate change are not easy to estimate (Auffhammer, 2008) but it can dramatically affect the GDP of any country that is vulnerable to climate change. Developing nations will have many challenges from altered ecosystem, fresh water and food supply, healthcare, large migration and overall growth of the economy. Developing nations will require continuous support from developed countries along with the expertise to combat with climate change effects. Proactive adaptation in current practices where carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases are emitted would support the world’s economy to overcome effects of global warming.

Human health will require great attention to ensure that the impacts of climate change is measured and dealt with at local, regional and national level with appropriate medical facilities and drugs. Rising sea levels will force large migration from coastal areas to in-land which will demand strong infrastructure and proper land management. In-land migration with increasing population will be a huge challenge for any country because it will require more food, water, shelter, health, suitable climate and obviously strong ecology system on which the whole of humanity and economy is dependent.

Reference:

Aron, J. L., & Patz, J. (2001). Ecosystem Change and Public Health: A Global Prespective. USA: The Johns Hopkins University Press.

Auffhammer, M. (2008). Economics, Impact from Climate Change. (S. Philander, Ed.) Encyclopedia of Global Warming and Climate Change, 1, 346-350. Retrieved May 15, 2012, from http://0-go.galegroup.com.prospero.murdoch.edu.au/ps/retrieve.do?inPS=true&prodId=GVRL&userGroupName=murdoch&tabID=&contentSet=GALE&docId=GALE|CX3073500225

Cline, W. (1992). The Economics of Global Warming. USA: Peterson Institute.

EIU ViewsWire. (2006). India economy: Water warning. Business And Economics, Political Science - International Relations, n/a. Retrieved July 15, 2012, from http://0-search.proquest.com.prospero.murdoch.edu.au/docview/366474550?accountid=12629

Houghton, J. (2005). Global Warming. Reports on Progress In Physics, 1343-1403. doi:10.1088/0034-4885/68/6/R02

Human Development Report. (2000). Human Development Report. United Nations. New York: United Nations Publications. Retrieved July 17, 2012, from http://hdr.undp.org/en/media/HDR_2000_EN.pdf

Nursey-Bray, M., & Palmer, R. (2008). Impacts of Global Warming. (S. Philander, Ed.) Encyclopedia of Global Warming and Climate Change, 2, 529 - 533. Retrieved July 13, 2012, from http://0-go.galegroup.com.prospero.murdoch.edu.au/ps/i.do?id=GALE%7CCX3073500343&v=2.1&u=murdoch&it=r&p=GVRL&sw=w

Oguz, A. (2009). Will global warming cause a rise in sea level? A simple activity about the states of water. Science Activites, 17. Retrieved July 15, 2012, from http://0-go.galegroup.com.prospero.murdoch.edu.au/ps/i.do?id=GALE%7CA194547853&v=2.1&u=murdoch&it=r&p=ITOF&sw=w

Pachauri, R. K., Reisinger, A., & IPCC Core writing team. (2007). IPCC. IPCC, Fourth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. Geneva: Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. Retrieved July 16, 2012, from http://www.ipcc.ch/publications_and_data/ar4/syr/en/mains1.html#1-1

Spence, C. (2006). Global Warming: Personal Solutions for a Healthy Planet. New York: Palgrave Macmillan.

UNFCCC. (n.d.). Kyoto Protocol. Retrieved July 17, 2012, from United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change: http://unfccc.int/kyoto_protocol/items/2830.php/

Food Waste and Climate Change

Climate Change and increasing level of greenhouse gases are interconnected and most concerning issues of the time. From food growing to consumption there is so much waste thrown out to go to landfill. In landfill, food waste generates methane – a greenhouse gas 22 times more harmful than CO2 (Baker, Fear and Denniss 2009). As per Australian Institute “Household Food waste is accounted for greater than $5 billion worth of food that Australians throws out each year” .(Baker, Fear and Denniss 2009). Food scrap and left over is considered as waste and discarded in many restaurants, hotels, hospitals, major food chains and individual household. Wholesaler then distributes the food to retailers in trucks which produces CO2. Individual Households throw away not required food and the food packaging is then collected by local council who employs people to collect garbage in heavy garbage collection trucks which requires petrol and produces CO2. Every single process from growing food to consumption does not only cost money to the economy but also produces harmful gases such as CO2, methane and other greenhouse gases. Food waste created through individual household in the process of consumption and its effect on climate change, opportunities to minimise household food waste, barriers to addressing the issue, corporate sustainability, technological solution, responsibility of individual household and the role of the government in minimising food waste will be a focus point of this essay.

