What should be done?

As my module comes to an end, this will be last blog. It seems only fitting to end with what we can do and what needs to be done to prevent climate change becoming detrimental to humanity.

These are the main things:

-Sustainable agriculture needs to be enforced. Too many pesticides and fertilisers are being used to produce crops and feed livestock, which are damaging the environment; they are depleting the fertility of soil, and leaking uranium into freshwater. This is a problem because studies have shown that uranium contaminated water can increase the risk of kidney damage, cancer, and high blood pressure. Livestock naturally live off eating grass, so there is no need to use pesticides to grow grains for these animals. By correcting our mistakes, and working on improving Earths' soil, we can eliminate carbon from the atmosphere, as soil absorbs carbon naturally.

-Stop deforestation, or at least slow it down. We've destroyed approximately 13 million hectares of forests each year between 2000 and 2010 because of agriculture. Forests play an integral role in regulating our climate, and providing a home for a huge mass of species. Globally, 1.6 billion people depend on forests to live, whether it be for food, medicine, fuel, jobs or living. Forests help with our current problem of carbon emissions, as they filter carbon dioxide through the process of photosynthesis.

-Fracking comes at a price. In the process of fracking, 600 chemicals such as lead, mercury, radium and ethanol, are used in the fluid that's put in the ground to pump the gas out. This will contaminate the soil and surrounding freshwater. Methane concentrations are 17 times higher in water wells located near fracking sites, compared to ones that aren't. Drinking this water can result in respiratory, sensory, and neurological damage. All of the fluid gets left behind after an area has been fracked, leaving it to evaporate into the air, releasing organic compounds that are harmful to the atmosphere- producing acid rain.

-Enforce the use of sustainable energy sources, like solar energy. We need to start eradicating the use of fossil fuels, as the release of greenhouse emissions is seriously impacting our atmosphere. Extreme weather is a result of carbon burning- droughts, storms, floods, will only increase and worsen if we don't stop.

-Excess packaging seriously needs to stop. It is a waste of resources, and only contributes to the landfill build up. I'm sure you've all had at least one thing in your hand and thought 'why does it need packaging around it'?! Like bananas for example...

-More awareness needs to be made about wastage and recyling. If everyone recycled, we wouldn't have such major issues to deal with, like rubbish and plastic building up in the oceans. Theoretically, world wide practice of recycling would cut down the use of energy resources used by half, as we'd be recycling what we have and not producing more. We have become an incredibly wasteful society, which needs to change. Recycling is so easy to do, and it's down to sheer laziness of people who don't.

So please, I encourage you to recycle as much as you can! Think before you throw something away. Think about where it will end up and what it could do to the environment- you could potentially be killing an animal the next time you throw away a piece of plastic!
Actively try to buy sustainable products, the more we buy, the more they thrive, and will cause businesses that aren't sustainable to either close, or change their ways.
Think about your carbon footprint. If you can walk somewhere rather than take a mode of transport that relies on fossil fuels, do so!

Thank you for taking the time to read my blogs over the past couple of months. I hope I've inspired some sort of change, or at least taught you something new!

Awesome Inventions

Slightly off topic blog, but I think it's worth taking a look at things people are doing around the world to try and combat climate change...

1. Cloud Collective is a company that has managed to figure out a way we can put CO₂ emissions to good use. Above a highway in Geneva, Switzerland, they created an algae farm. This is quite genuis! Algae thrives and grows from sunlight and carbon dioxide, through the natural process of photosynthesis. Growing an algae farm above an area where CO₂ emissions are plentiful, means that the air can be filtered and cleaned. The algae grows in closed, transparent tubes that are connected to pumps, filters and solar panels. They take in the CO₂, and produce oxygen that gets filtered out into the atmosphere. The algae can be put to good use too! The company say that it can be used to create biodiesel, green electricity, medication, cosmetic products or even foods.

Source

2. Adidas have found a way of recycling rubbish and plastic in the oceans. They partnered up with 'Parley for the Oceans', which is an organisation that raises awareness about the state of our oceans, and how to tackle with the problems. Together they went out on a 110 day expedition, following illegal fishing boats. They collected gill nets that were used, and other ocean plastic waste to come up with a shoe that is completely sustainable. The upper part uses the nets, and the lower part uses sustainable and recycled material. They're scheduled to launch Spring 2016.

Source

3. An Australian duo, Andrew Turton and Pete Ceglinski have invented the Seabin. It's basically a bin for the ocean, that collects rubbish, detergents, fuel and oil- designed to help clean up our oceans more effectively and less costly. They can be attached to boats, and used in marinas and ports - where rubbish often collects up. Below is a diagram of how it works:

Source

They've started small, and have started a fundraising campaign on indiegogo to help expand the business. They hope to one day have cleaned all the rubbish dumped in the oceans!

With more innovative thinking like this, and expanding these ideas globally, we can definitely start to combat climate change.

Not so Ho-Ho-Ho!

