According to the UN projects our grandchildren will have 9.6 billion playmates to contend with in the year 2050 Quite a change when compared to the 2.5 billion our grandparents had to make do with in the 1950s. Humanity has grown in leaps and bounds over the last two centuries and nothing underlines it more clearly than looking at the population growth over the centuries. The great success of our species At the cusp of the Industrial Revolution in the 19th century, humanity's ability to multiply was at the end of its rope. After nearly six thousand years of written history, we had developed the skills, technology and social structure to sustain nearly 1 billion individuals! Most of the increase in population can be accredited to the slow accumulation of available workforce, better tools and more advanced farming methods. The more pronounced leaps, around 16th century for example, are thanks to the spread of new food sources to new areas, most notably the humble potato from South America to Europe and beyond. Bleak lives of the individual
The Reverend Thomas Malthus was one of the first to explain the fact that the farmers of the 18th century England and 400 BCE Athens had the same income; precisely because of humanity’s relentless drive to breed. Every productivity increasing invention, new arable locations or new food source was literally eaten away by the ever increasing population; the advances simply weren’t large enough to have time to translate into increased prosperity for the existing individuals. The great irony of Thomas Malthus’s life was to be that, while his theory explained the previous 58 centuries of human history, the following two seemed to prove him wrong. He didn’t see productivity outstripping population growth. The Great Escape As the last two hundred years have shown, the Malthusian Trap is avoidable. With the drastically increased production capacity brought on by the use of fossil fuels, we finally managed to escape the cycle. The Industrial Revolution generated a virtuous cycle in which investment in human capital, education and healthcare generated technological progress, which in turn increased the demand for human capital. In other words: the more people we have, the faster we come up with new technology, tap into new resources and improve our production efficiency. We seem to have managed to sneak around the Malthusian Trap and continue to distance ourselves from it; education, among other factors, has led to declining fertility rates and science seems impervious to the law of diminishing returns, unlike labor intensive farming for example. There’s always a ‘but’. For a while we seemed to forget one important fact: the resources of our planet are finite. The UN estimates that by the year 2025 there will be 1.8 billion people living in conditions of absolute water scarcity. That’s more than 2 out of every ten humans. Oil, natural gas, phosphorus, arable land and many rare earth minerals are at a premium already. While the last 100 years seem to prove that total resource exhaustion is unlikely, the undeniable fact remains that market prices of practically all natural resources are going up. Thankfully we still have options. First of all we can buy time by investing in resource efficiency and environmental technology; we can make what we have last longer and reduce the negative impacts of human activities on our environment. We can buy even more time by continuing and increasing our efforts to lower the fertility rates in the lesser developed parts of the world; Africa chief among them. All of the above would go a long way to postponing the disaster ahead but do nothing to solve it. We are already feeling the first teeth of the Malthusian Trap: the current economic hardships of the west are partly a result of world’s resources being spread more evenly around the globe. Already we have to fight harder for our market share, for our piece of the cake. The choice We have a choice to make: the choice between a slow slide back into the Malthusian Trap, or getting serious and starting to think of our future as a species and as individuals. If we content ourselves with attempting to perpetuate the status quo, we're unavoidably headed towards escalating conflicts over resources, war, famine and the welcoming arms of the Trap. On the other hand, if we face up to the fact that we're headed towards a disaster, we can do a lot of things to