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)

Study: ‘97% of Americans Overestimate Cost of Installing Solar Panels’

Source: CleanTechnica

Connections: Graphing Food Prices and Oil Prices, 2000-2010

This graph comes from energy expert Richard Heinberg’s recent article, ‘Soaring Oil and Food Prices Threaten Affordable Food Supply’. The piece explains that:

The current global food system is highly fuel- and transport-dependent. Fuels will almost certainly become less affordable in the near and medium term, making the current, highly fuel-dependent agricultural production system less secure and food less affordable.

To respond to this predicament Heinberg argues:

What is needed is a major redesigning of both food and energy systems. The goal of managers of the global food system should be to reduce its dependence on fossil energy inputs while also reducing GHG emissions from land-use activities. Achieving this goal will require increasing local food self-sufficiency and promoting less fuel- and petrochemical-intensive methods of production.

You can check out the rest of the article here. Also, if you’re looking for more on local, food oriented solutions you may want to check out ‘The Essential Gardening and Food Resilience Library’. 

(Graphic credit: Post Carbon Institute) 

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)

‘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.

From Canadian Business:

Susan Shaheen heads the Innovative Mobility Program at the University of California, Berkeley, where she has been researching transit’s role in the “collaborative consumption” movement for the past two decades. The phenomenon encapsulates the rapid expansion of swapping, sharing, bartering, trading and renting that has emerged in recent years — especially in the online realm.

“I definitely sense some sort of cultural shift away from ownership,” she says, noting that a confluence of technology, environment and economy have precipitated a spike in recent years.

The summer of 2008 — when oil and gas prices reached record highs — was a turning point. A similar rise in gas prices, which averaged 125.84 cents a litre Thursday in Canada, combined with shaky consumer confidence is again driving more consumers toward shared transport, she said.

“We definitely tend to see, anecdotally, changes in uptake for car sharing and shared modes when we see gas prices rising, but I think another factor in addition to that is economic decline.”

There are 17 car-sharing networks in several Canadian cities, largely dominated by the Boston-based car sharing pioneer Zipcar. Smaller local competitors also exist across the country, mainly co-ops aimed at urbanite commuters.

…

Bike sharing programs are still more rare but are rapidly proliferating. In May, Toronto became the latest Canadian city to house Montreal-based Bixi’s bike sharing network. There are seven programs in North America.

Check out the rest of the article here.

(Photo credit: Geist)

From Fast Company:

Even major oil companies admit that we are reaching peak oil—the point when the maximum rate of petroleum production is reached and begins to go into an unstoppable decline. But one thing could, at least somewhat, mitigate that problem. We may have also reached peak car usage in our major cities.

A study (PDF) from the Curtin University Sustainability Policy Institute says that many cities—including Vienna, Zurich, Atlanta, Los Angeles, and Houston—have already seen a decline in car usage between 1995 and 2005. Driving rates in the U.S. did rise in 2010 by 0.7%, but the study’s authors believe a number of factors could come together to decrease our overall car use: The first is that cities are hitting what’s known as the Marchetti wall. Most people don’t like having to travel more than an hour each way to work, and cities tend to not get larger than one hour via car in every direction. The growth of public transport and the reversal of urban sprawl have also played a role, as more people in concentrated areas leads to more central shopping locations. Cities have also seen the growth of a culture of urbanism, resulting in more people who enthusiastically take public transportation, walk, and ride bikes. There’s also, of course, the rise in fuel prices, which is probably the largest factor.

If all of these factors actually do cause a dramatic decline in car usage, city planners will have to think more about factoring light rail, buses, cycling, and walking routes into their plans.

Check out the rest of the article here.

(Image credit: TheCityFix)

From The Province:

Vancouver city officials will let residents grow crops along roadsides, as skyrocketing food prices drive a huge increase in urban agriculture.

Demand for plots in city-serviced community gardens is so heavy that all 70 have waiting lists. Meanwhile, “guerrilla gardeners” are sowing seeds on vacant lots and right-of-ways, property owners are making ground available to neighbours and small-scale farmers, and apartment dwellers are growing herbs and vegetables in gardens that fit on a window sill.

“The way food prices are going, one increasingly prevalent reason for getting into this type of stuff is budget,” says David Tracey, a member of the city’s Food Policy Council and author of the just-published book Urban Agriculture: Ideas and Designs for the New Food Revolution.

Tracey describes window-sill gardens as “the nearest farm you’ll ever know,” where even novice gardeners can produce delicious and nutritious enhancements to salads, soups and sandwiches.

“Anybody can be an urban farmer,” Tracey says. “You’re only limited by your imagination.”

Check out the rest of the article here. Also, if you’re interested in more on urban agriculture David Tracey’s columns on the topic are also worth a look (e.g. ‘How to Start a Balcony Farm’; ‘Usufruct is Not a Dirty Word’). 

(Photo credit: City Farmer)

Media coverage about climate change frequently focuses on extreme weather events (e.g. here, here, here and here). However, in the last couple of years there has been growing attention to its impacts on key resources like food and water. Coffee is certainly not vital in the sense that food and water are but it is an extremely popular drink that gets many of us going in the morning, employs hundreds of thousands of people and counts as one of the most valuable primary products in world trade. So, it was with a bitter taste in my mouth that I read ‘Peak coffee: A cup of trouble’ in the Globe & Mail this morning. Here’s a taste:

On a mountaintop estate in the rugged coffee-making region of Quindio, Colombia, Juan Pablo Villota is at war with the weather.

For three years, abnormally wet conditions have caused massive flooding in the county’s flatlands and damage to his crops. Even the road to his 40-hectare plantation gives testament to his fight: The swollen La Vieja river is a muddy torrent that has forced lane closings along the twisting two-lane highway.

For coffee producers like Mr. Villota, those three years have been a constant battle. Without enough sun, coffee plants don’t grow the berries that are harvested for their beans. And too much humidity creates ideal conditions for coffee rust, a disease that stunts berry production. Some farmers have seen a 70-per-cent drop in yield, although his San Alberto estate has limited the damage to a 20-per-cent decline.

“It has been a disaster,” said Mr. Villota, whose grandfather bought the picturesque estate in 1972. “Three years of heavy rains with very low quantity of sun hours has decreased Colombian production … All the growers have been suffering.”

The painful struggle of Colombia’s coffee producers is part of a growing global challenge for the industry.

Changing weather patterns have wreaked havoc on coffee supply, particularly the Arabica strain, which is grown in the Americas and Africa and which makes the best coffee. Brazil and Colombia are the top two producers of Arabica, but experts say the crops are not keeping up with skyrocketing demand in emerging markets like China, India and South America, as well as among consumers in Europe and North America.

In the face of strong demand, coffee inventories have fallen to their lowest levels on record. A decade ago, coffee-making countries had stored some 55.1 million 60-kilogram bags. Last year, stocks fell to 13 million bags. The industry’s supply-demand balance is so bleak, in fact, that a scientist rocked trade forums last year by warning that the world is veering toward “peak coffee” – the point at which producers can no longer increase production to meet the world’s rising taste for the drink.

The squeeze is already being felt in grocery stores and cafés around the world. In North America this week, Starbucks Corp. raised the price of a one-pound bag of beans by 17 per cent at its U.S. stores and 6 per cent in Canada. And J.M. Smucker Co., which sells the Folgers and Dunkin’ Donuts brands, announced its fourth increase in a year for a total hike of 38 per cent.

Check out the rest of the article, including climate adaptation efforts and other factors influencing coffee prices, here.