Global Climate Change, in the context of choosing the right options for the future…

I believe that once you have seen it you will choose the risk containment option.

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Here is a follow-up video…

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Quite nice that the statement appears customer centric and I agree that we should all ‘pull together’. Further examination of some of Tesco’s policies reveals that Tesco do have some initiatives for the environment and selective charities.

It would be great if more multi-national organizations could come together to unite their efforts, especially as there is still so much poverty and injustice in the world.
I wonder sometimes if our reaction and attitude to poverty or human right abuses is based on being conditioned to ignore it. Or, simply being passive to news feeds.

Imagine if you have missed a meal because you are busy. It does not take long for your stomach to signal your brain to take action! The rumbling starts and then your performance begins to run down. For many in the world going without food, shoes, shelter or a family, poverty  is an everyday situation. Yet, in another part of the world many countries live in luxury. There has to be something wrong in this world if we have designed a system of such unfairness.

Wonderful programmes such as, ‘The unreported world’ reveal the extent of exploitation by rich countries. A recent programme showed how China is investing heavily in Africa. It showed how African workers are currently being exploited in terms of working conditions and greedy middle agents, simply to gain access to vital resources that are destined for consumer products that the west are hungry for.

Most recently, the peace marches in Myanmar (formerly known as Burma) by Buddhist monks was shut down by the country’s military rulers. The world watched silently as the monks were beaten and imprisoned. Myanmar’s supportive countries (e.g: economic traders such as China) fumbled over any influence that they could administer. Ironic, as China is keen to attract visitors to the Olympics in ’08. The United Nations tried to gain resolutions. The US watched. The rest of the world were shut-out. Technology, for example, cell phones and the Internet were blocked from reporting any news. Right now it appears that the Military got away with their abuses, yet again.

Another case of some of the world sitting back watching, ignoring and administering justice where they feel it should be applied.

How long will we sit back and let politicians choose the battles they wish to fight? Should we not all stand together and demand an urgent need for a world initiative to bring about harmonization of living standards and human rights?!

Hang on ! There is now a new initiative to help us all and it is called Kyoto2. It offers a structure for a new Climate Protocol after the existing Kyoto Protocol expires in 2012.The key features of Kyoto2 are:

* Abandon the country-based system for regulating greenhouse gas emissions created by the 1997 Kyoto Protocol, and replace it with a unified global system.
* In the case of greenhouse gas emissions from fossil fuels, assess the emissions at the point of fossil fuel production according to the global warming potential of the fuel in question, so requiring the necessary Rights to be held by fossil fuel producing companies.
* Apply the funds raised from the emissions rights auction, which could easily achieve $500 billion – $1 trillion to per year, to tackling both the causes and the consequences of climate change.

It was at the point of ‘rights’ where I started to get confused. There is more on this whole area at http://www.kyoto2.org
I’m sure that what is being suggested here makes sense to those that wish to negotiate and eventually transpose each element into practical policies.

However, I did a little research to find some practical and immediate steps that we can all help.

The car you drive could be the most important personal climate decision.
When you buy your next car, look for the one with the best fuel economy in its class. Each gallon of gas you use releases 25 pounds of heat-trapping carbon dioxide (CO2) into the atmosphere. Better gas mileage not only reduces global warming, but will also save you at the pump over the life of the vehicle. Compare the fuel economy of the cars you’re considering and look for new technologies like hybrid engines.

Look for the ‘Energy Star’.
When it comes time to replace appliances, look for the Energy Star label on new appliances For example, refrigerators, freezers and increasing in the UK air -conditioners. These items may cost a bit more initially, but the energy savings will pay back the extra investment within a couple of years.

Light bulbs matter.
Regular light bulbs can be replaced with an energy-saving model
Think before you drive.
If you own more than one vehicle, use the less fuel-efficient one only when you can fill it with passengers.

Buy good wood.
When buying wood products, check for labels that indicate the source of the timber. Supporting forests that are managed in a sustainable fashion makes sense for biodiversity, and it may make sense for the climate too. Forests that are well managed are more likely to store carbon effectively because more trees are left standing and carbon-storing soils are less disturbed. You can also make a difference in your own garden.

