planted city

US Secretary of the Navy Ray Mabus’ no nonsense response to the argument that renewable energy sources (e.g. solar, wind, geothermal) are (currently) more expensive than non-renewable energy (e.g. oil, coal, natural gas). I found the quote in the recent Climate Progress article, ‘The U.S. Military Takes on Global Warming’.

(Photo credit: Pew Environment)

Clean Energy Future: ‘Solar Cheaper Than Oil in Long Run’

From Bloomberg:

Sheikh Abdul Aziz Bin Ali Al-Nuaimi, a member of one of the ruling royal families in the United Arab Emirates, talks about his efforts to change the way his country makes and consumes energy, and the outlook for the growth of renewable energy sources. He speaks on Bloomberg Television’s “InBusiness with Margaret Brennan.”

Al-Nuaimi was also recently profiled by CNN in the article, ‘From polluter to protector: The UAE’s Green Sheikh’.

(Photo credit: Masdar City)

Global Sustainability | ‘Paul Gilding: The Earth is Full’

From TED Talks:

Have we used up all our resources? Have we filled up all the livable space on Earth? Paul Gilding suggests we have, and the possibility of devastating consequences, in a talk that’s equal parts terrifying and, oddly, hopeful.

Paul is an independent writer, activist, and adviser on a sustainable economy. 

You can read more about his work and ideas here and here.

(Graphic credit: Global Footprint Network)

A paragraph from the Atlantic Cities article, ‘How More Expensive Housing Can Actually Cost You Less’, which highlights the growing economic benefits of living in walkable/ “location efficient” neighborhoods.

The website for the ‘Housing and Transportation Affordability Index’ explains that:

People who live in location inefficient places are auto-dependent, have high transportation costs, and are more susceptible to fluctuations in gas prices. 

This trend is projected to only get stronger (e.g. here, here, and here) as gas prices rise in response to the “the end of the petroleum era.” 

(Graphic credit: The Housing + Transportation Affordability Index)

From The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and Climate Progress:

From the Vancouver Sun:

Since retrofitting buildings to make them sustainable is both more expensive and less effective than building them right in the first place, we create 50- to 100-year consequences when we construct buildings without consideration for sustainability.

Such buildings are leading sources of greenhouse gases, guzzle up our natural resources and are expensive to maintain for their century-or-so-long lifespan. The encouraging news is that many of these 100-year consequences are avoidable. Next-generation green buildings can be built now with mostly off-the-shelf technology at a cost similar to equivalent conventional buildings over their life cycles (in other words, higher construction costs are offset by lower operating and capital renewal costs). The University of British Columbia’s new Centre for Interactive Research on Sustainability (CIRS) is one such example.

CIRS captures energy from the sun, the ground and a neighbouring, less-efficient building. In doing so, it not only covers its own heating requirements, but returns energy to the less-efficient building, thus reducing the campus’ natural gas consumption. Its wood structure — much of which utilizes pine beetle-affected wood from B.C. and Alberta — sequesters more than 600 tonnes of carbon and offsets greenhouse gas emissions from other non-renewable materials used in the building’s construction. It satisfies its own water needs by collecting Vancouver’s abundant rainwater and treats it on-site, leaving it cleaner.

Why are such best practices, increasingly adopted in Europe, still not universally adopted by developers and construction companies in North America? The barriers are not technical and rarely are they purely economic. Rather, they are institutional: codes of practice, regulatory requirements, performance criteria, even job descriptions push us toward less sustainable choices. To give one example, it is very difficult institutionally to transfer the benefits of lower operating and capital renewal costs from the operating side of the ledger to the capital side. As a result, sustainable buildings that have higher capital costs but actually cost less on a total cost of ownership basis are typically not built.

Check out the rest of the article here.

(Photo credit: Inhabitat via UBC)

From NRDC:

In the U.S., we waste around 40 percent of all edible food. A large portion of that waste is caused by consumers. The average American throws away over $40 in the form of 33 pounds of food each month. If we wasted just 5 percent less food, it would be enough to feed 4 million Americans; 20 percent less waste would feed 25 million people.

Feeding the planet is already a struggle, and will only become more difficult with 9-10 billion people expected on the planet in 2050. This makes food conservation all the more important. The United Nations has predicted that we’ll need up to 70 percent more food to feed that projected population. Developing habits to save food now could dramatically reduce the need for increased food production in the future.

