Gaia

Welcome to the new year 2009.

In the last month of last year I touched some issues concerning ecological footprint, the usage of energy as well as other topics. I would like to continue this and present you some interesting reports, I found about the topics I wrote about already and hopefully something you find very usefull to consider.

First of all, I would like to focus on our usage of energy and the impact it has on our climate. The WWF  (link) published some position papers about the EU Emission Trading Scheme (ETS) and the goal of the EU to reduce emissions. Both papers have been published on the homepage of WWF in June 2008 as well. The first paper is concerned with the access to emission reduction credits from outside of the EU (•PDF) and the other one is dealing with the ETS scheme and its competitiveness concerns (•PDF). Both papers are linked to our post in November 2008.

At the moment, we are still often talking about climate change and ought to be done in order to prevent damages to the environment but mainly to our economy (as it seems at least to me). The Global Footprint Network (link) provided some further reports about the Ecological Footprint in 2008 of India (•PDF), China (•PDF) and Hong Kong (•PDF). I think they are an interesting extension to the existing reports, due to the fact that we are often focusing about this regions without knowing more about them. In addition to this I would like to share with your some additional press releases of the UNFCC concerning the meeting in Poznan, Poland November 2008 (•PDF / •PPT) and the ongoing discussion about the role of the industrialized countries in fighting climate change.

In addition to this I would like to share some interesting publications from Iceland and Germany. The Ministry for the Environment in Iceland published its National Strategy for Sustainable Development in August 2002 (•PDF). In additional to this I came across an publication about the low energy prices in Iceland (•PDF). The German “Experts Advisory Board for Environmental Questions” (Sachverständigenrat für Umweltfragen SRU) (link) published in June 2008 its expertise about the environmental policy of Germany (long report •PDF / short report •PDF/ both in German).

Last but not least, I would like to encourage you to reconsider your habits in the office. I came across an intersting guide by the organisation calles “Sustainable Industries” (link) called “Green Office Guide” (•PDF). The guide is mainly focusing what to consider if you want to use or order more environmental friendly products. Of course it also has a lot of advertisements, but still, it might spark some ideas. OK I think this was long enough for today.

I hope this is something of use for you
Harald

If you might remember, I wrote a small note on the 23rd of September 2008 (link) about the “Earth Overshoot Day”. A few days ago on the 29th, I received the latest newsletter by the Global Footprint Network, with their latest “Ecological Footprint Atlas” (•PDF) about the Global Ecological Footprint. In this Atlas they present the different ecological footprints of most of the countries in the world as well as the history of the ecological footprint. So if you are interested, please have a look into this atlas as well as the data they analyze, which they are not considering and why (for example depletion of non-renewable resources, fresh water use or nuclear power). In cooperation with WWF they also published the “Living Planet Report 2008″ (•PDF of 2008 and in addition •PDF of 2006) about the status of biodiversity, ecosystem services, and humanity’s footprint.

If you want to learn more about your personal ecological footprint, I would like to share with you the link of an Austrian side (”Der ökologische Fußabdruck” - link - in German) or the side of “Redefining Progress” (link). If you want to make a quiz and calculate a limited version of your individual ecological footprint, please follow this link or use the excel sheet (link). In addition to this, you may also find a webtool presented by the NGO [= Non Governmental Organisation] WWF (link).

Last but not least, I would like to draw your attention the World Water Weeks in Stockholm, which took place in August 2008 (link). One very interesting feature was the information about so called “Virtual Water”. Water is used in a lot of different processes and “Virtual Water” is representing this consumption, even though it does not directly go into the end product. For example, did you know that one cup of coffee has a representative of 140 litres of water, used for making a cup of coffee (link)? Or that wasted food is also representing wasted water (link)? You may also find some information about this on the homepage of the Worldwatch Institute (link).

I hope this is something of use for you
Harald

…my commands ignore. (“Die Geister die ich rief, werde ich nicht mehr los.” - Goethe)

It is believed that humanity is since the recent years on a turning-point. Different published papers about the value of natural capita (for example Costanza et al in 1997) tries to give an image of what our live relies on and what we should value more. One of the very important books, written by the Author Hans Jonas (wikipedia), about the ethics (”The Imperative of Responsibility”; in English 1984 aviable in parts as ebook - “Das Prinzip Verantwortung”; in German 1979) to use nature and it services in a responsibility way.

Of course the economic “crisis” we are facing right now, can and will have a very serious impact on our individual live. But the increase in prices or the loss of individual savings should not lead (in my personal opinion) to increase in consumption and extraction of natural capital (and therefore increasing our ecological footprint). It should rather lead to a rethinking of our way of living and change our view on consumption and the individual impact on the environment.

Truly the loss of individual capital is very severe, but hence there are lot more things to consider. The BBC (article) published on the 10th of October 2008 a study headed by the Deutsche Bank economists which parallels the Stern Review (link) into the economics of climate change. The study reports that the global economy is loosing more money from the disappearance of forests than through the banking crisis. The study reveals that actually economy is loosing forest worth between $2 trillions and $5 trillions per year.
This study can be also linked to the press release of the Federal Ministry of Environment, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety in Germany (BMU - in German) about the economical consequences of ecosystem decline (press release) in which the report of the UN Conference on Biodiversity Diversity is referred to. The report (report - •PDF) states that also the losses of biodiversity is stressing the economy.
It can also be seen, that the report in 2008 by the World Bank and FAO (with a contribution by Ragnar Arnason - University of Iceland) states economic consequences of overfishing. And mention an economic justification for a fishery reform (•PDF). The WWF is citing the loss of 1,5 billion € due to overfishing (WWF statement - in German).

Last but not least, the change of prices for food, the recession we will face or are already facing, as well as the reduction of support for devolping countries will lead to much more severe problems to fight hunger in the world. If you want to learn more about the figures of hunger in the world, please find more information about the World Food day (link), the Hunger’s global hotspots in October 15th (link) and the World Food Program (WFP Interactive Hunger Map).

Well I hope I gave you some insights and information to think further on. I will contiue this series of informations about the “spirits that I’ve cited” later.

I hope this is somehthing of use for you
Harald