Every winter there's always a clash of opinion on which type of Christmas tree is the way to go. My household always used to buy a real tree, until, like many, it was decided that they can be a tad costly. But here's the problem with artificial trees...

1. Artificial trees are manufactured with metal and PVC (polyvinyl chloride) - a plastic that is non-biodegradable, made using petroleum, which is a non-renewable resource that emits carbon.
2. The manufacturing, processing and shipping of the trees has a heavy carbon footprint. These processes release greenhouse gases into the environment. Considering the verdict of COP21 (see my previous blog) was to try and reduce the annual emissions of these gases, maybe we should ban artificial trees!!?
3. Most of these trees are made in China, and considering these trees are being bought world wide (around 85% of the trees sold in the U.S are imported from China), it's a no brainer how the shipping impacts the environment.
4. Because of what they're made from, it means they're not recyclable, and end up getting thrown into a landfill ... to just sit there. Yes you might use it 'for life', but it still ends up in a dump. A problem, as mentioned in a previous blog regarding the implications of plastic in our oceans.
5. They don't have the aroma of a real tree!

Now, to those that say it's not good for the environment to have real trees, here's why you might be proved wrong:

1. Real trees can and are being recycled in many different ways; they are turned into mulch (a material applied as a layer on top of soil to help retain moisture, and improve the health and fertility of the soil); or made into wood chips used for a variety of things such as playgrounds and hiking trails.
2. One tree absorbs more than 1 ton of CO₂ throughout its lifetime. Considering there's over 350 million Christmas trees growing in the U.S alone, on a global scale that's a lot of carbon dioxide we can continue to absorb. Just one acre of these trees produces a daily amount of oxygen for 18 people- that's awesome! 
3. The farming of Christmas trees is sustainable- for every one tree that gets used, three seeds are planted.
4. By buying a real tree you're boosting the economy a significant amount, and keeping a lot of farms in business.
5. They provide a natural habitat for many species.

Real trees do have their own problems though, I'll give you that!

1. If they're not farmed organically, pesticides, fertilizers and herbicides will be used - not great for the health of critters, or humans. Make sure your tree is approved by the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC).
2. If your tree isn't bought from a local farm, then it will also have a carbon footprint.
3. And yes, they can be messy buggers! Especially if you have a cat! (Here's some humorous photos to back up my point)

There is a third option, to buy a potted, living tree. The downside to this is the space needed to host a tree for longer than the Christmas period, especially if you don't have a garden to plant it in! However, some parks are able to take them from you to plant if you don't have the space. Here's a list of places you can take your tree after the festive season in London.

Whichever tree you opt for, I hope you have a Merry Christmas!

Conclusion of COP21

So you may or may not have heard about COP21 (Conference of the Parties 21). It dominated the news over the last two weeks... why? For the past 20 years, all the countries in the world have met annually to discuss anthropogenic (man induced) climate change. This year, the meeting was held in Paris, with an impressive turn out, Barack O'bama being one.

This year it was all about reducing carbon emissions, so that the Earths' global temperature does not increase by 2°C, by the end of this century. NASA's Earth Observatory claims that the Earth has increased in temperature by 0.8°C since 1880- beginning of the industrial revolution, and is only continuing to increase; I'm sure you've seen all the news articles about 2015 being the hottest year on record, according to the United Nations' weather agency.

The line plot shows yearly temperature anomalies from 1880 to 2014. All four records show rapid warming in the past few decades, and all show the last decade as the warmest.

It's important for us to do something about this now, because if we carry on increasing the temperature, the repercussions are pretty bad....

• Wildfires will increase by 400-800% in the U.S
• The intensity of hurricanes will increase 2-8%
• Many different species will most likely become extinct, around 20-30% of species
• Marine life will decrease as a result of ocean acidification, and coral bleaching
• The Arctic will continue to melt- around 30% of the sea ice will be lost, increasing sea levels by as much as 10 feet
• Freshwater availability will fall by 20%
• Crops in the U.S, Africa and India will decrease up to 30% meaning the global food supply will decrease

(All sourced from The National Academy of Sciences)

Fortunately, this year it was taken quite seriously, with a great outcome. All countries have agreed that we need to start reducing emissions significantly, and to have an outcome of a temperature increase no more than 1.5°C by 2100. £100 billion dollars a year will be given to developing countries to help finance sustainable and environmentally friendly forms of energy.
By the second half of this century, "in accordance with best available science" the world should be able to reach a point where greenhouse emissions will be zero! (That's VERY positive thinking!). 186 countries, including the U.S and China have pledged to stop the growth of greenhouse emissions, by reducing the burning of fossil fuels- a pledge that must be renewed every five years.

It's not going to be easy to make sure we don't hit this increase. Realistically, we will have to reduce greenhouse emissions to a cut of 90% by 2050 if we want to reach this goal, according to Jennifer Morgan, global director of the climate program at the World Resources Institute. Many argue that this is highly ambitious, if not impossible. Some say that we need to increase the 'allowed' temperature rise to 3°C. But the reality is, we need a sense of urgency in order to get this change rolling.