Sustainable Development in Practice

Going green has recently become a “fad” to some people. This has allowed for an increase in demand for sustainable developments. People are interested in sustainable products for their homes, sustainable ways of living, etc. An example of sustainable development that some people are putting into practice is the concept of eating local. On Vancouver Island this is of special concern as almost all of our food must be flown in or brought by ferry. This causes our food to have a very large carbon footprint. Over the past century, farming on the island has decrease greatly. Much of the food on the island used to be produced on the island, but over time it has grown to be almost 100% imported. We have the potential to produce much more food on the island than we currently are. Eating local has many benefits including:

·         Promoting the purchase of “in season” produce

·         Decreasing our dependency on imported food

·         Reducing the ecological footprint of food transport

·         Promoting healthier lifestyle

·         Stimulating local economy

·         Engaging the community

The idea of eating local has been made public mostly by the creation of the 100 Mile Diet and the Vancouver Island Diet. The 100 mile Diet uses the concept of eating only food that is grown, processed and sold within 100 miles of your home.

Since the 100 mile radius of Vancouver Island would encompass much of the Mainland, the Vancouver Island Diet was created. This diet uses the concept of eating only food that is grown, processed and sold on the island. The ability to abide with either of these diets requires that:

·         Your grow your own food such as a small garden and a herb garden

·         You must buy in bulk and preserve lots for the winter months

·         You must reduce your consumption of animal products and cut out processed foods as well as things that can’t be produced on the island such as sugar, rice, and coffee

·         You must be dedicated!

Even eating one meal a week or a day that is purely local can make a difference and is a very realistic way of making your life more sustainable and encouraging sustainability in your community.

Recycling will always be an important practice of sustainable development. It prevents the exploitation of resources by reducing the need for mining more metals and minerals, and by reducing the number of trees being cut down.

Many methods of sustainable development are easy and can be done on an individual basis. One problem is that many people are sceptical of the benefits brought on by practicing sustainable development and this may deter them from ever trying. Luckily there are now many websites for the communication of topics like this. In Victoria a good ones is:

http://transitionvictoria.ning.com

All information related to the 100 Mile Diet can be found at the following website:

http://100milediet.org/

All information related to the Vancouver Island Diet can be found at the following website:

http://www.vancouverislanddiet.com/

Hope for the Future

Many people feel that we are too far gone and the earth can never heal from the damage done, but I am not one of those people. I try to have a positive outlook on things and I really feel that we can still make this world a sustainable place (hence my career choice), but it will take some drastic changes. We can’t just sit around and wait for it to fix itself, because if the earth were to fix itself it would most likely mean that all the humans would be killed through extreme weather or a massive disease outbreak. It would be like re-enacting a scene from one of the many movies written about the end of the world.

Until a drastic change is made, all of the symptoms of global warming will continue. Sea level will rise, weather patterns will change, biodiversity will decrease, etc, etc. People will find ways to alter their life’s to accommodate these changes in the environment. We are adaptable beings and we will find some way to make it work. But adapting to these changes without altering our ways of life is not going to work. The world will reach its carrying capacity, or the point where it can take no more abuse. I think that if this point is reached there will be a drastic decline in human population.

It’s crazy to think that after all of the visible symptoms of global warming, some people still don’t believe in it. They have to be living in denial or they just aren’t educated on the subject as it is so obvious when you have any sort of background in science (even a high school level). These are the ignorant people that we need to make sure are kept out of power. They should not be politicians, they should not be big corporations, and they should not be anyone that has an influence over a large number of people. This is crucial as they could influence other people to think the same way.

People need to stay encouraged and know that even though they are only one person they can still make a difference! One day soon, when im done school, I hope to be one of those people that really does influence an important progressive change on this planet.

My Stuff and Other Sources of Consumption

Everyone should watch this video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gLBE5QAYXp8

I try not to consume as much as I can. When I was younger I used to go shopping all the time. I had sooo many clothes and just things in general, and the majority of it I did not need. Being a student makes me consume a lot less because I am too poor to afford anything! It has really made me realize how many things I really don’t need. Living in Victoria has really made me aware of supporting local businesses as well. I really despise Walmart and avoid it as much as possible, but on a student’s budget it is sometimes necessary.

