There are so many ways in which we as individuals in the population can make a difference to sustainable development. Although most of these are pretty simple tasks like not leaving anything on standby and taking a shower rather than a bath, not everyone sees that it’s the little things that make a huge difference to the planet over time.
There are many things individuals can do these include;
Recycling
In many areas this has been made very easy now-a-days with little thinking involved as the different boxes are clearly labelled. For example in University Halls here there is blue bin for tins and plastics, a green bin for paper and cardboard, a red bag for glass and a red bin for normal (non-recyclable) products.
Back home in Sussex we have black boxes and bags for the different recyclable materials and again these are clearly labelled. The boxes are collected by the County Council straight from the door fortnightly which is the perfect length of time as they don’t over fill. Therefore there is no excuse really for people not to recycle as it’s so easy.
Linked to recycling is the idea of re-using products like plastic bags. This can help lower the amount of plastics manufactured. Tesco even offer rewards “green points” for its customers as an incentive to reuse bags therefore helping to make a difference to sustainable development.
Lower Car Usage
Possibly one of the things we are most guilty of is making unnecessary car journeys, sending an excess of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere. Short trips are one of the worst polluters and are mostly the unnecessary ones. However if you are in a situation where you need a car then you could always drive in an environmentally friendly fashion such as using the highest gear as soon as possible.
Alternatively people could ditch there cars altogether (or 99% of time) and use public transport, which in many areas is easier, quicker and sometimes more economical as well as being better for the environment. This is the case in Lewes, especially as they have now launched a scheme where you have to pay to park on the road and each household is only allowed 2 cars.
Cut Down on Electric usage
Saving electricity is yet another way individuals can make a difference as all it takes is to turn off light switches as you leave a room, not leaving things on standby and only boiling the amount of water you actually need.
I think you will agree that none of these are particularly taxing…however you will potentially also agree with me when I say that like many of the population I could do a bit more to make a difference.
Wednesday, 10 December 2008
Tuesday, 18 November 2008
United Nations Activity
From the activity I learnt that generally it’s the less developed countries that want to carry out more sustainable development strategies rather than the ‘developed.’ However countries like China should be made to impose strong policies as they hold 20% of the population so any policy would have a great effect.
Originally I thought being china it would be easy to find policies, however it proved quite difficult. In the end we did manage to find some good policies, I especially liked the sustainable panda one! The lack of implemented strategies did surprise me a bit, what was most intriguing though was that China implemented a clean air act for the Olympics – why are they not imposing this all over China and for a longer period as it did work!
All the 14 countries had different approaches and attitudes to sustainable development strategies which was quite unexpected. I felt that generally the least developed countries would generally benefit from the money and have good strategies ready to implement, whereas people seemed wary of developed countries as to whether the money would actually trickle down into the policies or just get absorbed by the Government. I found it a bit weird how if the USA got the money they would give it to Africa, it would seem more appropriate to give the money direct to Africa.
This is the first time I’ve had to do a presentation like this; therefore I thought it went ok. However it could have been a lot better if we had practised timings more as we over ran dramatically missing out most of the information from the handout. Also we ended up just reading off the handout so next time I would make prompt cards with information. Our handout was very sufficient as it covered the background information, all the policies we found with there limitations as well as an evaluation of the key points on China and what we would do with the $10 billion if we were awarded it.
I don’t particularly like talking in front of people, so this was good practice for me. The exercise was quite enjoyable as it was different to usual work I have done in the past which made it more fun. I think we worked well together as a team and were able to research and present our findings ok considering neither of us like talking in front of people and especially don’t like questioning!!!!!!! :)
From the activity I learnt that generally it’s the less developed countries that want to carry out more sustainable development strategies rather than the ‘developed.’ However countries like China should be made to impose strong policies as they hold 20% of the population so any policy would have a great effect.
Originally I thought being china it would be easy to find policies, however it proved quite difficult. In the end we did manage to find some good policies, I especially liked the sustainable panda one! The lack of implemented strategies did surprise me a bit, what was most intriguing though was that China implemented a clean air act for the Olympics – why are they not imposing this all over China and for a longer period as it did work!
All the 14 countries had different approaches and attitudes to sustainable development strategies which was quite unexpected. I felt that generally the least developed countries would generally benefit from the money and have good strategies ready to implement, whereas people seemed wary of developed countries as to whether the money would actually trickle down into the policies or just get absorbed by the Government. I found it a bit weird how if the USA got the money they would give it to Africa, it would seem more appropriate to give the money direct to Africa.
This is the first time I’ve had to do a presentation like this; therefore I thought it went ok. However it could have been a lot better if we had practised timings more as we over ran dramatically missing out most of the information from the handout. Also we ended up just reading off the handout so next time I would make prompt cards with information. Our handout was very sufficient as it covered the background information, all the policies we found with there limitations as well as an evaluation of the key points on China and what we would do with the $10 billion if we were awarded it.