…

Follow these tips to keep your food bill and “food-print” down at the same time:

Shop Wisely—Plan meals, use shopping lists, buy from bulk bins, and avoid impulse buys. Don’t succumb to marketing tricks that lead you to buy more food than you need, particularly for perishable items. Though these may be less expensive per ounce, they can be more expensive overall if much of that food is discarded.

Buy Funny Fruit—Many fruits and vegetables are thrown out because their size, shape, or color are not “right”. Buying these perfectly good funny fruit, at the farmer’s market or elsewhere, utilizes food that might otherwise go to waste.

Learn When Food Goes Bad—“Sell-by” and “use-by” dates are not federally regulated and do not indicate safety, except on certain baby foods. Rather, they are manufacturer suggestions for peak quality. Most foods can be safely consumed well after their use-by dates.

Mine Your Fridge—Websites such as www.lovefoodhatewaste.com can help you get creative with recipes to use up anything that might go bad soon.

Use Your Freezer—Frozen foods remain safe indefinitely. Freeze fresh produce and leftovers if you won’t have the chance to eat them before they go bad.

Request Smaller Portions—Restaurants will often provide half-portions upon request at reduced prices.

Eat Leftovers—Ask your restaurant to pack up your extras so you can eat them later. Freeze them if you don’t want to eat immediately. Only about half of Americans take leftovers home from restaurants.

Compost—Composting food scraps can reduce their climate impact while also recycling their nutrients. Food makes up almost 13 percent of the U.S. waste stream, but a much higher percent of landfill-caused methane.

Donate—Non-perishable and unspoiled perishable food can be donated to local food banks, soup kitchens, pantries, and shelters. Local and national programs frequently offer free pick-up and provide reusable containers to donors.

More here.

* As a Canadian reading about food waste in the USA I was curious about the level in my country. Turns out we have similarly wasteful habits. According to Statistics Canada, “in 2007, an estimated 38% of solid food available for retail sale was wasted, the equivalent of 183 kilograms per person.“ 

From The City Fix:

The “Millennial” generation is quickly adopting car sharing as a mainstream transportation solution, according to results from Zipcar’s second annual study of the personal transportation and car ownership behavior of 18- to 34-year-olds. The study found that 55 percent of this influential generation have made an effort to drive less, which is a 10 percent rise from 2010. “Millennials are increasingly embracing access over ownership,” Zipcar explained. This is an interesting development, especially since vehicle ownership has been viewed as a “rite of passage” for many Americans.

Among the factors persuading Millennials to refuse car ownership are environmental concerns, which have led this generation to consciously reduce road travel. Other concerns include the total cost of vehicle ownership and the perceived advantages of “collaborative consumption“ programs. “Compared to older generations, Millennials participate in and are more open to collaborative consumption programs, such as media, car and home or vacation sharing,” Zipcar explained. “More than half of Millennials, or 53 percent, indicated they would likely partake in a car-sharing service, like Zipcar.”’

Here are some key findings from the study:

• 55 percent have actively made an effort to drive less, compared to 45 percent in the same 2010 study
• 78 percent say owning a car is difficult due to high costs of gas and maintenance
• 53 percent would participate in a car-sharing service, like Zipcar – mobility and convenience is still important
• Millennials are the most likely age group to participate in the “sharing economy” (67 percent would participate in media sharing and 49 percent in home/vacation sharing)
• 40 percent  say they would participate to save more money for retirement or buying a home

Check out the rest of the article here. Related articles on the topic include:

• ‘Driving has lost its cool for young Americans’ (Grist)
• ‘Why are US teenagers driving less (BBC)
• Infographic: ‘The Future of Car Sharing’ (Collaborative Consumption)
• ‘Is Digital Revolution Driving Decline in US Car Culture?’ (Ad Age)
• ‘Oil Prices Predicted to Stay Above $100 a Barrel Through Next Year’ (New York Times)
• ‘Economy, Gas Prices Make Americans Drive Less’ (USA Today)
• ‘US Gas Use Declining’ (Earth Policy Institute)
• ‘We Are Approaching Peak Car Use’ (FastCo.Exist) 

(Photo credit: Carbon Talks)

This quote is drawn from the article, ‘Year’s wild weather wrecked costly havoc’, in the Globe & Mail. 

(Photo credit: Environment Canada)

‘Global Oil Climax’

James Hansen, energy analyst and delegate at ASPO-USA’s 2011 Peak Oil, Energy and the Economy Conference, talks about some of the implications of a global peak in oil production on Platts Energy Week.