Energy Future for Australia (5)

Energy Future for Australia: Conclusion

This is the final entry of this discussion. Let's conclude what we have been talked about!

First of all, what is our options for future energy development in Australia? Ideally, we can produce the entirety of our energy from renewable sources such as solar power and wind power. Research indicates that wind power could be a viable alternative to Australia's coal based power generation. And it can significantly reduce the overall environmental footprint of Australia as a whole. UK have successfully developed and applied wind power as a stable source of input, which further proved the viability of such method.

What't the situation now? In short term, we need to change the heavy oil reliant energy industry because Australian is facing serious oil shortage and have to rely on import for oil supply. One angle to investigate and resolve this issue is to start with improving our oil reliant transport. Numbers have shown the damage our vehicle transport did to Australian environment in forms of GHG emission. Our priority should be promoting alternative sustainable energy source for vehicle transport, such as hybrid cars.

The use of hybrid vehicle can significantly reduce GHG in public/private transport in Australia. Australians have already started to replace public transport vehicles with more sustainable hybrid model (NSW hybrid buses). It is a good start. But in order to secure a sustainable future, this practice needs to become a common sight not a exception.

Sustainable thinking, of course, is more than just driving hybrid cars and building wind turbines. But if we failed at accomplishing these most basic tools, then how can we move on to more advanced ideas and technologies? These ideas are merely a stepping stone for better, greater solutions, and I sincerely believe with the minds of many, living a sustainable life will no longer be a luxury.

Energy Future for Australia (4)

Energy Future for Australia: Hybrid fuel

How do we solve the emission problem of our transport? The answer could be as simple as: dring a hybrid. Using hybrid vehicles for public/private transport could prove to be very beneficial for sustainable development.

Hybrid technology is widely considered as a significant technique that can ensure the energy efficiency improvements for vehicle operations and diminish the extent of greenhouse emission. Hybrid vehicles are powered by two or more types of power, for example diesel and electric which could reduce the extent of greenhouse gases emission as an alternative resource of fossil fuels. By using hybrid-diesel  technologies for bus, the risk of rising energy input costs by the high average vehicle fuel consumption can be expected to be relieved. For example, during the trial of hybrid bus in New South Wales in March 2011, the report showed that the emission which related by the diesel motor could be relaxed by combination with hybrid technology, while fuel savings can be used as compensation for small fleet sizes and installation costs.

Reference:
http://www.transport.nsw.gov.au/sites/default/files/b2b/publications/hybrid-bus-trial-final-report.pdf
Image Credit:
http://greenliving4live.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/08/hybrid-cars-electric-vehicle-buying-guide_electric-vehicle-buying-guide_00-1.jpg

Energy Future for Australia (3)

Energy Future For Australia: Transport

Where did all that energy go? A large proportion of Australian energy were consumed to support the transport that needed for large cities such as Sydney.

According to the Public Transport Report of the Australian Conservation Foundation (ACF) in 2012, the percentages of money of GDP spent in public transport projects by the Australian government have been increasing during the 10 years throughout 2000 to 2009 (pp. 4). These investments aimed to build an active public transport in order to face the circumstance of rapidly developing on the urban fringes due to increases in population in Australian large cities (ACF, 2012). Transport, as one of major emitters of greenhouse gases, is closely associated with the aforementioned dilemma of urban population increase. Thus it is the responsibility of government to consider the effects to the environment while providing sufficient public transport options to the low income families who living in the urban areas and remote suburbs of these areas (ibid). As one of the most car dependent countries in the world, Public transport can provide significant reductions in greenhouse gases emissions to Australian environment, and particularly when the renewable clean energy is used in this system, such as tram and diesel-electric hybrid driving buses (ibid).

Reference:

Australian Conservation Foundation (2012), Clean, green transport future, Available at: https://www.acfonline.org.au/be-informed/sustainable-living/clean-green-transport-future (accessed: 17, 6, 2016)Australian Conservation Foundation (2012), Australia’s Public Transport: Investment for A Clean Transport Future, Available at: https://www.acfonline.org.au/sites/default/files/resources/ACF_transport_funding_report_27-4-11_0.pdf (accessed: 17, 4, 2016).
Image Credit:
http://ordinary-gentlemen.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/09/20140609020644badtraffic.jpg

Energy Future for Australia (2)

Energy Future For Australia: Oil

Why do Australia need to develop sustainable energy anyway? We have oil, right? In fact, no. 

Australia, as one of the world’s most car dependent nation, is actually facing the problem of oil shortages (ACF, 2012). By 2012, more than 50% of oil in Australia was imported, and it was estimated that in 2015 the figure could have risen to 70% (ACF, 2010). 