mitigate and delay that disaster. We can adopt green-tech solutions, many of which are presented in this very blog. We can ramp up our efforts to support education in Africa; if the current fertility rates persist there for the rest of the century, the UN estimates a population of 17 billion in Africa alone in 2100. These measures can unfortunately only delay the inevitable. The only choice which allows for continued growth and evasion of the Malthusian Trap is to look beyond Earth. The future of the human race is either to go into space or face a long and slow decline into a shadow of our former selves. Want to know more? Click YES, YES, YES and/or OH GOD(S) YES Mikko Hynninen A question of economic against environmental sustainability Here are the facts. Palm oil is widely regarded as the most versatile oil, with its applications ranging from cooking oil, margarine, cosmetics, detergents, industrial lubricants and even biofuels for cars and power plants. Compared to other oil, palm oil is the highest-yielding vegetable crop, needing less than half the land required by other crops to produce the same amount of oil. This makes palm oil relatively cheap compared to other vegetable oils such as rapeseed and sunflower oil. In addition, palm oil is superior health-wise as it contains more vitamin A and vitamin E compared to any other edible oils and helps reduce the risk of a variety of diseases such as Alzheimer’s or cancer. Bearing all these environmental and economic benefits in mind, no wonder the demand for palm oil, and its level of production have increased significantly in the last few years. Indonesia tops the list by providing more than half (85%) of the world’s supply of palm oil As an edible vegetable oil, palm oil represents the largest share of worldwide edible oil production, at more than 30%, followed by soybean and rapeseed oil at 28% and 15% respectively. And among all other palm oil producers, including Nigeria and Malaysia, Indonesia tops the list by providing more than half of the world’s supply of palm oil. In fact, palm oil is a very crucial part of this G20 member, accounting for 11% of its export earnings of 5.7 billion USD. The industry has also helped Indonesia to relieve its unemployment problem by giving jobs to about 3.2 million people. Not just that, but the worldwide demand for this so called “sacred food” has increased so much that the growth of palm oil production in Indonesia alone averaged up to 8.1% per year from 1987 to 2007. This in turn will bring even more revenue and job employment for Indonesia. So as you can see, it is obvious how important Indonesia’s palm oil production is to the world and to Indonesia’s own economy. The deforestation of Indonesia’s valuable rainforests accounts for the loss of 8 million hectares of forest land in Borneo and Sumatra However it’s not all good news in the palm oil business. There have been a lot of critics and protests on how this particular industry impacts the environment, animals and ultimately the people of Indonesia. The most common criticisms are directed at the weak law enforcement in forestry management, which is causing the deforestation of Indonesia’s valuable rainforests, accounting for the loss of 8 million hectares of forest land in Borneo and Sumatra. This loss of biodiversity and ecosystems is so bad that a third of all mammal species in Indonesia are considered to be “critically endangered”. One species in particular, the orangutan, had become an icon of deforestation in Borneo and Sumatra. Around 2500 orangutans are killed each year and 90% of orangutans’ habitat has been destroyed in the last 20 years due to the development of the palm oil industry. This has alarmed the UN so much that it has started an “emergency conservation” programme in Indonesia’s rainforests. It seems very heartbreaking that such an important part of Indonesia’s economy is stabbing itself in the back by destroying its own very valuable resource. Efforts have been raised to create a sustainable way of developing palm oil production. The “Roundtable on sustainable palm oil” for example has committed to preserving 50% of all the rainforest in Indonesia and utilize the palm oil plantations as a carbon sink. Several NGOs like Greenpeace and Friends of the Earth continually protest and raise awareness of the destruction of Indonesia’s rainforests while promoting a sustainable way for palm oil production.
