Transcripts

To read the transcript please enter  your name and email.

Read the Transcript

Welcome everyone to this episode in the series in which we talk about Private Car Transport and the individual choices available to us particularly in the urban setting. Sustainable transport refers to the broad subject of transport that is sustainable in relation to its social, environmental and climate impacts. The components for evaluating sustainability would include the types of vehicles being used, the energy sources supplying the transport and the infrastructure required to enable that transport.

I am pleased to have Lulu helping with this episode today.

Hello everybody – Transport systems have significant impacts on the environment, accounting for between 20% and 25% of world energy consumption and also for 25% of global, energy-related,  greenhouse-gas emissions.  The world’s population is becoming increasingly urbanised and the major part of our economic activity is concentrated in cities. A reliance on private car transport over the past few decades has resulted in people living further away from their place of work and this has increased the geographic size of the city in what is called urban sprawl. This has the added affect of creating longer commute times for getting to and from work which can have a negative impact for the individual and knock-on affects for the community. An over reliance on private car transport contributes to air pollution and smog, it reduces physical activity and so contributes to poor health outcomes like obesity and heart disease. It also means there is less interaction between neighbours and this reduces the vibrancy of community life.

For those of us living in urban areas there are more transport options available than in rural areas.  Designing a more sustainable city is about improving the quality of life for the city dweller and providing different transport options is an important part of making any city more sustainable. There are the obvious associated environmental issues caused by the emissions from cars. Road transport is also a major contributor to local air pollution and smog, which is a mixture of smoke and fog and that can cause major health problems for city dwellers. Busy traffic on residential streets also causes social separation and isolation within neighbourhoods. The concept of liveable or living streets refers to city areas where social interaction and connection are made easy by design. Another term, used mainly by urban planners and designers in the US, is Complete streets which is about accommodating all forms of transport on a street. In the UK the most common term used for these efforts is home zones and in the Netherlands there is a movement called woonerf which applies to thousands of projects across the country. The term traffic calming refers to design features which aim to encourage safer, more responsible driving and potentially reduce traffic flows. This includes features such as the narrowing of streets, the introduction of speed bumps and pedestrian crossings.

There are a range of new private car technologies being pursued to increase fuel efficiency. Natural gas is a fossil fuel that can be used to power vehicles. It is often found close to other fossil fuel sources. However, despite its name it is a greenhouse gas. This should not be confused with bio-gas which is sourced from the decomposition of waste materials  or from animal or human sewerage.  Both these gases can be used to power vehicles. Some municipalities power the public transport fleet from gas that has been sourced from the city’s waste treatment facilities which is a good example of turning a waste into a useful fuel. Bio-fuels are derived from plants through fermentation into alcohol as bio-ethanol. Bio-diesel  is made from vegetable or animal fats. Both of these fuels are commonly added to standard diesel to reduce consumption of the fossil fuel. Growing plants solely as a transport fuel is problematic on a global scale as the amount of land needed to supply all of our transport needs would leave no available land for food production. The use of hydrogen gas as an alternative fuel has environmental benefits but does have other technological barriers to widespread global uptake. Hybrid vehicles combine a combustion engine and an electric motor to reduce fuel consumption in standard vehicles. Electric vehicles operate without a combustion engine relying solely on an electric motor thus reducing direct fossil fuel use. However,  in many countries the primary source of electricity is from fossil fuels so these vehicles continue to have significant indirect use of fossil fuels. All these alternatives can help reduce the vehicles fuel consumption and emmissions but the other associated problems of traffic congestion and social impacts remain.

More radical changes in how we use vehicles have potentially far bigger benefits to the impacts associated with private car transport. A less car intensive means of urban transport is car sharing which is becoming popular in North America and Europe. The model focuses on short-term rental where each car is used by several people over the course of a day. This greatly improves the efficiency of the total resource use of the car rather than just the fuel efficiency. The vehicles are owned by companies such as Cars2Go and ZipCar and registered users gain access to a booking service and the individual cars from designated parking spaces.  Some cities are giving priority parking to car-sharing vehicles to encourage their use and help reduce congestion. The company takes care of maintenance, taxes and other headaches of car ownership. Encouragingly, car sharing has also begun in the developing world, where traffic and urban density is often worse than in developed countries. Companies like Zoom in India, eHi in China, and Carrot in Mexico, are bringing car-sharing to developing countries in an effort to reduce car-related pollution, ease traffic problems, and expand the number of people who have access to cars.