Australia is expected to become the second biggest gasoline importer in Asia-Pacific region by 2020 (Reuters, 2015). This circumstance could indicate that, by using sustainable energy techniques based on the natural resource in replacing traditional fossil fuels like coal and gas, the national expenses will be saved and help Australia out of the serious dependency of oil product (ACF, 2012). Solar power is one example of the using of the local natural resources in a sense of sustainable development. Solar power is a relatively new technique in Australia, which has been developed since 2010 (Australian Photovoltaic Institute, 2016) Currently, over a capacity of 5,000 MW of stalled photovoltaic (PV) facilities in 2016, and has contributed 15.3% of Australia’s clean energy generation, as well as produced 2.1% of the country’s total energy in 2014 (Australian Photovoltaic Institute, 2016; Clean Energy Council, 2016).

We have to face the fact that, oil is not gonna do it for Aussies, not in a long run. Relying on importing energy can be dangerous for a nation, especially for a developed country like Australia.

Reference:
Australian Conservation Foundation (2012), Clean, green transport future, Available at: https://www.acfonline.org.au/be-informed/sustainable-living/clean-green-transport-future (accessed: 17, 6, 2016)
Australian Conservation Foundation (2012), Australia’s Public Transport: Investment for A Clean Transport Future, Available at: https://www.acfonline.org.au/sites/default/files/resources/ACF_transport_funding_report_27-4-11_0.pdf (accessed: 17, 4, 2016).
Australian Clean Energy Council (2016), Available at: https://www.cleanenergycouncil.org.au/technologies/solar-pv.html (accessed: 18, 3, 2016)
Australian Energy Market Operator Limited (AEMO) (2010), South Australian Supply and Demand Outlook, Available at: http://www.aemo.com.au/planning/0400-0013.pdf (accessed: 16, 4, 2016). p. 35.
Australian Photovoltaic Institute (2016), Available at: http://pv-map.apvi.org.au/analyses (accessed: 18,4 2016)
Reuters (2015), Australia;s 2015 oil product imports set to soar after aging refinery closures, Available at: http://www.reuters.com/article/australia-oil-imports-idUSL3N0WY3QE20150413 (accessed: 17, 4, 2016).
Image Credit:
http://i.huffpost.com/gen/1324194/images/o-DRIVERS-TRAFFIC-facebook.jpg

Energy Future for Australia (1)

Energy Future for Australia: Wind (1)

It is time to take things a bit more seriously, Let's talk energy!

This series of entry is dedicated to examine Australia's options for sustainable energy source. And this is the first one.: Wind energy.

Wind energy is the fastest growing renewable energy form around the world. For example, it has contributed an average annual rate of growth in installed electricity capacity of 35% in the Australia from 2006 to 2011 (IEA Wind Annual Report, 2011). 

Another example is that the wind energy has become the largest renewable generation source in the UK since 2007 to 2015 (Renewableuk, 2015). The energy is produced by Wind Turbines, there were 52 wind farms in Australia, with a total capacity of 3449.5 megawatts (MW) (Australian Energy Market Operator Limited, 2010; Parliament of Australia, 2010). 





It was promoted as the renewable energy with highly promised commercialise prospect and great function of reducing greenhouse gas emission, and it is arguably that the technology  is used broadly and gradually replace the important role of non-renewable energies, such as fossil fuel, in the future (Olah, 2005).

TBC.

Reference:

EA (2012), IEA Wind Annual Report 2011, Available at: http://www.ieawind.org/annual_reports_PDF/2011.html (accessed: 16, 4, 2016).
RenewableUK (2012),   UK Wind Energy Database (UKWED), Available at: http://www.renewableuk.com/en/renewable-energy/wind-energy/uk-wind-energy-database/index.cfm (accessed: 16, 4, 2016).
Parliament of Australia (2010), Operating wind farms by Commonwealth Electoral Divison, Available at: http://www.aemo.com.au/planning/0400-0013.pdf (accessed: 16, 4, 2016).
Olah G.A. (2005), Beyond Oil and Gas: The Methanol Economy, Angewandte Chemie International Edition, Volume 44, Issue 18, April, 2005, p.p. 2636–2639.

image credit:

http://www.plainswindeis.anl.gov/images/photos/wind_450KW_turbine_IA_V_13764.jpg

Digital Media Greener than Print? Maybe Not?

Digital Media Greener than Print? Maybe Not?