Source: www.foodwise.com.au

Food waste is considerably very high throughout the food supply chain and different processes (Baldwin 2009, 25). In NSW alone 33% of domestic waste is “food waste” (Michener 2009) which can be recycled to obtain organic compost, avoid landfill and greenhouse gas emissions. Smart food packaging and efficient use of resources are key drivers in avoiding unnecessary food waste during food processes and consumption. Australian food and grocery council recognises the role that packaging plays, the council suggests that packaging reduces food waste prior to consumption by ensuring the quality and hygiene of the product yet some factors such as size of individual household, disposable income, demographic trends, consumer health, safety would impact directly on packaging and may not be in line with waste reduction policy (Australia. Department of Environment, Water Heritage and Arts 2009).

Food retailers provide free plastic bags in order to increase their profit which encourages shoppers to shop more. This is considered to be major barrier in implementation of food waste policy (Baker, Fear and Denniss 2009). Two major environmental issues that Business needs to consider here 1) Offering free plastic bag 2) food packaging. Technology has provided bio-degradable plastic bags but many are suggesting that it creates more pollution than normal plastic bags that are available at the supermarket (Clean up Australia 2009).

Generating organic fertiliser for the backyard gardens and growing vegetable from food waste should be encouraged. Home based composting technology can work much better and assist in solving many issues. Various councils around Australia have taken part to educate their residents on benefit of home composting and reducing environmental footprint. As part of the project council did agree that holistic approach of home composting is more technological and environmentally friendly solution compared to collection of waste through existing garbage collection system and separating it for composting (Michener 2009). Food industry will have to offer local produce in order to combat with the issue of global warming. Advanced technology has enabled hybrid production of various food items with more freshness and taste such as Brightfarms (USA) “greenhouses are high performance, environmentally sustainable, rooftop greenhouses built and operated at supermarket retailers” (Brightfarms 2011)

Food consumed by households requires resources and energy; for example individual purchases food from supermarket and utilises variety of equipment in order to store and prepare food which requires energy consumption and waste management, or an individual or household visits local restaurant where they consume food in exchange of money which pays for energy, food, equipment, wages, waste management and other expenses. Obesity, cholesterol, heart disease and other food consumption related health issues are very common. More food consumed than needed may attract unwanted diseases and that means we need medical support to cure the diseases.

Communities working together, generating locally produced energy & food, reduced transportation and systematic food waste solution can deliver many positive outcomes such as local employment, services, healthy community and reduced greenhouse gas emissions (Osmond 2011). Civil society can play a vital role in supporting and providing food waste solution through variety of locally designed programs such as purchasing food from local farms, community garden or growing at home.

The role of government is very crucial in delivering solutions for Australian businesses and consumers in order to eliminate food wastes (Morgan 2009).  Government of Australia have already embarked upon releasing “National Waste Policy” direction to 2020 which addresses many issues related to resource consumption and waste management (Australia. Department of Sustainability, Environment, Water, Population and Communities 2009). The government aims to achieve high level of efficiency in production and resource used, reduce environmental impact and proper waste management. Some council’s around Australia are conducting various researches on how to deal with most concerning issues around climate change and greenhouse gas emissions. Household composting project from food waste is one of the areas where three council’s from NSW have completed the studies. Locally produced food, less transportation, less resource utilisation, high efficiency and waste solutions at home should be the future focus points for our government.

Impact of greenhouse gas emissions especially methane produced from food waste has received huge attention. People are demanding sustainable products from local business and other international firms. As a result of public demand organic food market have grown in Australia in last decade (Biological Farmers of Australia).

Locals will need to comply with rules prepared by councils and government in order to combat with the issues of food waste. Home based or community supported composting should be encouraged. Food packaging will need to be improved in order to minimise packaging waste which goes to landfill as there are no alternatives to recycle the packaging materials. Business should also support and comply with various waste reduction policies of government in order to improve the health of the environment. The council will need to prepare its people, technology and staff in order to implement various concerned policies to fight with the food waste.