Car pooling, sometimes called ride-sharing, refers to where several people use the same vehicle and this can help reduce the congestion especially at peak times. Some companies are encouraging the use of car pooling amongst their employees as a green initiative and this is easy to arrange between employees who may live close to each other. The arrangements can be formal or informal and may involve cost sharing at an agreed rate and regular journeys. Or it might just be about helping to reduce the inefficiency of single occupancy car travel. The advent of smart phone technology and ride-matching websites such as Uber and Lyft facilitate the use of on-demand sharing between drivers and passengers who are unknown to each other. As the popularity of these types of services grows they can make significant impact on the overall resource use of each vehicle on the road.  Other services such as Bla Bla Car focus on car pooling for one-off long distance travel that helps reduce costs for all. For example, car drivers travelling between say Paris and Munich offer lifts to passengers for an agreed sum and the individuals arrange pick-up and drop-off points.

As alternatives or supplementary options to private car ownership these new initiatives are changing our relationship to cars. A lot of different changes are needed at all levels to help solve transport issues. Our own individual choices of transport form an important part of the solution.

That concludes this episode in the series which I hope you have found useful and enjoyable. . My thanks to Lulu for her help today and to you for listening. We look forward to you joining us for future episodes.

[/unsubscribelocker]

To read the transcript please enter  your name and email.

Read the Transcript

Welcome everyone to this episode in which we explore the topic of Food Loss and Waste. This is an important issue and is linked to the United Nations Sustainable Development Goal number 12 or SDG 12 which is about Sustainable Consumption and Production Patterns. I am delighted to have Yota with me today to help with this topic.

Welcome everybody, food waste is a huge issue in  many countries and if we aim to do more and better with less as SDG 12 encourages us to, then we really need to address the volume of food that is wasted everyday. Firstly, let’s consider where food waste occurs.  In any industry there is a supply chain which is a system of organizations, people, activities, information, and resources involved in transforming natural resources or raw materials       into finished products for the end consumer.  In the food industry there are four main stages in the chain    – starting with the farmer producing crops or animals, then the processing system,  to the retail shops and onto us – the consumers. The  consumer level would include food eaten at home and also in restaurants and cafés.  At each stage there is waste.     The SDG 12 includes a specific food waste reduction target.  This goal is to cut the global food waste per person at the retail and consumer levels by fifty percent by 2030.  This is an ambitious target.

Under the UN’s Save Food initiative, the stakeholders have agreed the following definition of food loss and waste. Food loss is the decrease in quantity or quality of food and takes place mainly at the production, harvesting, processing and distribution stages of the chain. Food waste (which is a component of food loss) is any removal from the supply chain of food which is or, was at some time, fit for human consumption. Most food waste happens at the retail and consumer end of the supply chain.

According to a 2011 study by the UN’s  Food and Agriculture Organisation (the FAO) global food loss and waste amounts to one-third of all food produced. And this is at a time when the global population is growing and putting a huge strain on the existing food supplies, ecosystems and species. Furthermore, it is estimated that over 700 million people suffer chronic food shortages.

At the production and processing end of the supply chain there are several causes of food loss and waste. There is the damage caused by insects, rodents, birds and microbes which can reduce the harvest yields dramatically . Also, of course there are adverse weather conditions which may be amplified by climate change.  Poor farming practices   can cause loss and damage to harvested foods.     Lower economic returns for the farmer on the quantities produced can mean that edible foods remain unharvested. The various state regulations and commercial legal agreements    can create economic pressures that result in food being wasted.      Produce that is damaged or is the wrong shape or size is often    rejected by the retailers and so may be wasted. All in all we have designed a commercial system which seems to make food waste inevitable.

So what are the main causes of Food Waste at the retailer and consumer end of the chain? Food advertising encourages unnecessary purchases. This is a business decision to encourage sales and is especially noticeable around festive seasons. The consumer’s decision to purchase too much food, perhaps encouraged by special offers is another problem.  A very common issue is that we prepare too much food for the plate which results in unfinished meals or leftovers. The word Shelf life refers to the length of time that a commodity may be stored without becoming unfit for use, consumption, or sale. Allied to this is the food labelling system that is used on most food items such as Best  before, Use by and Sell by dates. These dates were supposed to bring clarity to the consumer but research shows they are the cause of a lot of waste because consumers misunderstand the meanings of the different labels. The ‘Use by’ date is aimed at consumers to let them know when a product should be used to be at its best quality. The ‘Sell by’ date is for retailers to indicate by which date the product should be removed from sale. Typically, one-third of the products useable life is left after the sell by date. The best by, or best before date indicates to consumers when the product is at its best quality. Many consumers are now so unsure of their own ability to judge the quality of food they decide solely by these date indicators. Finally, Spoilage is another issue and this refers to food that has deteriorated to a point where it is no longer edible. Obviously, all food can deteriorate but those that are especially prone to do so – such as dairy, fruits and vegetables – are referred to as perishable and when deterioration occurs the food can be said to have ‘gone off’.

