Category: Misc

1. Education and Awareness: Informing and educating individuals and communities about sustainability issues is the first step towards change. It’s not just about sharing knowledge, but also about inspiring and motivating people to take action. It includes initiatives like environmental education in schools, public awareness campaigns, sustainability training in businesses, and more.
2. Protest and Demonstration: This is an active form of expression, often publicly, to raise awareness about certain issues and demand changes from authorities or institutions. It has been a powerful tool throughout history in effecting social change. In the context of sustainability, protests can help highlight environmental issues and demand urgent action from governments and corporations.
3. Complain and Petition: Petitions are another way for people to demand change. They can be directed towards governments, institutions, or businesses to change their policies or practices. Complaints, on the other hand, can draw attention to specific incidents or practices that are unsustainable or harmful to the environment.
4. Personal Consumer Choice: Every day, individuals make choices about what they buy, what they eat, how they travel, etc. By making more sustainable choices – like buying products with less packaging, choosing energy-efficient appliances, or reducing meat consumption – individuals can collectively have a big impact on sustainability.
5. Business Practice: Businesses have a huge role to play in sustainability. They can implement sustainable practices in their operations (like reducing waste, conserving energy, sourcing responsibly), design sustainable products or services, set sustainability goals and report on their progress, engage with their supply chains to promote sustainability, and more.
6. Innovation and Technology: Harnessing the power of technology is crucial in addressing sustainability challenges. This can range from creating cleaner energy sources, designing more efficient products and systems, developing methods for recycling and waste reduction, and so forth. In addition, digital technologies such as AI, blockchain, and IoT can also support data-driven sustainability efforts.
7. Research and Development: Scientific and academic research can lead to new breakthroughs and understandings in sustainability. This can involve anything from researching new ways to reduce carbon emissions, studying the impact of certain behaviors on the environment, developing new sustainable materials, etc.
8. Urban Planning and Infrastructure Development: Designing and building cities in a more sustainable way is a key route to sustainability. This can involve improving public transportation, creating green spaces, implementing waste management systems, designing energy-efficient buildings, and promoting compact city design.
9. Policy Development and Implementation: While this can fall under governance, it’s worth highlighting separately. Developing and implementing strong policies that support sustainability can be done at local, regional, national, and international levels.
10. Investment and Financing: Financial institutions and individual investors can play a significant role in promoting sustainability by channeling funds into sustainable businesses, projects, and technologies. This includes green bonds, impact investing, and sustainable funds.
11. Community Initiatives and Grassroots Movements: Local communities can play a significant role in sustainability, often with a greater sense of urgency and direct action. They can pioneer sustainable living practices, local recycling programs, community-owned renewable energy projects, and more.
12. Collaboration and Partnerships: Sustainability challenges are often complex and interlinked, requiring collaboration across different sectors, industries, and countries. This could involve public-private partnerships, intergovernmental collaborations, multi-stakeholder initiatives, etc.
13. Sustainable Agriculture and Food Systems: Implementing sustainable farming practices, promoting local food systems, reducing food waste, and shifting towards plant-based diets can significantly contribute to sustainability.
14. Ecological Restoration and Conservation: Protecting, managing, and restoring ecosystems can maintain biodiversity, sequester carbon, and maintain the health of our planet.
15. Adoption of Circular Economy Principles: This involves redesigning our economy to be less ‘take, make, dispose’ and more about reusing, recycling, and regenerating.

Many people give a list of excuses why they can’t grow their own vegetables –
they haven’t got green fingers
they haven’t got enough space
they don’t know what to do
it’s too expensive
they haven’t got the right kit

But it’s easier than you think! If I can do it then you can do it.

Get a plastic takeaway pot, some lettuce seeds and a bit of peat free compost.

Just add water.

In a few days it looks like this

In a few days it looks like this

In a week or two it looks like this

And in a month you can cut as many leaves as you like with scissors to add to your salad or sandwich

Yummy! And zero food miles.

Bargain seeds from Premier Seeds Direct.

How do native populations survive 10 times longer than most civilisations?

The age of oil will span about 100 years.

Australian, North and South American peoples  have lived in harmony with nature for more than 10000 years. How did they do it?

Indigenous forest gardens in the tropics and subtropics have been increasingly appreciated as presenting a valuable model for more sustainable agriculture. The practices have been somewhat easier for researchers to identify because some are still in use today, and they also more closely resemble Eurocentric notions of agriculture—such as annual cycles of planting and harvesting.

“In the 1930s, an archeologist from the Smithsonian wrote a short paper remarking on the exquisite vegetation around First Nation villages in Alaska. The villages’ surroundings were filled with nuts, stone fruit, berries, and herbs—several non-native to the area and many that would never grow together naturally. The significance of these forest gardens went largely overlooked and unrecognized by modern archeology for the next 50-plus years…..”

Link to the original article

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In 2030, You’ll Own Nothing And Be Happy About It

We have to cut personal consumption of stuff because burning fossil fuel has caused the current climate change emergency. 

The World Economic Forum leaders expect us to reduce personal ownership to zero. 

Have these private jet flying billionaires got our best interests at heart?

How comfortable are you with the idea of owning nothing and being happy?

Read

Reimagining The World Economic Forum

And tell me what you think.

A carbon offset scheme is a way to compensate for emissions caused by travel or lifestyle choices. Carbon offsets take place when one company or individual pays to have another company reduce or capture emissions elsewhere in the world.

How does carbon offset work?

When you purchase a carbon offset, you are essentially paying to have another company reduce emissions elsewhere in the world. For every ton of CO2 you emit, your chosen offset provider will invest in a project that will prevent or remove an equivalent amount of CO2 from the atmosphere.

There are many different types of carbon offset projects, from renewable energy projects, forestry and land management initiatives to direct air acpture technologies. Some schemes require you to purchase credits, while others allow you to donate money or resources to projects that reduce carbon dioxide emissions.

How much do carbon offset schemes cost?

The cost of carbon offset schemes varies, but they are usually affordable. The cost of a carbon offset scheme is usually stated in terms of pounds per tonne of carbon dioxide captured and permanently stored. The price may vary between £10 per ton for a forestry project in Africa to £300 per ton for a direct air capture scheme in Europe.

Why are carbon offset schemes often criticised?

Many people object to carbon offset schemes because they believe they are a way for companies to avoid responsibility for their emissions. The idea is that by buying carbon offsets, companies can say they have taken action to reduce their emissions and avoid penalties from the government. Critics argue that this is a way for companies to avoid taking real action, and that the money spent on carbon offsets is simply being used to buy off the public.

Conclusion

Carbon offset schemes are a way of reducing your carbon footprint. They are not perfect, but they can be  effective if used correctly. They should not be used as a licence to increase emissions. Consult an expert before buying into a scheme.