The Future of Building With Biodiversity Net Gain

Web Forum: Four different perspectives on biodiversity net gain and environmental legislation, sharing experiences, things to look out for and how to meet the potential challenges for specifiers, ecologists and consultants when working with BNG.
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“We’ll also cover why net gain is important and how it will shape the future of architecture and development, and an introduction to two new helpful resources to aid the process of building with BNG. A really useful session for building and landscape architects, consultants, ecologists and specifiers.

Joined by:
Ash Welch, GI and Biodiversity Specialist at AECOM
Bob Edmonds, Ecology Discipline Manager at UK Hab
Simon Hargreaves, Landscape Architect at AECOM

Jul 20, 2021 10:30 AM in London”

Register and/or see more see link https://us02web.zoom.us/webinar/register/6116252181824/WN_HulM5nKKS0O4yI8YPdmfAw

 

 

Canada’s Friends of Science – Views on Climate Change

As open-minded sustainability professionals, it is important that we do not close our minds to alternative explanations and views on climate change. Friends of Science is a Canadian NGO, presenting an alternative viewpoint to the so-called ‘mainstream’ view on Climate Change.

“SIX THINGS EVERYONE SHOULD KNOW ABOUT CLIMATE CHANGE:

1.    The earth’s atmosphere is warming very slowly. Click here.
2.    The Sun causes climate change. Click here.
3.    Al Gore was wrong about CO2. Click here.
4.    Violent weather isn’t getting worse. Click here.
5.    It’s been hotter. Click here.
6.    Climate computer models are proven wrong. Click here.

This debate matters!  The science matters.

Please take time to review the many resources available …and ask why Canada has committed billions of dollars for carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions reduction (here) to fight a problem that doesn’t exist? CO2 emissions have only a tiny effect on temperatures, but strongly enhance plant growth.

See the FOS science summary, Global Warming or Cooling?, click here. ”

Read more>>>

UK power sector emissions fell 7.6 per cent during pandemic

The UK’s power-related carbon emissions fell 7.6 per cent over the past 12 months as coal power plants shuttered across the nation and demand for electricity nosedived during the country’s multiple lockdowns, according to data published this morning by Warstilla.

The reduction in emissions from the power sector places the UK firmly in the middle of a league table published this morning by the Finnish power technology company, which compares the carbon reduction performance of the continent’s 10 largest economies during the pandemic.

Read more>>>

NASA: Evidence for Climate Change

NASA states: “The current warming trend is of particular significance because most of it is extremely likely (greater than 95% probability) to be the result of human activity since the mid-20th century and proceeding at a rate that is unprecedented over decades to millennia.

https://youtu.be/FsX4qHgDlZM

 

Earth-orbiting satellites and other technological advances have enabled scientists to see the big picture, collecting many different types of information about our planet and its climate on a global scale. This body of data, collected over many years, reveals the signals of a changing climate.

The heat-trapping nature of carbon dioxide and other gases was demonstrated in the mid-19th century. Their ability to affect the transfer of infrared energy through the atmosphere is the scientific basis of many instruments flown by NASA. There is no question that increased levels of greenhouse gases must cause Earth to warm in response.

Ice cores taken from Greenland, Antarctica, and tropical mountain glaciers show that Earth’s climate responds to changes in greenhouse gas levels. Ancient evidence can also be found in tree rings, ocean sediments, coral reefs, and layers of sedimentary rocks. This ancient, or paleoclimate, evidence reveals that current warming is occurring roughly ten times faster than the average rate of ice-age-recovery warming. Carbon dioxide from human activity is increasing more than 250 times faster than it did from natural sources after the last Ice Age.”

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The Future of Hydrogen Energy

At the request of the government of Japan under its G20 presidency, the International Energy Agency produced this landmark report to analyse the current state of play for hydrogen and to offer guidance on its future development.
The report finds that clean hydrogen is currently enjoying unprecedented political and business momentum, with the number of policies and projects around the world expanding rapidly. It concludes that now is the time to scale up technologies and bring down costs to allow hydrogen to become widely used. The pragmatic and actionable recommendations to governments and industry that are provided will make it possible to take full advantage of this increasing momentum.

Hydrogen and energy have a long shared history – powering the first internal combustion engines over 200 years ago to becoming an integral part of the modern refining industry. It is light, storable, energy-dense, and produces no direct emissions of pollutants or greenhouse gases. But for hydrogen to make a significant contribution to clean energy transitions, it needs to be adopted in sectors where it is almost completely absent, such as transport, buildings and power generation.