The common understanding of digital media is that it is more sustainable than traditional paper print. And the biggest reason is that all digital media do not require to consume trees to produce, while paper media is entirely based on a tree-killing paper industry.

How ever, there has been an argument that digital media is actually very resource-consuming and not as sustainable as people think. Don Carli in his aticle introduce the term digital deforestation, It is the notion that the electricity that the massive servers consumed to keep records of digital data is in fact enormous and environmentally insustainable. In Australia, 73% of the overall power generation comes from coal power plant. 

As a result, electricity-based digital media can be associated with the carbon emission generated from coal industry. Also, the cellular networks and computers that digital media relies on also brings emission and deforestation to the environment.

The client-side devices we use to receive digital media and information can also bring negative impact to our environment. The life span of electronic devices shortens as the technologies evolves faster. The average life span of an average smartphone is 18 month and the used ones are rarely recycled. Comparing with traditional paper print, the resource it used is equally damaging if not so.

The exit of traditional paper print is almost certain due to the rise of digital media. However, when make the argument that digital media is more sustainable than its prodecessor, one have to consider that digital media also has to consume resource in order to exist. And maybe it is not as green as people would think.

Reference:

http://mediashift.org/2010/03/is-digital-media-worse-for-the-environment-than-print090/

https://www.originenergy.com.au/blog/about-energy/energy-in-australia.html

Now We Are Cooking with Gas!

Now We Are Cooking with SUN!

There is a old catchphrase: Now we are cooking with Gas! I first heard it from a NBA commentator, to describe how furious the player dunk the ball into the basket. At the time, I was kind of confused. I understand the phrase as: gas cooking is good in comparision with cooking with electricity because it generates actual flame instead of a heat plate.

It turned out, I was utterly incorrect. This catchphrase originated from a old commercial promotion of gas oven in early 1900s. The companies introduced gas oven as a replacement for wood-burner and quickly spreaded across the western world. 

But nowadays, this old saying might need a change of phrase. Now we are cooking, with SUN!

There has been a wonderful invention called Solar oven. As the name indicates, this device using high reflective surfaces to focus solar energy into a certain surface for collection and use the heat to cook food, just as a regular oven does. The condition to use it is surprisingly not so restrictive, and it is perfect for sunny sydney summers.

According to consumer reviews, some of the good models actually functions better than regular electric ovens as they don't tend to burn or overcook food. And besides, it is so just fun to watch the sun to cook stuff for you.

Now we are cooking with solar!

Reference:

http://michaelbluejay.com/electricity/cooking.html

http://www.amazon.com/All-American-Sun-Ultimate-Appliance/dp/B00BW6TZ2K/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1465043217&sr=8-1&keywords=global+sun+oven

Image Credits:

http://www.i-cooking.eu/en/366-kpgm-gas-hobs-overview-en
http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/41PRZsyGKTL.jpg

Nuclear? New Clear.

Nuclear? New Clear.

Continuing with the nuclear discussion from last week, despite all the critism on Germany for shutting down their plants out of fear, the notion of replacing nuclear power with more sustainable alternatives is very much viable in a long term process. However, the road is long and getting the way of getting there can be troublesome.

Let's look at Japan. After the catastrophic event in Fukushima in 2011, Japan has increased its coal and natural gas consumption in order to fill in the energy gap created by the phasing out of nuclear power plants, which supplied 30% of total power generated in Japan. Because finding viable alternative power source can be time consuming, today's Japan still largely relies on nuclear power for its electricity generation. Until this day, nuclear generated power still make up over 20% of its total power production. Renewable energy sources such as solar panel, tide-powered energy, wind energy are still in the process of being realized, which can take a few decades.

Also, the islands of Japan itself almost hosts no significant fussil fuel deposits. It has to rely on import to get coals, natural gases and oil. This is one of the reasons for building so many nuclear plants in the first place. Giving up nuclear means Japan has to put its energy supply almost entirely in the hands of other nations such as Russia. The technological innovation in sustainable energy will be the long term solution but in short term, Japan is in a tough spot, for giving up nuclear power plants.

As for now, there is no perfect solution to world's energy problem. We are eventually buying time byburning fossil fuel and nuclear, for our scientists to realize sustainable energy technologies. It's not ideal, but it will have to do. That can conclude my personal feeling to nuclear power.

Reference:

http://asiasociety.org/blog/asia/energy-japan-post-nuclear-future-sustainable

Edible Landscaping: Good Looking and Happy Eating!

Edible Landscaping: Good Looking and Happy Eating!