I don’t particularly like talking in front of people, so this was good practice for me. The exercise was quite enjoyable as it was different to usual work I have done in the past which made it more fun. I think we worked well together as a team and were able to research and present our findings ok considering neither of us like talking in front of people and especially don’t like questioning!!!!!!! :)
Thursday, 6 November 2008
Overall in Northamptonshire there has been a general increase in recycling rates between 01 and provisional 07 results. This is possibly due to the introduction of the 2002 recycling stategy adopted which set targets to reduce recycling and composition rates.
1 – 36% household waste by 2010/11
2- 45% household waste by 2015/16
3- 50% household waste by 2020/21
However this varies through districts possibly due to different collection services offered with the majority of the highest recycling in 06/07 coming from districts that have recyclables collected on a weekly basis. Recycling per person also varies within districts there could be numerous reasons for this including an element of self choice not to recycle. The only exception to this is NCC (HWRC’s) as this is the county council so you would expect the numbers to be lower as it’s an organisation rather than individuals so the recycling is shared between many people.
To improve recycling rates you could lower the size of bins for general residential rubbish and increase the size of the recycling boxes. This would hopefully encourage people to recycle more due to lack of space. In turn with this government or county councils could insure recycling is collected on a weekly basis so people don’t have it pilling up. Another suggestion would be to make it clear either through education, posters and TV ads as to what and where to recycle. The education sides of things you can start as a child by making recycling fun – e.g. re introducing the wombles onto kids TV!
These following suggestions have already been implemented in some places however they could be increased. Companies could make an increased effort to reduce the amount of non-recyclable packaging on their food or other items for example. They could also follow some of the supermarkets and start imposing payments to use plastic bags so as to encourage people to re-use theirs, or follow Tesco and reward ‘green points’ for not using their plastic bags.
Hopefully all these things and others will reduce recycling rates even further and meet the 2020/21 predictions.
reference
http://www.northamptonshire.gov.uk/NR/rdonlyres/B63E7599-1BCC-42DF-BF9E-8BC330278515/0/NJMWMSStrategyFINAL.pdf
1 – 36% household waste by 2010/11
2- 45% household waste by 2015/16
3- 50% household waste by 2020/21
However this varies through districts possibly due to different collection services offered with the majority of the highest recycling in 06/07 coming from districts that have recyclables collected on a weekly basis. Recycling per person also varies within districts there could be numerous reasons for this including an element of self choice not to recycle. The only exception to this is NCC (HWRC’s) as this is the county council so you would expect the numbers to be lower as it’s an organisation rather than individuals so the recycling is shared between many people.
To improve recycling rates you could lower the size of bins for general residential rubbish and increase the size of the recycling boxes. This would hopefully encourage people to recycle more due to lack of space. In turn with this government or county councils could insure recycling is collected on a weekly basis so people don’t have it pilling up. Another suggestion would be to make it clear either through education, posters and TV ads as to what and where to recycle. The education sides of things you can start as a child by making recycling fun – e.g. re introducing the wombles onto kids TV!
These following suggestions have already been implemented in some places however they could be increased. Companies could make an increased effort to reduce the amount of non-recyclable packaging on their food or other items for example. They could also follow some of the supermarkets and start imposing payments to use plastic bags so as to encourage people to re-use theirs, or follow Tesco and reward ‘green points’ for not using their plastic bags.
Hopefully all these things and others will reduce recycling rates even further and meet the 2020/21 predictions.
reference
http://www.northamptonshire.gov.uk/NR/rdonlyres/B63E7599-1BCC-42DF-BF9E-8BC330278515/0/NJMWMSStrategyFINAL.pdf
Wednesday, 29 October 2008
Newspapers are commonly known for not being the most reliable tool for information, however they are not the least either i.e. the dreaded wikipedia! There main purpose is to sell there work to the largest audience as possible. Due to this demand there publications on issues such as climate change can occasionally be unreliable or misleading especially with regards to the headline as this is what first catches people’s attention.
There are two different types of newspaper, these are broadsheet and tabloid. They differ in their physical size, catchment group and content. Research shows that broadsheets are considered to be more reliable and hold accurate more informative articles, whereas tabloids are generally simplified and have the potential to be exaggerated in order to emphasise a subject.
Climate change articles are not necessarily unreliable but negative articles are more likely to be produced as these attract more attention. The fact that all articles on climate change are negative gives an inaccurate view of the subject which is then where the unreliability factor comes in. However you can never tell if an article on a topic such as global warming is reliable as even ‘the top dogs’ in climate change research disagree with others opinions of such a vast and complex subject.
A study by Maxwell Boykoff of climate change in the tabloids shows that it’s the tabloids that have a higher circulation of almost 10 times that of broadsheets, proving that dramatised, over exaggerated ‘bad news’ is a bigger seller than the reliable news.
Climate change articles are often linked to sustainable development as when negative climate change and global warming articles are published they tend to lead people to suggest ‘sustainable’ ways in which to reduce impacts on the environment.
