Covering The City With Honey, Or How Urban Beekeeping Can Save The World
A few years ago, a mysterious phenomenon – ominously called Colony Collapse Disorder – started affecting bees all over the world. Colonies would die out and disappear, and until recently nobody really had an idea of what was causing it. Scientists eventually found out the cause – a mix of pesticides, parasites and poor nutrition. Measures have been […]
Continue readingSustainable Restaurants – There’s No Need To Leave Your Values At The Restaurant Door
Improving social and environmental impacts is a winner with diners, according to the latest research report from the pioneering Sustainable Restaurant Association (SRA). Discerning Diners makes the business case for sustainability, finding that 56% of consumers are prepared to pay more at a restaurant that invests in a greener, fairer future.
Continue readingBiodiversity Offsetting Is A Fallacy
Recently, the UK’s Ministry of the Environment (DEFRA) published a green paper on the concept of biodiversity offsetting and how it could be used to facilitate economic growth. Basically, biodiversity offsetting means that development could be allowed in environmentally-sensitive locations as long as the developer pays for conservation activities elsewhere (such as protecting or restoring […]
Continue readingWeak Vs Strong Sustainability
The terms ‘sustainable’, ‘sustainability’ and ‘sustainable development’ are commonly used in the literature of businesses, governments, local councils and many other organisations. What is usually being referred to is ‘mainstream sustainability’, an anthropocentric version of sustainability which involves only small-scale reform of the existing western development paradigm. However, there are many alternative types of sustainability […]
Continue readingWhat Will The Cities Of The Future Look Like?
Abu Dhabi has the fifth largest proven oil reserves on Earth – around nine percent of the total – and the sixth-largest natural gas reserves, or five percent of the total. In 2007, Forbes magazine called it “the richest city in the world” and it is seen as one of cities of the future. Oil and […]
Continue readingWater Scarcity – A Global Problem
People need water to live, but every continent is affected by water scarcity. In the last century, use of water grew more than twice as fast as the human population. Approximately 1.2bn people – nearly a fifth of the world’s population – now reside in areas where water is scarce, with a further 500 million […]
Continue readingFood Waste Energy
Having already generated electricity from sewage, Thames Water now plans to accomplish the same using food waste energy. Under a USD304/GBP200/EUR233 million deal, a plant will be constructed that will generate 130 gigawatt hours of electricity, sufficient to power 39,000 homes. The plant will run on 300 tons of fat, oil and grease a day […]
Continue readingInnovative Water Saving Urinal
Men might have thought the process of going to the toilet would never change, but it just has. In response to shortages of water in Europe, Kaspar Jursons of Latvia has devised ““the stand,” a sink atop a urinal, which saves water. An infrared sensor is employed to make control hands-free. Water is saved because […]
Continue readingAre Wind Farms A Good Idea?
We need more electricity. By 2050, many motor vehicles may be powered by batteries, putting extra strain on power generation capacity. Energy expert David MacKay of Cambridge University calculates that by 2050 the demand for electricity will be threefold its current level. The burning of fossil fuels is widely believed to be partly responsible for […]
Continue readingCutting Food Waste Should Be Top Of The Grocery Sector’s Priority List
A new select committee report published last week highlights some scary food waste facts and food security issues. The Global Food Security, published by the International Development Select Committee, recommends a range of measures to address the issue including the promotion of meat as an occasional food and support for non-food-based biofuels. On food waste […]
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