Reference:

1.      Australia. Department of Environment, Water Heritage and Arts. 2009 A National Waste Policy:  Managing Waste to 2020- Consultation Paper. http://www.environment.gov.au/wastepolicy/consultation/pubs/nwp-consultation-paper.pdf

2.      Australia. 2009 Less waste, more resources. http://www.environment.gov.au/wastepolicy/about/index.html

3.      What a waste: An analysis of Household expenditure on food. Sustainability in the Food Industry, UK: Wiley Blackwell

4.      Biological Farmers of Australia. 2009. http://www.bfa.com.au/WhyOrganics/BenefitsofOrganics.aspx

5.      Bokashi Composting Australia. http://www.bokashi.com.au/index.html

6.      BrightFarms. 2011. http://brightfarms.com/better-food/

7.      Clean Up Australia Ltd. 2009. Plastic Bags Fact Sheet. http://www.cleanup.org.au/PDF/au/cua_plastic_bags_fact_sheet.pdf

8.      Coles. 2011. Feed your Family. Climate Change 2001: The Scientific Basis. http://www.csun.edu/~hmc60533/CSUN_630E_S2004/climate%20change/climate_change_2001_tech_summary.pdf  :24

9.      IBM. 2011. Smarter Food. http://www.ibm.com/smarterplanet/au/en/food_technology/ideas/index.html?re=spf

10.  http://reduceyourfootprint.com.au/media/uploads/attachments/Sydneys_Compost_Revolution_Lauren_Michener_print.pdf

11.  Fruit and vegetable consumption and waste in Australia. Naturemill Automatic Compost Bin. 2010 http://www.naturemill.com/

12.  OECD. 2002. Towards Sustainable Household Consumption. http://www.oecd.org/dataoecd/29/43/2089523.pdf

13.  Walmart Corporate, USA. 2009. http://walmartstores.com/sustainability/9292.aspx

Things you can do at home or work to become Green

“Be considerate to yourself, your family, your workplace, people around you and the nature on which we all depend” All of these segments are interconnected and are depended on each other. In our daily lives we don’t realize that how much “waste” that we produce from our natural actions.

There are many ways to support our Business to become sustainable and environmentally friendly. By helping our business; we actually help ourselves and the society in which we live.

Things you can do at work!

·         Print 2 sided – facilities are available in all of our printers

·         Do not print if NOT required

·     Well before the meeting send out Agenda and other information on email for all to  review  and feedback

·         Use projector where possible to avoid printing large documentations

·       Think of innovative ways to remove unnecessary processes where you may be using  lot of paper

·         Digitize your procedures (avoid printing)

·         Use water wisely

·         Make a rule to use dishwasher only once a day

·         Turn off your monitor/computer/printer when not in use

·         Use stairs to go up to few floors instead of using lift (this can be your exercise too!)

·     Participate in “Volunteer” program to give your time and knowledge as a gift to our society  

Using scarce resources (Human and Natural) wisely has become very important in recent times due to financial crisis. Business cannot afford to continue as usual in this resource constrained world.

It is all up to us to make this change and become smart, innovative and efficient in “what we used to do it”.

Things you can do at home to live eco-friendly life!

·         Grow your own vegetables if possible even one or two items

·         Monitor water and electricity usage

·         Install solar panels

·         Walk to close by shops or places instead of using car

·         Recycle your cloths, furniture and other unwanted materials

·         Create your own composting

·         Participate in community gardening programs

·    Talk to your local council on programs available to become eco-friendly and attend those programs to improve your knowledge of global warming and carbon emissions

·         Plan before you drive and go for shopping to avoid unnecessary costs of driving extra kilometres or end up shopping unwanted items

·         Teach your family, children and discuss ways to live environmentally friendly life.

·         Buy green, eco-friendly and sustainable products

·         Avoid using chemical induced products

For further information you can visit government website on  http://www.cleanenergyfuture.gov.au/ to know more about how live Eco-friendly life and understand carbon emissions and global warming.

Does mainstream (neoclassical) economics agree or disagree with the core concepts of sustainability? Why?

In 1972, a book called “The Limits to Growth” was published by using systems dynamic theory and computer model “World3”. The book presented with various scenarios on environmental outcome for the world from 1990 to 2100 detailing how humans have exploited world’s scarce resources and produced waste and pollution faster than the capacity of the earth to absorb them. Soon after the Limits to Growth, in 1987, Brundtland report “Our Common Future” stated “Sustainable development is development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs” (World Commission on Environment and Development: Our Common Future, 1987) and also highlighted two most important concept of needs of the poor and the ability of environment to meet our needs of today and tomorrow. Three core pilars of Sustainable development is environmental, economic and social well-being of present and future generations.  Ecological sustainability requires fair distribution of resources between current and future generations and with other species that are living on this planet. Classical economist; very much broad-minded philosophers and economist “Adam Smith, David Ricardo and Thomas Malthus” referred economics as “political economics”. Neoclassical economics provides theory by which marginal costs of goods and services decide their supply and consumer preference decides their demand. Since 1970s there has been reference to “mainstream economic approaches” – “seemingly heterogeneous set of approaches that include new institutional economics, new information economics, social choice theory, behavioral economics, evolutionary game theory, experimental economics and many others”  and are debated by many in last few decades; David Colander declared the “death of neoclassical economics”  while introducing economics of today, Madra who is classifying as late neoclassical economics  and Davis in his journal refers to as ‘recent economics’ .