Further reading
The cultural politics of climate change discourse in UK tabloids – Maxwell. T. Boykoff
There are two different types of newspaper, these are broadsheet and tabloid. They differ in their physical size, catchment group and content. Research shows that broadsheets are considered to be more reliable and hold accurate more informative articles, whereas tabloids are generally simplified and have the potential to be exaggerated in order to emphasise a subject.
Climate change articles are not necessarily unreliable but negative articles are more likely to be produced as these attract more attention. The fact that all articles on climate change are negative gives an inaccurate view of the subject which is then where the unreliability factor comes in. However you can never tell if an article on a topic such as global warming is reliable as even ‘the top dogs’ in climate change research disagree with others opinions of such a vast and complex subject.
A study by Maxwell Boykoff of climate change in the tabloids shows that it’s the tabloids that have a higher circulation of almost 10 times that of broadsheets, proving that dramatised, over exaggerated ‘bad news’ is a bigger seller than the reliable news.
Climate change articles are often linked to sustainable development as when negative climate change and global warming articles are published they tend to lead people to suggest ‘sustainable’ ways in which to reduce impacts on the environment.
Further reading
The cultural politics of climate change discourse in UK tabloids – Maxwell. T. Boykoff
Wednesday, 15 October 2008
Over the years the car industry has come on leaps and bounds from the horse and cart era. Although these were very energy and fuel efficient they are not the most practical in modern society!
Personally I don’t drive…yet! Unlike most people when I turned 17 I didn’t want to start driving as where I lived had very reliable public transport and I had the good old parentals to fall back on if I needed a car. However in the future this is bound to change as cars have lots of benefits such as; giving you independence, they are generally reliable (especially compared to some areas public transport) and are practical, especially when you have a family.
There are lots of options of transport other than a car, for example; walking, cycling, bus, taxi and train. As well as this there is also the increasing opportunity of participating in things like car sharing or joining the car company. This operates in many cities and allows up to 10 people to sign up for a car, this is kept in a central point and all you have to do is ring prior to wanting the car to see if it’s available. This is very good as everyone shares the insurance, tax, congestion chares and petrol costs. You can keep it for up to a week meaning you can go away for a few days or you can just do some shopping. These aren’t immensely known about or popular now, but as the price of having your own car continues to rise people may reconsider their options.
Between 1990 and 2006 the C02 emissions from private cars increased by 4% and in the same period the volume of road traffic (total number of km’s travelled by cars) increased by 20%. These statistics show that there haven’t been substantial improvements in the amount of CO2 emissions released from private cars in the UK. This I think is mainly due to people liking the independence, assurance and freedom that your own car offers. However in the immediate future I feel that this could increase slightly or level out before decreasing in a few years. This prediction is based on the fact that at the moment energy efficient cars such as hybrids, electric, and bio fuels are very expensive to purchase, discouraging people to give up their cheaper CO2 emitting cars for greener alternatives. Hopefully this will change and with high fluctuating petrol prices people’s opinions will change too. However these sorts of changes don’t just happen over night! I also predict that they could fall due to schools recently increasing their promotion of “walk to school” and teaching children about CO2 emissions in such a way as to make them think more about how people’s actions affect the world. Therefore potentially in a couple of generations we could be a more respectful and greener society.
Personally I don’t drive…yet! Unlike most people when I turned 17 I didn’t want to start driving as where I lived had very reliable public transport and I had the good old parentals to fall back on if I needed a car. However in the future this is bound to change as cars have lots of benefits such as; giving you independence, they are generally reliable (especially compared to some areas public transport) and are practical, especially when you have a family.
There are lots of options of transport other than a car, for example; walking, cycling, bus, taxi and train. As well as this there is also the increasing opportunity of participating in things like car sharing or joining the car company. This operates in many cities and allows up to 10 people to sign up for a car, this is kept in a central point and all you have to do is ring prior to wanting the car to see if it’s available. This is very good as everyone shares the insurance, tax, congestion chares and petrol costs. You can keep it for up to a week meaning you can go away for a few days or you can just do some shopping. These aren’t immensely known about or popular now, but as the price of having your own car continues to rise people may reconsider their options.
Between 1990 and 2006 the C02 emissions from private cars increased by 4% and in the same period the volume of road traffic (total number of km’s travelled by cars) increased by 20%. These statistics show that there haven’t been substantial improvements in the amount of CO2 emissions released from private cars in the UK. This I think is mainly due to people liking the independence, assurance and freedom that your own car offers. However in the immediate future I feel that this could increase slightly or level out before decreasing in a few years. This prediction is based on the fact that at the moment energy efficient cars such as hybrids, electric, and bio fuels are very expensive to purchase, discouraging people to give up their cheaper CO2 emitting cars for greener alternatives. Hopefully this will change and with high fluctuating petrol prices people’s opinions will change too. However these sorts of changes don’t just happen over night! I also predict that they could fall due to schools recently increasing their promotion of “walk to school” and teaching children about CO2 emissions in such a way as to make them think more about how people’s actions affect the world. Therefore potentially in a couple of generations we could be a more respectful and greener society.
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