The amount of food waste across all sectors of the supply chain has considerable effect on the environment. According to the FAO approximately 30 percent of the world’s agricultural land and freshwater used globally goes to produce food that is never consumed as intended.  Similar figures apply to the energy used in food production. This represents an enormous waste of these resources and has severe environmental consequences contributing hugely to climate change.

So what are some of the initiatives being used to tackle food waste?  Building awareness and giving consumers information can help alter behaviours such as the Love Food Hate Waste campaign in the UK has clearly shown.  

Smart packaging, using sensitive inks, plastics and gels, is now being used    which can indicate when food is spoiled more precisely than the use-by/sell-by labelling system.

Food rescue is the term used to describe the practice of using edible surplus or waste food from restaurants, stores and markets and distributing it through charitable or emergency food programmes. The terms food recovery or food salvage are also used. This practice is now being supported by many businesses and has the added benefits of reducing the waste going to landfill and also the costs to the businesses. Organisations that facilitate this process are often called food banks. A more informal individual practice is when people go through the waste containers at the rear of businesses looking for perfectly good food which is being thrown away. This practice is called dumpster diving and the individuals involved are sometimes referred to as freegans.

Alternative markets are being developed for food where consumers are encouraged to be more curious and informed about their food choices. Movements such as farmers’ markets are becoming common where producers sell directly to consumers in a more engaging and interactive manner. Here one can find different shaped produce, old varieties of fruits and vegetqables of different colours and tastes – not all carrots are long, straight and orange!

Food waste can be bio-degraded by composting and reused to fertilize soil. Composting is the process in which bacteria break down the food waste into simpler organic materials that can then be used in soil. Vermi-composting is the practice of using worms to break down the food which can take place at lower tempatures and is much faster than other types of composting. Municipal authorities in some countries are now organising the collection of food waste to be composted.

The best solution of course is to prevent food loss and waste which requires a change in our individual and collective behaviours. These relatively simple actions could have many social and environmental benefits. We need to design and implement local solutions in our homes, towns and regions to help solve what is a global problem,

That concludes this episode of the series on Food loss and waste which we hope you have found interesting and informative. My thanks to Yota for her help with this episode and to you for listening. We look forward to you joining us for future episodes in the series.

[/unsubscribelocker]

To read the transcript please enter  your name and email.

Read the Transcript

Clearly Sustainable Episode 43 Measuring Society’s Progress

Welcome to this episode in the series in which we will explore the goals of sustainable human development particularly with reference to happiness and well being across society and the different ways of measuring this concept. I am delighted to have James with me today to help with this episode.

Hello everyone. Happiness is a fuzzy concept which means it is difficult to define and the boundaries are not very clear and precise. Since the turn of the millennium, psychologists have increasingly become interested in developing an approach to understanding human societies – especially what makes a successful society where individuals can meet their goals and enjoy a ‘happy life’. This is sometimes called a flourishing society.  So  firstly, lets explore two definitions of happiness. In psychology, happiness is a mental or emotional state of well-being which can be defined by, among others, positive or pleasant emotions ranging from contentment to intense joy from the Greek word hedonia. The higher your ratio of positive to negative emotions, the happier you are thought to be. In philosophy and religion, happiness may be defined in terms of living a good life rather than simply as an emotion. In Greek this was called eudainomia which means human flourishing and this stresses the importance of having a life’s purpose or having a meaningful life. So it can be said that if hedonia is defined as “feeling good,”  then eudaimonia is defined as being and doing good—and as seeking to use and develop the best in oneself in a way that fits with one’s deeper principles.

Many of us want to build a better future – for ourselves, our loved ones and for society at large. Much of the work of moving towards sustainability is about progressing the quality of life across society for future generations and for all living creatures on the planet. But how might we define and measure such progress – it is difficult enough to do this for any individual let alone for a wider society either nationally or indeed globally. A range of indicators have been developed which measure different aspects of human society.