Once you are conscious of the real source of the things you buy it makes a huge difference. To know that the cheap, disposable products are taking such a huge toll on the earth provides me with so much reason to not purchase those products.  Food is the one thing that I probably spend too much money on. My boyfriend and I always ensure that our fridge and cupboards are full, but we would probably be better off without a quarter of the stuff we have. Food is one thing that MANY people spend too much money on. I have read many publications on the growing obesity problem and am perfectly aware of the correlation between consumption, culture and obesity.

My family is nothing like me in this sense of understanding consumption. My sister eats fast food pretty much daily, and yes she is that person sitting in the drive-thru for 10 minutes instead of just walking in for 3 minutes. Most of her money goes to expensive clothes she doesn’t need, more food, and a lot of disposable products. My parents are a bit better but they too are victims to society in that they feel they need new things all the time to be in style or to impress their friends. Hopefully I can influence them to make better choices. There are easy ways to make a difference. Easy steps I have already taken to reduce my consumption include:

·         Shopping at local grocery store, such as The Market on Yates

·         Not consuming fast food such as McDonalds, Dairy Queen, A&W, Burger King, etc. (I haven’t since I was15!)

·         Avoiding Walmart at all costs

·         Avoiding disposable items

·         I am ok with spending a bit more money on higher quality, locally made, longer lasting products

·         Educating myself on how to do more and educating others!

Some people don’t agree, I know I am making a difference, even if it’s just on small scale.

The Sustainable City

Recently, cradle-to-cradle design has been a concept discussed for implementation on a city level. William McDonough is behind this new type that is pretty much a way of designing products, businesses and now cities to work in perfect cycles that leave virtually no waste behind. It views everything as nutrients, whether it is a technical nutrient or a biological nutrient, and promotes durable products that can be continuously recycled, similar to the biogeochemical cycles on earth.

A city based on cradle-to-cradle would be:

·         Designed to ensure all homes get natural sunlight at some point of the day (reduces energy requires, allows for in home gardens, etc)

·         Designed to ensure wind patterns allow all homes get fresh clean air (reduces illnesses)

·         Designed for mixed use (promotes mobility, reduced transportation costs/emissions, boosts local economy, etc)

·         Designed so that everyone is within a 5 minute walk of transportation hubs (reduces dependence on motor vehicles, promotes cleaner air, cleaner city in general, etc)

·         Has a 24 hour street to ensure there is always somewhere for people to be/go (helps reduce crime)

·         Wastewater is used to produce biogas to provide natural gas for cooking (treats what is considered now to be a waste product as an important source of energy)

·         Wastewater is also used to produce fertilizer (biosolids, which are now a waste product are used to grow food and then become a commodity)

·         Constructed wetlands all around the city to allow natural water filtration and ecosystem biodiversity (natural water filtration allows for reduction in chemical dependence, helps ecosystems)

·         All roofs are farms! Bridges connect rooftops to allow for the farmers to easily move from field to field (ensures that all space available is used productively and can produce something useful, no space is wasted)

·         Solar power will be generated on the roofs of all the industrial buildings and will be used to power the city (reduces dependence on fossil fuels)

All of these measures would cause cities to improve their sustainability greatly. Cities are pretty much the opposite of this now. More concrete than nature, huge amounts of garbage, too many cars, etc. McDonough is really putting ideas out there that will change the way cities are designed in a huge way.

All information was from William McDonough’s TED talk which can be found at this link: http://www.ted.com/talks/william_mcdonough_on_cradle_to_cradle_design.html

Powering a Sustainable Society

http://buildfutureenergy.wordpress.com/2010/05/02/green-giggles-renewable-energy-jokes/

Renewable energy is the answer to our dwindling resource woes. Oil and gas are increasing in prices and they will continue to do so. Therefore we need to find other ways to sustain and power our communites. A really great example using renewable energy in a community is in Okotoks, Alberta, where I used to work. In Okotoks, there is a solar powered community consisting of 52 solar powered homes. Okotoks is estimated to get as much sunshine as Miami Florida on a yearly basis. The houses look like normal houses except for a few solar panels on the roofs of the houses and the garages. These houses are special because:

·         90% of the energy required for space heating is produced by solar panels.

·         Each home produces 5 tonnes fewer greenhouse gases than a regular home does in a year.

·         All water is heated with solar energy.