Landscaping in private homes is a wonderful thing. Not only adding characters to the neighbourhood, it also offers a perfect opportunity for families to get together and bond. Probably because the deep agricultural background, Asian families are usually very fond of the idea of growing some sort of vegetables in their backyard, even on the tiniest piece of soil.

What if I tell you, we can combine these two wonderful things and make something even more fantastic? Edible landscaping has caught up in recent years as an alternative to conventional household landscaping. It functions not only as a cosmetic project to look at, but also a viable secondary food source for average families.

In Susannah Shmurak's blog, she offers some very informative insights of how to do proper multi-layer landscaping which is both sustainable and edible. Her theory revolves around mixing different genres of edible plants to a comprehensive food forest: from over story tree layers to under planted shrubs, and eventually descend to vine-root based vegetables. Susannah's specific recipe is designed for the seasonal climates and biological diversities of one region, which may not be directly copied to Sydney environment. But despite the regional climate differences,  the idea of multi-layered household food production is definitely applicable in Australia suburban context.

Reference: 

http://learn.eartheasy.com/2016/05/edible-landscaping-101/

Image Credit:

http://learn.eartheasy.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/edible-landscaping01.jpg

Get'em Shiny New Phones

Get'em Shiny New Phones

As a 90's kids, in the short period of 20 years that was my life, I very much witnessed the evolution of mobile phones from big, chunky plastic boxes to the smart, delicate piece of techinology that we are using today. The mobile phones we are using are getting much smarter, faster and cheaper. At the same time, the life duration of our hand-held companions is getting significantly shorter as we can not resist the sight of a shiny new model of iphone that can photography our faces 5% clearer.

As technologies advances, instead of getting more durable phones, we simply replace our phone faster then we ever before. Did you know? The average smartphone life span is 18 month in western world. And only 3% of total moblie phone users actually recycle their phone, out of the 3 billion phone owners around the world. As a result, only 1% of the mobile phones that were replaced every year are recycled.

The materials we used to make smartphones are rare and valuable, including heavy metal materials such as gold, silver, lead, mercury, copper and so on. Some of them can cause serious soil and water pollution if released into the environment irresponsibily. But, because the sheer value of the materials these phones contain, recycling them can be a very profitable business.


We can not rely on goodwill alone to drive people into recycling mobile phones. But financial gain can do exactly that. A electronics recycling business can take off with some supports in forms of policies from the government. Next time when I want to ditch my old phone, I might know exactly where I want to go.

Reference:
http://www.thesecretlifeofthings.com/#!phone-facts/c611
Image Credit:
http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2016/03/21/19/326F6EC400000578-3502440-The_rose_gold_iPhone_SE_is_pictured_in_the_foreground_at_the_eve-a-103_1458589317096.jpg

Urbanization and Feminism: Social Sustainability

Urbanization and Gender Equality: Social Sustainability

Equality is one of the most important aspects of building sustainable communities. It represents the notion that each individual should be treated equally with respect despite his/her race, gender or health. 

There has been discussions about the relationship between urbanization and gender equality. In one hand, urbanization is often associated with employment opportunities and independence for woman. However, in another hand, big cities can also cause conflicts and potential constraints for gender equality. 

Research indicates that a urban environment can both reduce and increase violence toward female gender at the same time. According to Cecilia Tacoli, in many cities, urbanization makes woman more vulnerable to assaults, both in public and at home. The large density of urban areas increases the chances of violence against woman in public spaces. A large number of the victims suffered from robbery and sexual assault are woman because they are often seen as easy targets in terms of physical strength. Also, working in certain occupations can also expose women to potential hostile behaviours. Sexual harassment is a serious issue in many countries in factories. 

However, urbanization does provides economical and social resources for women to protect themselves. Financial independence has always been an essential factor in personal freedom. And the advantage in communication and organization comparing with rural areas do give urbanized female population a edge in fighting for their rights. In fact, the awakening of modern feminism began with women participating in industrial production to fill in the gap left by men left for war in WW2. 

Overall, gender equality can be a complex issue in urban context. But in order to building a sustainable city that believes in equal human rights, each one of us must act to eliminate the wrongs and promote the rights.

Reference:

10629IIED: The benefits and constraints of urbanization for gender equality - IIED Publications Database. 2016. 10629IIED: The benefits and constraints of urbanization for gender equality - IIED Publications Database. [ONLINE] Available at: http://pubs.iied.org/10629IIED.html. [Accessed 04 June 2016].

Nuclear, NO CLEAR?

Nuclear, NO CLEAR?