Let us now explore some of the matters that suggest neoclassical economics does agree. Theory of neoclassical economics has been well received and followed around the world since last many decades. Mainstream (neoclassical) economics provides us with conceptual framework and ideas about “efficient allocations of resources”. “The Invisible hand” when markets are not regulated by power (regulations) provides seamless functioning markets that helps to distribute resources, wealth and labor more efficiently compared to markets that are governed by regulators . For the very same reason economist rely on “the invisible hand” of unrestricted markets for the efficient utilisation of scarce resources (natural and human). If market fails to reduce environmental issues, those who excel in environmental economics pursue an optimal balance between total cost including environmental and social and economic benefit with the help of ‘market instrument’ of social cost internalization  Eco-efficient process and productions that are alternative to conventional productions are considered efficient and helpful in continuous growth. In neoclassical economics markets is viewed as main vehicle and as suggested previously “invisible hand” will drive the change with some adjustments in regards to the externalities or core concepts of sustainability. Neoclassical economic approach can be applied to environmental and sustainability issues provided all natural resources and other environmental and social effects that are priced,  once priced; cost benefit analysis can be deployed. Today in many cases ‘market failure’ happens from sustainability perspective and it is mainly due to social and environmental aspect of market is not priced. If sustainability defined its limit and priced every externality; the framework of mainstream (neoclassical) economics can be used without any market failure.

Let us now explore some of the matters that suggest neoclassical economics disagree. Concepts of sustainability requires fair distribution of natural resources and neoclassical theory suggests including equity in to the consumer preference model; this model does not attend fully the concepts of sustainability as actors of those choice model may consider well-being of themselves or their children but not necessarily the private or social concerns of others and the fairer distribution of resources. In market people do not share their views instead they show the willingness to pay the price and their willingness to pay may not equate the benefit of environmental and social well-being as (it may) required by sustainability and therefore there is a possibility that market will fail and the model may suggest that whatever the market has suggested is sustainable and acceptable. During financial crisis China and India continued to score the GDP growth while other countries were repeatedly reporting lower or negative growth but the growth did not come clean instead it was accompanied by environmental degradation and increasing pollution in both the countries . Neoclassical economics with regard to sustainability; when applied generally concentrated on technological development but excludes institutional structures that plays critical role in managing resources, policy making and usage of scarce resources. Economists know the “price of everything and the value of nothing” and the direct proof of this is the exclusion of non-priced natural resources, environmental benefits and social values. While achieving optimal outcome through market interactions if the outcome is inefficient (market failure), it is considered that the process which drives the price has broken. Neoclassical economics sees GDP growth as an important indicator of performance of a country and estimates that with the increased GDP; production increases along with financial resources, more investment, more jobs and overall economy will flourish but how reliable it is in relation to the core concepts of sustainability. If neoclassical economics itself was to exists for completely devoted to economic growth there would not be any problem in using current structure but the economy is connected in many ways with multidimensional approach of sustainable development. Ethics in economics; Ethics basically means doing right thing and while using mainstream (neoclassical) economics theories and models to tackle core concepts of sustainability, it is very important to appreciate the ideology behind the thought of the sustainability.

Conclusion:

Since last few decades as a result of globalization our global economy has become large and constantly growing, we cannot expect it to continue at the same speed with the utilisation of same natural resources assuming that it is abundant and has no other effect if diminished. Humanity at large must come together and convert to sustainable economy. Neoclassical economics sees GDP growth as an important indicator of performance of a country and estimates that with the increased GDP; production increases along with financial resources, more investment, more jobs and overall economy will flourish but how reliable it is in relation to the core concepts of sustainability. If neoclassical economics itself was to exists for completely devoted to economic growth there would not be any problem in using current structure but the economy is connected in many ways with multidimensional approach of sustainable development. Ethics in economics; Ethics basically means doing right thing and while using mainstream (neoclassical) economics theories and models to tackle core concepts of sustainability, it is very important to appreciate the ideology behind the thought of the sustainability. Does economics agrees with this or not but there is a lot of work needs to be done. Peter Radford (2011), suggest that economics should abide the rule that is being followed by Medicine “do no harm” and calls for a time to “sort the mess out”