In the summer when they are producing a lot of heat, it is put into a storage system for the winter months. To store energy there is 2 systems in place. For long term storage there is a borehole system built underground that cycles the heat through 144 holes that are 37 meters deep and 35 meters in diameter.  The borehole system holds heat by being insulated with layers of clay, sand, and other layers of insulation. When looking at the area where the borehole sits, you would never know that it is there. On land it is designed as a green space for families and pets to enjoy. The second heat storage area consists of thermal storage tanks that cycle the heat above ground.

http://www.dlsc.ca/how.htm

These are only a few of the measures taken to ensure these homes are sustainable. The list goes on much further than this!

http://www.dlsc.ca/index.htm

This type of community is easy to create. The solar panels do not take up virtually any space, and areas that get high levels of sunlight throughout the year can have quick pay back for the costs of the solar panels. This is a relatively easy way to reduce our dependence on fossil fuels on a community scale.

All information related to Okotoks was taken from the following website:

http://www.dlsc.ca/how.htm



Sustainability and Communities

http://www.equinoxcenter.org/research-topics/land-use/overview.html

This diagram summarizes the requirements for a community based on Smart Growth. Smart Growth is a method of designing communities in a sustainable manner. In my opinion... why the hell werent we designing communites like this in the first place!!! Its just so obvious that this is how communites will be more successful. Instead urban sprawl just took over and made cities way to big, and communites way too useless, destroying a lot of natural resources and land along the way.  

Studies have shown that if a person’s destination is more than 800m away they will choose to drive versus walk. Therefore communities should be based on a distance of 800m. This means that schools, churches, stores, banks, etc, Should all be within 800 meters from as many households as possible in a community. Most effective would be a circular community with all stores and amenities in the core of the circle with the homes surrounding the core to a distance of 800m in all directions. This ensures that people could live within their community and they could walk or bike to a destination very easily. This would mean that more kids could walk/bike to school, more people could walk to the grocery store, etc. This helps to ensure the community is liveable for all.

To promote walking there needs to be appropriate walking paths that actually go somewhere. Many walking paths in communities today do not lead to any actual destination or they are a much longer distance than the driving route. Therefore the users are limited to those who are just walking for fun. There also is a requirement in communities to provide parks, wetlands, and green space for community enjoyment. This helps to preserve open space and resources in the community.

Having a core business center in the community will promote economic development of the community. It can also act as a central meeting place for people living in the community to meet one another improving the social aspects of the community. Community problems such as crime, litter, accidents, and such will be minimized if the socialization between neighbours increases. When your neighbours are your friends and you know that they are looking out for you, it helps you to feel safer and can increase security of an area.

To ensure that people of all income levels and family sizes can inhabit the community a range of housing opportunities should be provided. You can make lower income housing in areas such as above businesses in the central core. A variety of townhomes, apartments, and single family homes should be present. This should be designed so that as many people as possible can be housed within the community and also try to satisfy the 800 meter distance to the central core.

For times when people need to leave their community alternative modes of transportation such as an appropriate public transit system must be available. Having a central transit area in the core of the community that would provide rapid transit buses to important areas of the city would be beneficial. Problems with public transit usually include:

·         Takes much longer than driving a personal vehicle

·         Never on time

·         Doesn’t service your community

·         Too expensive

The more of these problems that are addressed, the more people you will have riding it. Therefore a central transit area in the core of the community with rapid transit will ensure that the travel times are comparable to driving times and will also ensure that everyone in the community will have access to the system.

All of these ideas will allow an increase in the quality of life of all community members. It will provide people with more affordable and appropriate housing, a reduction in the dependence on motor vehicles through walking and public transit, opportunities for economic development, opportunities for social and cultural development, and more.

Even tho this is just a comic and is supposed to be ironic.. this actually happens.

http://rocknetroots.blogspot.com/2008_05_01_archive.html

Overpopulation and Overconsumption

Whether or not overpopulation is the stem of the problem, over consumption is a huge problem, especially in developed nations. My favourite example.... the show Man vs. Food on the travel network. (http://www.travelchannel.com/TV_Shows/Man_V_Food)

I despise this show, it makes me want to write hate mail after hate mail after hate mail. The entire basis of the show is there is one guy who travels around the US and other countries and gets challenged to eating massive amounts of food. So pretty much, one man gets to be the biggest glutton he possibly can, and over consume as much as he can, while there are billions of starving people in the world. He seriously eats enough food to feed at least 5 normal North American people a meal. The money and resources used by this show alone could probably solve world hunger when u consider the money for travelling, staff, food, other resources.... it is ridiculous and it really proves how messed up this world is that there is a need for this show to even exist. With obesity rates in North America sky rocketing it is also very apparent that over consumption is a problem. And this show is just contributing to the problem that much more.