Post-apocalyptic future is one of the most popular themes in pop culture right now. With movies, games and novels such as Mad Max and Fallout, one can't help  but wonder what intriguing stories the artists can create within a wild world with no civilization to speak of. Despite all the effort people put in these setting to make a post-apocalyptic world looks and feels unique and beautiful, one can still remember there was an era when the threat of nuclear winter was absolutely real, and the end of the world could happen in any second.

The Cold War strikes the fear of nuclear power into generations of people. We all have seen the destructive power of a handful of Uranium bars, in the documentaries, in the movies. So it wouldn't come to a surprise whenever a nuclear power plant is built, people will immediately start to question the necessity and safety of its exiestence. In Germany, Merkel's government made the promise in 2011 to close all nuclear power plant before 2022. After the tragic events happened in Fukushima, 8 of the 17 existing nuclear power plants were shut down permanently. 

Nuclear power provided 1/3 of the total power generation in German. The phasing out of nuclear power, some consider, will cause damage to German industry. And the price of electricity rises as nuclear plants getting shut down.

Now, the phasing out of nuclear power is not necessarily a bad thing since German plans to replace them with renewable energies, which can be fantastic in terms of sustainability. However, what worries me is the notion of  replacing a totally viable energy source based on the fear of the masses, almost an expression of anti-intellectualism. Nuclear power is a better option for power generation than fussell foil, and as in right now it is more viable in many regions than many sustainable energy solutions. A large porprotion of the population is supportive toward shutting down the plants due to the lack of knowledge about nuclear power. And one can't help but think that the decision making of Merkel is partially to please German voters.

German can afford to tear down these nuclear power plants, but some other countries can not. Phasing out nuclear power is not a bad concept in itself, but it should be a long-term process, not a sudden decision made to desperately trying to please the ignorant massess.

Reference:

http://bos.sagepub.com/content/67/4/14.abstract

http://www.uic.com.au/nip46.htm

FROG: A Tale of Chinese Single Child Policy

FROG: A Tale of Chinese Single Child Policy

MoYan is one of the most renowned contemporary Chinese novelist. Many know him from the recent Nobel prize in literature grant in 2012. As an admirer and homble student of Chinese modern literature, my encounter with Mo started with Frog, a story about a government staff whose sole life was dedicated to the enforcement of  single child policy in rural China. The name itself Frog is a symbol of maternity; bearing children of hundreds and sperm-shaped tadpoles. 

Now, the intention of single child policy was to control China's population surge in the early 1980s and to keep the overall population in China within its environmental and social capacity (which was believed to be 700 million in 1979). At the time this policy had encountered heavy resistance during its introduction to rural areas. Because at the time many areas in rural China were still relying on labour-heavy traditional agriculture and the most guranteed way to make ones familty competitve in that environment was to breed more people: especially male. The enforcement of the policy was difficult and the method used by the government can be punishing: a familty can literally lose all its property by voliating the rules to have a second/third/forth child. There were many odd stories born in that strange era. Many rural families live a life of fugitives, running away from their home just to keep their unborn male children from forced abortion. After a couples years of living on the road, they would come home, with no speakable property left in their name, no jobs, no supports, nothing but their precious male babies who didn't even have legal identities because they were not supposed to be born.

And this was very much the story of Frog, and stories of many Chinese families in a era of despair. What we can learn from this is, that when trying to resolve a social sustainability issue, any government intervention must tread extra carefully. A good intention without supervision can often cause more harm to the community than good. For example, restraining the expension of chemical plant might be a good thing for the environment, but the Union of workers will be upset due to the loss of potential employment. And immigrantion is a good thing for long term economy and diversity, but it will hurt labour intensive employment for the locals in short term. Tread carefully, for the road is long, and the dawn is far.

Reference:

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1215519

Two Child policy: Social Sustainability

Two Child policy: Social Sustainability

A common misconception of people is that sustainability is just another word for protecting natural environment. In a way, this statement is not a false one? Saving the environment is a huge part of sustainable development and vast majority of our sustainable thinking have to revolve around that topic. However, one must come to realize that sustainability is more than merely planting trees and collecting garabages. Sustainable growth of a city has to take consideration of the social aspect of sustainability; a resilient society; a fit social structure; a healthy population growth and so on.

One of the biggest news happening in China in 2015-2016 is the abandonment of its sole-child policy. Now it is legal and even encouraged for young couple to have two children. This topic is a political debate as well as a sustainable one. One can write a 100-page report on the history of China's infamous single child policy and its lasting effect on Chinese population structure. Some argue that the drop in population growth over the years is a result of urbanization and education of rural population. And the policy itself did very little in shaping Chinese demographic over its duration. Others claim that the policy accelerated the aging of Chinese population structure and left a huge vacancy in young to middle-age demographic to fill in the gap in working population. Whatever the real case is, there is no doubt that single or twin children policy is a reaction or solution to a social sustainability issue, and should be treated as such.