The Future of Hydrogen provides an extensive and independent survey of hydrogen that lays out where things stand now; the ways in which hydrogen can help to achieve a clean, secure and affordable energy future; and how we can go about realising its potential.

Read more>>>

Watch the global broadcast ‘Nations United’

Watch the global broadcast ‘Nations United’

On the 75th anniversary of the United Nations and the 5th anniversary of the adoption of the Sustainable Development Goals – in the midst of a pandemic radically transforming our economies and societies – this 30-minute film tells the story of the world as it is, as it was, and as it could be. Directed by renowned film maker Richard Curtis and produced by the documentary film company 72 Films, “Nations United” presents the facts, data, and opportunities we have as a human family to reimagine and reshape the future. The film will be broadcast on numerous television channels, radio stations and streaming services around the world.

UN: The Lazy Person’s Guide to Saving the World

Things you can do from your couch

  • Save electricity by plugging appliances into a power strip and turning them off completely when not in use, including your computer.
  • Stop paper bank statements and pay your bills online or via mobile.
  • Share, don’t just like. If you see an interesting social media post about women’s rights or climate change, share it so folks in your network see it too.
  • Speak up! Ask your local and national authorities to engage in initiatives that don’t harm people or the planet. You can also voice your support for the Paris Agreement and ask your country to ratify it or sign it if it hasn’t yet.
  • Turn off the lights. Your TV or computer screen provides a cosy glow, so turn off other lights if you don’t need them.
  • Report online bullies. If you notice harassment on a message board or in a chat room, flag that person.
  • Stay informed. Follow your local news and stay in touch with the Global Goals online or on social media at @GlobalGoalsUN.
  • Tell us about your actions to achieve the global goals by using the hashtag #globalgoals on social networks.
  • In addition to the above, offset your remaining carbon emissions! You can calculate your carbon footprint and purchase climate credits from Climate Neutral Now. In this way, you help reduce global emissions faster!”

Read more>>>

Vertical Farms Can Out-Produce ‘Flat Farms’

Article by John Koetsier Forbes:

“According to Nate Storey, the future of farms is vertical. It’s also indoors, can be placed anywhere on the planet, is heavily integrated with robots and AI, and produces better fruits and vegetables while using 95% less water and 99% less land.

‘Plenty’ in the USA takes the flat farm and performs an Inception transformation on it: ripping up horizontal rows of plants and hanging them vertically from the ceilings. Sunlight from above is replaced by full-spectrum LED lights from all sides. Huge robots grab large hanging racks of growing vegetables and moves them where they’re needed. Artificial intelligence manages all the variables of heat and light and water, continually optimizing and learning how to grow faster, bigger, better crops. Water lost by transpiration is recaptured and reused. And all of it happens not 1,000 miles away from a city, but inside or right next to the place where the food is actually needed. https://youtu.be/0uXdnjXIGjI Read more>>>

Bioeconomy and the Sustainability Problem

“High levels of consumption in industrialised countries have far-reaching impacts on ecosystems, food security and human rights both within and beyond their borders. Low- and middle-income countries are directly affected by the policies and practices of the global North, and ordinary citizens have limited influence. Demand in the United States and the United Kingdom for beef directly drives deforestation in the Amazon; while the number of everyday products that contain unsustainable palm oil continues to increase.

…The ‘bioeconomy’ is a sophisticated sounding term, but essentially it means the things we make, use and sell that have their origins in nature; and the aim is to transition the economy from fossil resources towards renewable ones. Farming and forestry are part of the bioeconomy, as is energy produced from biomass, and services like tourism that are rooted in nature and outdoor experiences. The bioeconomy is central to what we do every day, and is an essential part of the global economy. In Europe alone the bioeconomy has an annual value of €2.4 trillion. It holds the key to a greener, more sustainable and healthy future for all — if the right practices, regulations and incentives are in place.

At the same time, the bioeconomy has the potential to drive further environmental destruction and degradation. Irresponsible pursuit of profit and unsustainable exploitation of natural resources are making climate change, biodiversity loss, infectious diseases, hunger and inequality much worse. A recent report from the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES) found that unless we dramatically reduce our impact on the natural world, future pandemics will become more frequent, spread more quickly and kill more people.

An unsustainable bioeconomy also threatens the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) — a global sustainability framework adopted by the United Nations in 2015. A recent report by the German Federal Environment Agency found that in order for the bioeconomy to work for, rather than against, the SDGs, the global agenda and national strategies need to focus much more on restoration of ecosystems, sustainable land-use, climate protection and food sovereignty.”

Read More – by Patrick Schröder – a senior research fellow in Chatham House’s energy, environment and resources programme>>>