Over consumption (related to my life directly) first became ridiculously obvious to me when I worked for the Town of Okotoks. I was in charge of educating the Town on the new bylaw of only 2 bags of garbage per week and ensuring that people were abiding to it. For my family (4 of us) this garbage limit would have never been a problem, but it didn’t affect us since we lived in Calgary and Calgary does not have garbage limit, which is outrageous! So after looking at peoples garbage every day I began to notice more when people in Calgary had around 10 bags a garbage sitting out beside their 2 escalades waiting to be picked up every week.. I don’t understand how that is possible. Calgary has a recycling program... you don’t even have to sort it and then bin itself is huge! How can a household still produce that much garbage? Its an exact demonstration of overconsumption.

These days there are millions of products that people don’t need, but they still buy. Mostly because they want to be “better” in society because people think that things make you seem successful, like nice cars, lots of toys, lots of clothes...etc.  For example, my mom is a bit bored now that all me and my sister have moved out so she keeps getting these ideas for renovating parts of our house. Our house is only 5 years old!!! It definitely doesn’t need any renovations. I ask her why she wants the renovations... “I hate the backsplash in our kitchen” is how she responds. I am somewhat of a minimalist, so to me this is just stupid that she wants to spend money and use resources on something that is fine just the way it is. I totally believe that if it isn’t broken..dont fix it! But everyone, including my mom, strives to consume in this society and it will continue until people change their attitude or there is nothing left to consume. Overconsumption is the problem.. and it doesn’t seem like it will get solved any time soon.

On the topic of overpopulation, here is an interesting video I found: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vZVOU5bfHrM

The Cost of Inaction

The cost of not taking action against climate change is a touchy subject.

On a household level you can actually measure the ‘costs’ or difference between being sustainable and being unsustainable. Just think of electricity bills. The more unsustainable you are the higher the cost of the electricity bill. To become more sustainable you can switch the type of light bulbs you use, get energy saving appliances, use less energy and in general the cost will go down. So, on a very small scale it is simple to determine the costs that will come for being unsustainable. The same can be said for water use and in most communities (if a garbage limit is in place) the same can also be said for waste production.

To measure the costs on a more global level though, is pretty much impossible. If you don’t know what the results could be then how can you really prevent them? Of course there are predictions of what may happen, but there are definitely many unforeseen results as well. This is what causes political and social unrest. Do we spend money, time and resources on preventing events that may not happen? How do we account for results that we never expected on a global scale?

People continue to refute the evidence of change, they refute the statistics (which according the book Damned Lies and Statistics they have reason too!), they live in denial about facts! Many of the statistics given related to climate change are considered to be “dark statistics”, which means statistics that are believed to be true but have not yet been proven. Even if the stats are a bit exaggerated, which im sure they are, it doesn’t mean that we shouldn’t take action! Any change can be bad change even if its just a little bit.

In my opinion these questions will never be answered and the costs of inaction will far outweigh the cost of taking action. But who am I to tell the world my opinion! Maybe in the future....I will be president of the world and save everyone from climate change and all things bad. But until then, I will just keep doing what feels right and take action in my own life to reduce my negative influence on future conditions.

This video makes total sense to me... hopefully others too. The more the word is spread the better chance the world has!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zORv8wwiadQ

And of course..... shedding some light on the subject.

Why can't everyone think like that bear! Good thing we have our own class environmental bear, Pepper!!

Sustainability at Royal Roads

Royal Roads has taken many actions to create a sustainable campus, the most intriguing to me being the policy on chemical free cleaning. When I first discovered cleaning products were harmful back in the day, it was because of my dog, Max.

We were told not to use chemicals on the floor because they would get on my dogs paws and then he would lick them and get sick. I didn’t really make the connection that obviously if they are harmful to dogs they are harmful to humans. Even when I first began to buy “greener” cleaning products it was because of the effect the cleaners had if they got into the environment, more specifically the water system. Again, not even thinking of how they could make me sick! I am a person with very sensitive skin and allergies so to hear the story from the head of housekeeping at Royal Roads it really made me think. It makes me just want to tell everyone “Stop using cleaning products... start using alternative like the microfiber clothes, or vinegar and lemon juice tea tree oil and baking soda!!” This website gives a guide to how to produce your own non-toxic cleaning products http://www.care2.com/greenliving/make-your-own-non-toxic-cleaning-kit.html.