The next blog will look into the single child policy and dig into some stories around the real life implementation of it. Stay tuned.

Reference:

http://thediplomat.com/2016/03/chinas-two-child-policy-what-next/

Image Credit:

http://thediplomat.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/03/thediplomat_2016-03-04_13-49-32-386x272.jpg

More Reasons to Being Lazy: Work Less Saves Environment?

More Reasons to Being Lazy: Work Less Saves Environment?

Doing researches for the blog can be exhausting at times, and rightfully so: working sucks, we all hate it. And that's why a certain insights from a certain blogger caught my attention.
So a blogger Nathalie in her article describe her 4-day a week work routine and how does it affect her mindset as a consumer. Furthermore, how does that affect the environment in a positive way.

Living in a industrialized world, most of functional members of the society works lots of hours each week to fulfill their role in the whole of the economy. There is a concept of being time-poor or time poverty when an individual feels like they don't have enough hours in a day to accomplish what they truly wanted for life because the amount of time they spend on working and staying alive. Some may call it 'getting older'.

Natalie suggested that being in constant time poverty can cause one to follow a negative consumer pattern while shopping. Less time for shopping means less time spend on researching/exploring sustainable options and alternatives; less time spend on planning; and certain more possibilities of picking the 'convenient' options (which often the less sustainable options). Living a sustainable life requires effort and time, if one become exhausting from other aspect of life, then it is likely that the individual will live a life that is considered to be in-sustainable. No time for growing own food, repairing day to day objects, recycling, and so on.

Although her theories are entirely originated from life experience and observations, I personal mostly agrees with Natalie. Living a sustainable life does require a perfect balance between work and life, and working a 9-5 routine can take away lots of options as one is constantly facing the temptation of taking the options that requires least amount of effort. But that does not necessarily mean sustainable life always have to compete with work life for time. In fact, I think as the sustainable way of thinking being planted into more and more people, living sustainable will become easier and not as time consuming.

That being said, this is one more reason to be lazy: I am not laying back. I am saving the earth!

Reference:
http://barefootearth.blogspot.com.au/2016/04/working-less-for-planet.html
Image Credit:
http://cdn.playbuzz.com/cdn/ea715d6c-3f2b-4133-bbb8-4a7d27429b2a/1fd8edac-8027-46da-b052-0ce9ff022a1b.jpg

Let's Drive to the Park! And Ride Bicycles!

Let's Drive to the Park! And Ride Bicycles!

Bicycles! Family fun! Saturday morning! In a park! Yeahhh!

Drove there in a huge 4x landcruiser. Awww.

Cycling is a curious thing in our life. We all think it is a good sport and a sustainable mean of transport. But few of us actually do it. It has always been a case of: office is too far for cycling; street is too noisy and dangerous or just plain laziness. Yes, cycling is good for your health as a exercise. But if the road you are riding on is heavily polluted by vehicle emission , a cyclist is no different than a human vacuum machine, sucking in all the dust and SO2. 

This is a old paradox in sustainable lifestyle - it is a fine concept as a one-off thing or a leisure activity, but a difficult practice as a daily routine. Not all of us can manage a sustainable lifestyle while all other aspects of life are constantly occupying your mind. I'd like to grow some vegetables in my backyard, but I can't spend two hours everyday tend to them. 

Shifting to a sustainable lifestyle can be a slow and gradient process, and patience and support from others are much needed in order to make it work. Conflicts exist, and they will happen. So what I think needs to happen is to have a sustainable mindset, and let it affect you bit by bit.

Don't feel guilty when drive to the park, and enjoying riding bikes with your family all you want. Two years from now, you might get a job that is closer to your workplace. In that case, your bicycle skills will come in handy, won't it?

Image Credit:

http://www.123rf.com/stock-photo/bike_ride.html 

Crappy Convenience Store Sandwiches and Food Packaging

Crappy Convenience Store Sandwiches and Food Packaging

I walked in 7-11 in the morning, hungry and sleepy. I grabbed a cold egg-lettuce sandwich from the shelve, and felt disgusted for the rest of the morning.

Convenience store sandwiches are always crap, aren't they? Sloppy, cold, and too much mayo - recipe for disaster. They are like the last option before a early morning lecture: either that or starving for two hours before getting to lunch. For the same price of one crappy sandwich, one can buy a loaf of fresh-baked bread, a head of beautiful crunchy lettuce and some tasty chicken eggs. And all of that, come without excessive packaging.