The numbers are there. Indonesia clearly needs all the economic drive the palm oil industry is providing for them. And the numbers are there again. Indonesia cannot afford not to act upon the rate at which their rainforests are being destroyed. And so the questions remain. For how long can Indonesia maintain their current practices? At what cost? Ultimately, to what extent can the importance of economic sustainability surpass the importance of environmental sustainability? Adhitya Prayoga Sources:
Nowadays becoming “green” has gained popularity among designers and builders, since the needs of the housing market are continuously changing. Sustainable design covers a building’s impacts holistically, from the planning process to the deconstruction at the end of the building’s useful life. It is necessary to consider all the impacts a construction may bring, since wrong planning might affect the tenant’s health as well as the surroundings: ecosystems, air quality, animals and plants among others. The aim of a sustainable construction project is to enhance the quality of life for the building occupants. People were not designed to live in an asphalt jungle, surrounded by traffic jams and having to breathe polluted air. It is necessary to implement projects, which allow public encounters with convenient access to public transportation, and natural spaces that promote walking instead of driving. Simply by incorporating natural features such as windows that permits natural light into the building or by adding some plants, the occupants’ experience can be transformed from just living in the building to enjoying their lives. And what else makes this kind of building so attractive? It’s energy use. High-efficiency buildings use natural means for power generation, for instance solar and wind power, and they include as well the use of some principles which tends towards minimum performance standards such as:
However, what is usually thought about green building is that by implementing this kind of practices, the cost of the project will increase and result in more work. This misconception is far from reality. In terms of the construction process, sustainable practices are not very different from traditional procedures, but they result in a different and a more efficient construction. Green projects are demonstrating that many of the fundamental principles of sustainable building can be applied without increasing the project price and they also allow savings in terms of operating costs. One model of a green building project is actually very near Tampere. The Vuores area is a typical ‘greenfield’ development in a woodland area to the south of the city of Tampere, which by 2020 will become an ECOCITY. This project is trying to incorporate all the fundamentals of green building construction with an optimum urban structure that takes into account the conservation of the natural environment, social issues, an efficient public transport system and of course, for the energy supply the use of renewable energies. Paola Israde Burrola References Image: Kubina, J. 2007. Technische Universität Darmstadt - Solar Decathlon 2007. Solar energy, Wikipedia.last modified on 10 november 2014. Accessed 10/11/2014. http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/ba/Technische_Universit%C3%A4t_Darmstadt_-_Solar_Decathlon_2007.jpg Letcher, T. 2008. Future energy: Improvised, sustainable and clean options for our planet. China: Elsevier. Yudelson, J. 2009. Green building through integrated design. USA: Mc Graw hill. Bose, R. 2009. Energy efficient cities. USA: The World Bank. East Africa is rich in tropical forests, dense montane forest and includes the eastern portion of the Congo rainforest. These forests are rich in bio-diversity and they are the home of different indigoes tree species like Olea africana, Dombea goetzenii, Acacia, and Bamboo. They also provide habitat for large animals like Bango’, Yellow-backed Duiker, Golden cats, Giant forest hogs, Leopards, Hyenas, Buffalos, Colobus Monkeys and Elephants. The region is known for its great savannas too as shown in the picture below However nowadays the forest is decreasing year after year. According to research made by the open access journal PLOS, the East African forest shrank 9.8% between 2001 and 2009. East African countries’ forest is declining year after year due to increasing population. Kenya’s forest cover decreased by 8% between 1981 and 1988. According to PLOS journal, 14% of Kenyan forest will disappear in 20 years.
Causes for deforestation 1. Local Level Farmers are expanding their agricultural land and enlarging their cultivation area to get more revenue. Most East African local administrations have been involved in distributing land to local farmers without paying attention to environmental issues. 