Finally, let our policymakers know you are concerned about global warming.
Our elected officials and business leaders need to hear from concerned citizens. We need to work together to help the situation, especially as politicians may consider that a tax is all we need rather than an initiative with a solid drive.

Unfortunately, the food manufacturers probably had not. To them it was simply a solid piece of well designed, colourful and structured card. The containers role in life was limited. Consider the container to similar to the famous futuristic drama – Logan (from Logan’s run). In that storyline once you reach a certain age you were assumed to be terminated. In the case of the box, once the cereal/ muesli had finished, its shell was assumed to be discarded.

Interestingly, it is claimed by environmentalists and researchers that, big name grocers last year produced over 88,000 tonnes of weekly household waste – 4.6m tonnes per year – is generated from groceries and their packaging.

Clearly a government directive is required to use only compostable and recyclable materials. In addition, it has been suggested that consumers should be charged for plastic bags and policies should be implemented for donating waste to food charities or composting sites. I do not think we should have yet another tax. Instead we need transparency in the system, urging supermarkets to publish packaging and food waste strategies.

In summary, three clear areas of abusers materialise: 1. The food manufacturers 2. The outlets for living with / puttng up with manufacturers that use wasteful shipping packaging and 3. Us, the consumer. With regard to the latter, why is it that we are not demanding enough for the reduction of waste and more consistent policies. Take for example, where one council collects and processes plastic materials (bottles) and a neighbouring one will not. If it is a question of investment in the right tools, maybe some subsidies for buying such equipment or centralisation of process plants can occur.

Maybe part of the problem is that many refuse and recollection service organisations are outsourced facilities management organisations?

The Waste Resources Action Programme (WRAP), a not-for-profit organisation funded by the British government, has been working with retailers on the issue of packaging reduction. It encourages companies to tap into its £8million (€11.8m) innovation fund to reduce packaging, production and transport costs and encourage corporate social responsibility gains. So far thirteen retailers have pledged interest in the scheme, including Asda, Sainsburys, Marks and Spencer, Morrisons, Tesco and Waitrose, and global manufacturers such as Heinz are also benefiting from the ‘green grants’.

Is it not amazing and sad to see how money motivates rather than humankind considering that ‘waste not want not’ is a better approach. If we start to consider the environmental impact hopefully we can be more respectful about the wasted efforts of the marketers. Just as important is to respect the Earth now rather than be blind about the future. Today the Earth simply drops in our eyes as a contribution to sustaining life.

Ignoring global warming may & some say will result in an economic nightmare. The report scientists, politicians and economists have been giving their reactions to the report by Sir Nicholas Stern. For example, the former World Bank chief economist has warned that global warming could shrink the global economy by 20%.

An important statement and one that sends some spinal shudders has been made by Professor Bill McGuir from the Benfield UCL Hazard Research Centre, he says, ‘The scariest thing about the Stern report is that it may not be scary enough. If we lose the Greenland ice sheet in the next few centuries, leading to a 7 metre rise in sea level – as well we might – then Stern’s £3.68 trillion will be a drop in the ocean compared to the ultimate cost of climate change’.

Of deep concern is the lack of co-ordinated global effort. As many of us know the major contributors to pollution (especially industrial/commercial and domestic) have refused to sign-up to the Kyoto agreement.

Worrying still is the continue denial that they are contributors, stating that statistics may be wrong.

Although there are some that continue to state that regardless of the effects of pollution, the Earth is changing anyway, I would have thought that it would be better not to make things worse.

Renewalable energy sources and harnessing natural systems requires commitment and investment. It is awful to see wastage too, for example, office lights left on in empty lifeless buildings for hours on end.

Satellite evidence – What more do we need to change our ways?

Satellite Pictures show that Greenland is currently losing about 100 billion tonnes of ice a year and that much of the ice is being lost from southeast Greenland.