One can say the packaging of those 7-11 sandwiches is not that bad: It's mostly paper and single layered. Almost nothing comparing to those multi-flavored potato crisp packs which are literally big plastic packs over smaller plastic packs. But still, you can not get any extra use out of a sandwich package after you tear it open: it is designed for convenience- in another word, use once and throw away. And you don't throw them in household recycle bins - no no no. Because you will be most likely be on the street or somewhere public while you are eating these awfully sandwiches, the packages are gonna end up in one of the street bins - poorly recycled in the first place. 

 

Food packaging is one of the major sources of waste in food waste streams. And reclaiming these packaging waste is proven to be difficult because they are often found in a mixture of general waste and organic waste.

As individuals, reduce food packaging is the first step of building a more sustainable future. Take the time, make your own sandwiches! Use a PVC container, they are wonderful creations and can literally last you for years. It's a start, right?

Reference: 

https://www.environment.gov.au/system/files/resources/128a21f0-5f82-4a7d-b49c-ed0d2f6630c7/files/food-waste.pdf

Image credit:

https://doesthisfontmakemelookfat.com/2014/09/

Big Bad Multinationals: Money-driven sustainable thinking

Big Bad Multinationals: Money-driven sustainable thinking

If you are an sci-fi action movie fun like me, you will notice that almost in every movie, if there is a multinational company with infinite power and resources, it usually turns out to be controlled by the villains. This plot may sound familiar to many of you: a scientist is found dead in his/her lab, with the technology of providing infinite power for mankind stolen. And the bad guys are working for a big oil company, who don't want this technology to be revealed to the world.

However, this stereotype is challenged by four big players in current global market since they shifted their business strategies to focus on sustainable development in the past year: Novelis, Fibria, Syngeta and Starbucks.

Novelis is one of the major scourers for aluminum in global market. It changes it core business focus from aluminum mining to aluminum recycling, in order to pursue a more sustainable future for the business.

The core of Fibria's business is paper products. Nowadays, it starts to shifting its business strategy to use its forest assets in a sustainable way.

Starbuck, as the home and sanctuary for hipsters, has been seeking to differentiate itself from the other coffee shop but promoting the idea of green building.

Agriculture based business Syngenta has spent more time on recovering extra nutrients from the land and help their customers to get more yields.

The most amazing fact is that these companies did not do this just for helping mankind or anything noble like that. They did it because it helps them to secure more earnings in the future. The notion of the greatest selfish-less act comes from the greatest selfishness is truly the only way to approach the matter of building a sustainable future. Praise and good will only can not convince stakeholders to pursue a sustainable strategy, but cold hard cash can
.

Reference:

http://www.sustainability.com/blog/four-multinationals-shifting-their-business-models-for-sustainability#.V1E7LJx96Uk

Image Credit:
http://soul-sanctuaries.com/whats-your-relationship-with-money/

Potato Lives Matter!

Potato Lives Matter! 

Have you ever seen a weird looking potato in one of your local supermarket? No, I am not talking about these slightly small or bigger ones with minor deform. I am talking about the real abominations, the real freaks of nature, the monstrosities who dares to call themselves potatoes... You haven't, have you. Our kind lords of food industry mercifully get rid of all those weird-looking potatoes beforehand so we don't have to suffer the pain of watching such as ugly creature presented on our shelves. How gracious of them! Praise the food industry! Praise the lords!

But do you know? The weird looking ones are just as delicious as their 'normal' brethren. In Australia, only 50% of the fresh produce coming from agriculture will make it through processing and get to the retailing stage. The other half is wasted because of failure of meeting industry standard in size, shape, weight and colour. They are mostly still perfectly edible, and potentially more accessible because they can be sold at a cheaper price than regular food.

There are attempts of selling these 'ugly' food by large cooperation as well as local market. For example, a organization called Secondbite dedicates itself in re-distributing surplus food to people in needs. They take donations from farmers, markets, retailers and donate them to homeless, families under poverty, indigenous families and so on.

However, we could always do more as individuals to salvage food waste. Starting by not just picking the good-looking potatoes on the shelves, we can give some love to the odd ones. Don't judge them by the looks, right?