Royal Roads spends hundreds of thousands of dollars on electricity and natural gas each year. To reduce this cost I think the best idea would to put in an enclosed compost facility to produce biogas. All compostable material could be put into this facility. Through fermentation it would release methane to provide heat and electricity to Royal Roads. An example given in one of my classes discusses the use of an anaerobic digester in India. This digester received 100kg of waste and could produce 10m cubed of biogas within 30 days. More information is written in this report.ààà( http://www.ias.ac.in/currsci/oct102004/917.pdf)

 It is a very successful small scale system and it only makes sense that it would also work on a larger scale. Most people really don’t enjoy composting. Reasons for this include..... it smells, you have to turn it, and maintain it, it attracts pests, there is no room for it, etc... So they would probably love someone to do it for them. If Royal Roads does not produce enough food waste on their own they could partner with a compost pick-up company that would charge a small fee to pick up their compostable waste. This could then be put in the digester and produce energy for Royal Roads. And if enough energy is produced it could even be sold to others. This would reduce the consumption of natural gas and electricity by the university and it would also reduce the cost to get rid of the compostable waste that they produce. The residual left over from the digester can also produce a profit as it can be used to grow mushrooms or it can be used as a fertilizer.

A witty joke I came across......

The government is finally doing something about energy conservation. They are asking motorists to remember to turn off their wind-screen wipers whenever they drive under a bridge.

(http://signature103.wordpress.com/2006/02/28/environment-and-sustainability-jokes/)

What is Sustainable Development?

The most common definition of sustainable development is “Sustainable development is development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs”. (http://www.iisd.org/sd/) There are many other definitions but this is the most commonly used and can be expanded upon in many ways. Sustainable development is figuratively represented as an equal balance between the environment, society and the economy as represented in the image below.

http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Publications/2006/05/23091323/4

I do not believe that this definition fully gets the point of “what sustainable development is” across. It is important to realize when referring to sustainable development it is not just considering physical development such as buildings, but any sort of development such as physical development, social development, cultural development, etc. One reason I don’t agree with the current definition is that future generations are going to have needs that differ greatly from the needs that our generation has now (just as we have different needs compared to our parents when they were young). There is no way that we can predict what the needs of future generations will be, so how can we develop in a way that will ensure those needs are met??

This current definition of sustainable development only really referrs to future human generations, but what about the future plant animal generations? When creating and undergoing a sustainable development the future generations of all living things should be considered. If a certain development is going to cause another species to go extinct then it is not allowing that species to fulfill its needs.

The figurative representation of sustainable development shows an equilibrium between economy, society and environment. In reality this is rarely satisfied as the economy, more often than not, comes first. This occurs for many reasons, one main reason being the difficulty of putting economic value on environmental aspects, such as putting a price tag on a river or stream. There are many other models of sustainable development available. One is referred to as the bullseye model and is represented by the image below.

When I first saw this image of the bullseye model I was confused as to how it represented that the environment was the most important aspect. Normally with a bullseye you aim for the middle, therefore I thought that this would make more sense to represent the economy as the most important. After discussion with my classmates I realize that it was meant to represent the fact that the environment encompasses society and economy (and society also encompasses the economy) but I feel there are better ways to illustrate this relationship.   

I do agree with the message this model is trying to get across (environment should be most important). Without the environment we would not have a society to sustain or an economy to sustain. The economy is based on industries that produce goods and services created from the environment such as the oil & gas industry, agriculture industry, forestry industry, etc. Without the environment, the other two would not be possible and therefore it should be seen as the most important. If we do not sustain the environment we will lack the goods to sustain the economy and to sustain society.

Sustainable development is very difficult to define, but here’s a short list of some of the aspects that I think should be considered when defining it:

Ø  Effects on future generations of all living things

Ø  Methods of appropriately estimating the price of the environment

Ø  Ensuring that the economy does not come before the environment when new developments occur

Ø  Current needs of all living organisms

Ø  The list goes on.....

Shedding some light on the topic:

http://forums.treehugger.com/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=5565