2. National level The forest departments of East African governments do not give training to their staff to recognize the role of local knowledge in forest preservation. Decision-makers are only giving land to local farmers in order to get political benefit and some protected areas are destroyed for the sake of economic gain. 3. Global level In the developed world, industries and consumers promote the export of food from East Africa mainly in raw form for processing. The business motivated models imposed by international institutions like the World Bank have encouraged serious exploitation of forest land. What could be done to prevent East African deforestation? The governments of East African countries must promote conservation of forest in a sustainable way. The citizens should be encouraged to plant at least five trees per year. Local people should participate in formulation of forest management policies. Harsh penalties should be applied to those who destroy the forest in an unsustainable way. However, there is still this problem of how to feed the population and maintain the forest at the same time. Unfortunately, there are no easy answers. However nowadays the forest is decreasing year after year. According to research made by the open access journal PLOS, the East African forest shrank 9.8% between 2001 and 2009. East African countries’ forest is declining year after year due to increasing population. Kenya’s forest cover decreased by 8% between 1981 and 1988. According to PLOS journal, 14% of Kenyan forest will disappear in 20 years. Mohamed A. Jama Sources East African forest. 2012. http://www.diva-portal.org/smash/get/diva2:450729/FULLTEXT01.pdf National science foundation. August,20011. http://www.nsf.gov) PLOS Journal. July 31, 2012. http://news.mongabay.com/2012/0731-hance-east-africa-deforestation.html In the past, every family had a vegetable patch in the back yard. When the shift to an industrial society took place and people moved to the cities, producing one’s own food became unnecessary. Today, however, population growth especially in the cities sets many challenges for us, food security and pollution not being the least of our worries. Even though today more than a half of the world’s population lives in urbanised areas, the United Nations Development Programme estimates that only 15 percent of the world's food is grown in cities. How is it then possible to feed such a huge, constantly growing mass of humanity sustainably? An urban farm in Caracas, Venezuela. Photo by Carlos Garcia Rawlins, Reuters. Original photo Urban farming, community gardening, urban agriculture - no matter what you call it, is suggested to be one of the solutions for local food production. The loose terms generally refer to farming in an urban area in a small space, usually on an allotment that you share with a group of other farmers, but can also mean simply growing your lettuce on your windowsill in an urban setting. Rooftops are said to have the most future potential of all sites in the cities because of the huge amount of underutilized space they possess. In the western world today, a few urbanites are farming out of necessity, but an increasing environmental awareness and an interest in back-to-basics lifestyle among city-dwellers has led people to embrace farming in cities as a relaxing pastime and a way of having fresh, local, additive-free produce on the table. As the benefits of putting wasted space to a good use are becoming evident and urban farming is gaining more popularity, local governments are starting to show some interest in allocating public land for city farming. Companies too, are getting involved: green roofs are being established on top of their corporate HQ’s and other buildings, where employees can take care of the communal veggies and forget about work every now and then. As an example, the former Nokia headquarters’ rooftop garden can be viewed here. Even a high-class restaurant, Savoy, in Helsinki, established a rooftop garden a few years ago to grow fresh, local ingredients for their own use. The garden has become an icon; since its opening in 2010 it has been expanded, reviewed in many media and turned into a sight in itself, promoting local, urban food production. An impressive example of how an urban garden can actually become very productive in many ways. The urban farming list of positives is in fact long; not only do urban gardens produce food out of land which would often otherwise be underutilized, but it has a huge impact on people’s well-being and on their perceptions about the urban environment. The carbon footprint of locally grown food is obviously much lower compared to things grown far away and as we all must eat anyway, growing your own veggies is the ultimate green choice! Green areas also help reduce run-offs of rain water and create small scale carbon sinks in the cities, purifying the air and mitigating some of the vast greenhouse gas emissions cities produce. According to a National Geographic article, community gardens even have a positive impact on the property values. With all these benefits for human health, the environment and for the liveability of cities, why is this movement then not embraced everywhere? Unfortunately the land in cities is scarce and thus expensive, and in the end it’s often the euros that count. In Finland we have had quite a bit of land to “spare”, and therefore in the past, city farming might have been considered silly, if not pointless. In some major European and US’ metropolises where the situation is quite different, urban farming as a movement, its benefits and possibilities are much more acknowledged and supported. Around Tampere there have been public community gardens also during the past summer arranged by an urban gardening non-profit organisation Dodo, but a lot more could be done. So how about a proposal to your landlord to launch a gardening project in the possibly unproductive, dull yard? Or then you could just make use of those scarce square meters in your balcony, like here and grow a few lettuce leaves. The internet is full of interesting articles on how to use your space wisely to grow yourself some inexpensive food with very small carbon emissions – just the way we like it. References: http://www.who.int/gho/urban_health/situation_trends/urban_population_growth_text/en/ https://koivu.luomus.fi/kasvitiede/tutkimus/viherkatot/PiironenMinna%20tiivistelm%C3%A42609.pdf