Reference:
http://secondbite.org/
http://eprints.qut.edu.au/68196/
Image Credit:
http://www.cheshirefarmchips.co.uk/tag/weird/

Perks of being lazy: Green tips for laundry hater

Perks of being lazy: Green tips for laundry hater

Laundries are the worst, aren't they? Especially for a single male students living in a 15 sqm rental room. There is always a pile of semi-worn cloth lying around somewhere in my room.  They don't smell, but still not fresh enough for me to want to wear it. And because I am lazy, proudly so, I don't want wash them either. So here they are, hanging off my bed, piling up in my laundry basket and being forgotten by the world of living.

However, it strikes me one day that because I am to lazy to do laundry often, a enormous amount of water can be saved and less pollutant coming from all the chemical we use to wash our cloth will be released to our water system. It is a rather bizarre notion to justify my own laziness but there might just be a slight truth to all of this.

 

According to Australian Bureau of Statics, average household waster consumption for Australian familes in 2003 was 103kL of water per person, and a large amount of that number was contributed by laundry. And a research on washing machines suggests that some of the dated models (still commonly usedin many households) requires more than 100L volume of water (perfectly drinkable) to deal with one load. A bottle of water is 550ml - half a litre, and we pay 3 bucks for it. 

If 1000 families can skip laundry once for a week, that can save 5,000,000 L of clean water. And the price is only to endure wearing semi-clean, perfectly good clothes for a couple of days. Sounds like a bargain doesn't it?

Reference: 

http://www.home-water-works.org/indoor-use/clothes-washer

http://www.hunterwater.com.au/Save-Water/Water-Usage-Calculator.aspx

http://thegreenists.com/category/clothes

Image credit:

http://listsurge.com/30-clever-coolest-laundry-room-ideas/

Oliver Asks for More

Food, Food, Food

Even the greatest civilization is three-days meals from crumbling into pieces. This statement is especially true in today's highly urbanized western society. Our food are not grown out on our back yard. Many of them are not even coming from this continent. We go to a supermarket around the block, pick the best looking carrot from a thousand samey-looking ones. There are too much food! Way too much! We have so much food that farmers have to dump them into the ocean because the food produce worth less than the diesels needed to deliver them to the nearest mall. Hunger only exists as a concept when you sit pantlessly on your coach waiting for the pizza delivery guy to arrive. And then you ate two pieces of that pizza and leave it in your fridge for 5 days before you throw it away. We city dwellers are spoiled by our infinite food supply we forget history of humanity is basically a endless battle of fighting against starvation. What happens if we run out of food? Starve the city of Sydney for three days, and you will have yourself a hellish riot straight out of a 90s zombie movie.    

According to Jenny Donovan in Architecture, Planning and Food, 25%-50% of Australian food produce are thrown away because they can't reach the size/weight regulation. Half of our potatoes are dumped in the bin because they don't look quite as good! They don't taste any different, they are not poisonous or anything. They just are not as good looking. Well, bugger off then, into the dump you go. 

In fact, this manner of unsustainable thinking  happens in almost every step of the entire food supply system. Food production, processing and transport, marketing and retailing, and waste disposal. 

Firstly, we are using large amount of argochemicals in our farms. Although it is necessary in order to maintain a health production to feed the population, we are eventually trading fossil fuels for food production because argochemicals are products of oil industry.

Second, like I mentioned, the wastage of fresh produce in processing is enormous. Various of regulations and food related laws on one hand protect consumer's health and food qualities, on the other hand cause large amount of 'under-qualified' produce go to waste.

Marketing of food is not always well organized in an urban environment. There are certain areas in the city turns into 'food desert' because the lack of access to food shops and markets. Also, lots of local based shops can not survive in suburban context because there are just not enough customers in walking distance. 

Lastly, the disposal of food scraps and unsold goods are mostly going to landfill and slowly degenerated into methane to haunt our global climate even more. There has been ways to collect methane gas, a highly significant Green House Gas. However, they are not efficient enough just yet to be considered as a long term solution.

We all eat. And thanks to the wonderful gifts granted by industrial farming, at least in Australia and most developing region, we all have enough to eat. But when we are sitting around the dinner table, praise the lord for putting food on your table, lets not forget the ghost of famine is still haunting one third of human population, and it is crawling under the dark corner in the metropolis, waiting for a moment to strike.

Reference: 

Donovan, Jenny. Architecture, planning and food [online]. Environment Design Guide, No. 73, Jul 2012: 1-11. Availability:<http://search.informit.com.au.wwwproxy0.library.unsw.edu.au/documentSummary;dn=659056435607544;res=IELHSS> ISSN: 1442-5017. [cited 05 Mar 16].

Image credit: 

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/olivia-madlock/get-smart-commune-and-gro_b_8869886.html

http://cafnrnews.com/2012/03/making-black-gold/dumping-food-waste1/