US space agency (NASA) scientists have undertaken a new assessment of the rate of melting occurring on the great ice sheet that covers the region.

Their data comes from satellites that detect changes in mass by monitoring tiny fluctuations in the pull of gravity as they fly over the Earth. The results indicate that Greenland lost about 100 billion metric tonnes (or gigatonnes, Gt) of ice per year from 2003 to 2005. Other estimates for the same period have been close to 240 Gt of ice.

Although some figures show stabilization over certain years and also centralized snow fall, the common denominator is that change is happening.

Interestingly, NASA – An institution is clearly showing evidence of change, yet the politicians of the day, refuse to keep their own house in order. I really hope that it is not to late for the world. Collectively we should be proactive in wanting to save lives and anything we can do as a world community to assure our current and future survival has to be worth investing in – rather than taxing us on past oversights!

Ironically, the world continues to import massive shipments from China, comprising of our love for consumer goods, yet it finds difficultly in understanding that associated industrial processes WILL add to a possible nightmare for all.

A couple of parallel thoughts this week.

1. A couple of week’s back I attended the annual charity evening for those that have completed the annual Birmingham to London Cycle ride, held every July and organised by the Sikh Arts and Cultural Association. This year £15,000 was raised for Whizz Kids, a national charity that helps disabled children.

2. With this week being reduce wastage week. I also thought about how important it is to respect our environment – For example, often school runs and short trips are performed by car. Although one could argue that the road network makes it increasingly difficult to walk, run or cycle, the path to change has to come from us alone.

Apart from the environmental benefits, there is an enormous health benefit too. Getting on your bike regularly not only gets you where you want to go faster than a car, it is good for your heart and health.

Cycling everyday is an effective and enjoyable form of aerobic exercise. This is the type of exercise that is most effective at promoting good health. For example, cycling reduces the risk of serious conditions such as heart disease, high blood pressure, obesity and the most common form of diabetes.

One rough calculation suggests that new cyclists covering short distances can reduce their risk of death (mainly due to the reduction of heart disease) by as much as 22 per cent. Cycling can be part of a programme to lose weight because it burns the energy supplied by a chocolate bar in an hour (about 300 calories). A 15-minute bike ride to and from work five times a week burns off the equivalent of 11 pounds of fat in a year. That kind of cycling pattern also meets the Government’s latest target on exercise: that we should take part in some mild to moderate physical activity … five times a week*.

Cycling can have positive effects on how we feel too. Moderate exercise has been found to reduce levels of depression and stress, improve mood and raise self-esteem, and has also been found to relieve symptoms of premenstrual syndrome.

*NB Always consult your Doctor, before you start any form of exercise regime, especially if you are not performed any exercise or physical activity for a while.

How cycling improves fitness
A study carried out for the Department of Transport found that ‘even a small amount of cycling can lead to significant gains in fitness’. The study found that aerobic fitness was boosted by 11 per cent after just six weeks of cycling ‘short distances’ four times a week. According to the study people who do not exercise who start cycling move from the third of the population who are the least fit, to the fittest half of the population in just a few months.

Who can cycle?
There are no real age barriers to cycling, and people of most fitness levels can cycle, slowly and gently if necessary. Anyone with heart disease or other conditions affecting their activity should, of course, consult their doctor before starting any exercise programme. Those of all body shapes and all but the most extreme body weights can ride a bike.

Getting Started
Most cyclists are ‘utility’ cyclists where the bike is a way of getting from A to B, and getting some exercise is an added bonus. Nearly three-quarters of journeys people make are of five miles or less, and these could be achievedby most people.

Further information.

There are some great resources to read-up on cycling:

Cycle Touring Club www.ctc.org.uk
London Cycling Campaign www.lcc.org.uk

Now is also the right time to start thinking about the annual Birmingham to London cycle ride organised by the Sikh Art and Cultural Association. Run over 2 days during the 3rd weekend of July, you can work towards completing your centennial mile on the first day and finish the final 40 on the second. Every year over 240 riders take part and The Sikh Times also wonderfully sponsor the event too. Visit: www.charitybikeride.com