What's Happening? While people in U.S. and Europe are building and developing zero-energy houses, in China and United Arab Emirates, they are building sustainable cities. That’s right, sustainable cities, not just sustainable houses or small scale housing, but huge cities. Masdar Project Currently in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, there is a completely new city being constructed that will house 50000 inhabitants in an area of 6 square kilometers. After its construction, it will be the first completely carbon neutral and zero waste city in the world. One of the biggest goals of the project is to make Masdar City into the global leader for renewable energy research, development, implementation and investment. This is a great start. The success or failure of this project will determine how willing we will be to construct more of these grand scale eco-cities. Sino-Singapore Tianjin Eco-city Sino-Singapore Tianjin Eco-city is a cooperative project between Singapore and China to build a sustainable city in Tianjin, China. The area is located between Beijing and Tianjin, 50 km from Tianjin and 150 km from Beijing. When completed in 2020, the area will inhabit around 350000 residents. The project is based two sets of three principles: Three Harmonies and Three Abilities. The Three Harmonies are: people living in harmony with other people, people living in harmony with economic activities, and people living in harmony with the environment. The Three Abilities are: commercial viability, the project should be replicated in other place in China and around the world, and the size should be adaptable to any scale. The site was cleverly chosen to be built on a non-agricultural area. This means that no potential farm land was taken away. The site, however, is located in an area that receives very little rain water and has no viable freshwater sources nearby. This means that the only source of fresh water is to build a desalination plant. The Future These eco-cities are not being built just to show-off, but they are being built out of necessity. As your might have guessed, the countries who are taking the first steps are the ones who have the capital to try and fail. The United Arab Emirates have gotten very rich by exploiting their rich reserves of oil, but they also understand that the age of petroleum will come to an end and they have to start building for the future. Chinese economy is one of the largest in the world and they also have the largest population in the world and they are investing very heavily in new eco-cities. To build these cities we need to discover new materials, techniques and technologies. If the only thing standing in our way is our own lack of vision, then there shouldn’t be anything standing in our way. Timo Karjalainen Sources http://www.masdarcity.ae/en/27/what-is-masdar-city-/ http://www.tianjinecocity.gov.sg/bg_intro.htm Building for Future Generations Humanity is running up against the limits of a finite planet. We are experiencing rapid global climate destabilization and the endangerment of entire ecosystems. A great percentage of the world’s population lives in cities and the amount keeps on growing. The use of cars and natural resources has skyrocketed and we are now at a point of great crisis with the way we live. These major life-threatening global environmental problems demand a reconstruction of our way of life. Seeing as the way we live is linked to the way we build and use resources, instead of trying to improve our outdated infrastructure, it needs to be redesigned to suit the finite capacity of our planet. Arcology is a combination of ecology and architecture. It is an architectural design for densely populated areas and is also known as an eco-city. Arcologies or eco-cities are cities that are ecologically healthy. The aim of the design of these cities is to have the smallest ecological footprint and pollute as little possible. The idea is to meet the needs of the present without sacrificing the ability of future generations to meet their own needs. It provides its citizens with food, water and power. Other important concepts to consider are: using land efficiently, composting used materials, recycling waste to produce energy and efficient water use. Ecological cities are achieved through various ways. They use various green technologies to ensure a clean footprint. The energy is acquired by using renewable energy sources, such as wind turbines, solar panels, geothermal energy and by using bio-gas created from sewage. The need for energy is reduced, for example, by reducing the need for air-conditioning, which is a massive energy demand. This is achieved by using proper insulation, natural ventilation systems, and green spaces which should cover at least 20% of the city’s surface. Green roofs are green spaces on the roofs of buildings, which create a natural insulation for the building and a habitat for wildlife. Eco-cities have an emphasis on the close proximity of things, thus reducing the need for vehicles. Also, improving public transport is an important issue to consider. The optimal solution would, of course, be car-free zones and zero-emission transport by using electric cars.
Changing already existing strong beliefs of how humanity should live and build is difficult. There is not one solution for all our problems; the solution requires experts from many fields to come together and create a practical vision for a sustainable and restorative human presence on this planet. Katja Räsänen |
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