The most well known indicator is the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) which is a method for measuring economic activity. GDP is a measure of the final goods and services produced in a given time and a given population – usually for a nation. This became widely used after the end of the second World War. This figure is often divided by the population of the country to give a GDP per person or per capita.  This can then be used to compare and rank countries against each other. The implication being that the higher the GDP per person the ‘better off’ a country is. The GDP figure is constantly referred to in the media as a single measure of the wealth of the nation. GDP does not make any judgements and measures the currency value only so it considers the production of guns to have the same value as the production of medicines.  However, the GDP figure does not account for a lot of things which are important to the quality of our life such as access to education, health services, the hours people work and the quality of the environment. Other limitations include the fact that GDP doesn’t account for any environmental damage, for the value of unpaid work, or for the distribution of income in a society.

In 1912 another indicator was developed to represent the income or wealth distribution of a nation’s residents, called the Gini Coefficient. A Gini coefficient of zero expresses perfect equality, where everyone has the same income. A Gini coefficient of 1 expresses maximum inequality for example, where only one person has all the income.

Further work by Pakistani economist, Mahbub ul Haq at the United Nations Development Programme in the 1990s led to the Human Development Index or HDI.  This had the explicit purpose to shift the focus of development economics from national income  accounting to more people-centered policies. The HDI is based on a range of indicators includimg life expectancy, access to education, and income per person. It was later adjusted to account for inequality and an annual World Human Development Report is now published by the UN Development Programme.

In 2013 professors Helliwell, Layard and Sachs published the first World Happiness Report. This was based on thousands of new research papers on human happiness. It included other measures such as life satisfaction, freedom of choice, trust and absence of corruption.  But this still neglected the environmental impact of a society’s activities.

The ecological footprint concept was first described by Rees and Wackernagel in 1992.  It is defined as the biologically productive area needed to provide for everything people use – how much land is required to produce all the food you eat, all the products you use, the buildings you occupy and other activities. It is measured in hectares per person and can also be rated per country. The term Bio-capacity refers to the productive area required to continuously supply the needs of a person or a population. At the current global consumption rate we are greatly exceeding the bio-capacity of the earth to supply our needs. In fact, depending on the precise measurement system used, we would require multiple earths to supply our needs. Ecological footprint is a measure of human impact on the Earth’s ecosystem and reveals the dependence of the human economy on nature which is not recognised by the other indicators.

Over the years a range of environmental indicators have been incorporated into measurement systems for assessing human sustainability.  For example, the Happy Planet Index produced by the community centred, independent think tank the New Economics Foundation.  This index incorporates the average well-being and longevity of a population and a measure for inequality. It then divides the result by each country’s ecological footprint.  It aims to measure a nation’s success not only by its productivity – but by the happiness, well-being and sustainability of its people. The Index is published bi-annually and provides a compass to guide the development of nations, and shows that it is possible to live good lives without greatly harming the Earth.

There is also the Gross National Happiness Index which is mostly famously used by Bhutan – the small county north of India in the Himalayan mountains. This index includes a lot of different indicators such work/life balance, cultural diversity and community vitality. Focusing on the well-being of the citizens guided Bhutan to follow its own path rather than just basing decisions on economic indicators. Bhutan decided not to join the World Trade Organization, for example, when it concluded that such a move would undermine happiness and well-being.

In the United States, Maryland and Vermont are using the Genuine Progress Indicator to measure happiness. They are factoring in the benefits of volunteer time, housework, educational achievements, and functional highways and streets while subtracting things like crime and the depletion of non-renewable energy sources. By measuring these and other factors, a more complete picture emerges of real well-being.

All these are attempts to measure and account for societal goals and achievements that  are much wider than the narrow economic focus of GDP. Globally, the United Nations around the year 2000 set out the Millennial Goals which have now been followed by Sustainable Development Goals – the SDG’s. These are wide-ranging inter-dependent goals which all governments can work to in an effort to build more flourishing societies and happier citizens. Clearly Sustainable will be producing a series on these 17 SDG’s shortly with our partners in Global Action Plan.  It is important to remember that not everything that counts can be counted.  Human society is a complex system nested in the broader ecological system.  When people live in harmony with themselves and with other species then human happiness and sustainability will naturally emerge

That concludes this episode in the series which we hope you have found useful and interesting. My thanks to James for his help with this and to you for listening. We look forward to you joining us for future episodes in the series.

[/unsubscribelocker]