Sustainability & Future Development

Question 1

What are Developed Nations?

Answer 1

Developed nations – currently consuming resources much faster than they can regenerate.

Question 2

What are Developing Nations?

Answer 2

Developing nations – have rapid population growth, and face the urgent need to improve living standards, with the associated demand for energy and resources.

Question 3

Name and explain any events that happened throughout history that had trade and resources at their core?

Answer 3

Libya 2011
Iraq 2003 – The US and UK, invaded Iraq, with the fictional story that Saddam Hussein had Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMDs). This was not found to be true, and was more to do with establishing control over the nation’s oil, in a volatile region of the world.

Question 4

Why does the energy demand increase while the population decreases?

Answer 4

As a nation becomes more affluent, their demand for energy increases, and the nation seeks to become more successful in terms of education, employs adequate health services and needs the infrastructure for these (roads, buildings etc.). And so as the population growth decreases, the demand for energy increases!

Question 5

What does a sustainable society need?

Answer 5

• Stable or reducing population
• Very high levels of reuse and recycling.
• 100% renewable energy.
• No net loss of soil or biodiversity

Question 6

How much are humans consuming?

Answer 6

According to the World Wildlife Fund / Global Footprint Network ‘Living Planet Report’, we are collectively consuming the renewable resources of 1.5 Earths

Question 7

How many planets are needed to support the current world population

Answer 7

Global Foot printing Network data show that between three and four planet earths would be needed to support the existing world population at the present per-capita consumption levels of the UK

Question 8

What way’s can the earth stabilise its population?

Answer 8

Option 1 – Happen sooner, through fewer births, this being the humane way of informed decision making on family size.
Option 2 – Happen later, by more deaths, the natural, inhumane way of famine, disease and predation of war.

Question 9

What is the equation that is used to find the environmental impact of humans on the earth?

Answer 9

I  =  P  x  A  x  T
I = Environmental Impact  
P = Population 
A = Affluence 
T = Technology

Question 10

Who created this equation?

Answer 10

In the 1970s leading environmental thinkers were at loggerheads as to the main sources of environmental impact. Ecologist Paul Ehrlich and John Holdren identified population size and growth as the most urgent source of environmental impact.
This simple mathematical equation is generally credited to Ehrlich

Question 11

What event occurred which resulted in an rapid increase in human activity, resource consumption and environmental impact?

Answer 11

The industrial revolution
human activity, resource consumption and environmental impact have grown relentlessly. We are now using many resources at a greater rate that they can be replenished.
As this continues, the resources become exhausted and in some cases irreversible damage is done to the environment and its ecosystems.

Question 12

The quantity of resources we use and out impact on the environment effectively depend upon three main factors, What are these factors??

Answer 12

Population (P) – How many of us there are consuming resources and creating waste.
Affluence (A) – The average amount of goods and services we each use.
Technology (T) – How efficiently / harmfully we produce these goods and services.
The IMPACT is the combination of all three factors and it can be summarised by what is known as the Ehrlich or IPAT equation, I = P x A x T.

Question 13

What is technology ?

Answer 13

Technology is the way that we convert natural resources into real goods and services that we can eat, drink, wear, live in, travel on, etc.

Question 14

What is resource efficient technology ?

Answer 14

Resource efficient technology gives the greatest benefit for the smallest input of resources over the lifecycle of the ‘product’

Question 15

What is the ‘lifecycle of a product’?

Answer 15

Stage 1 - The resources needed to make the good in the first place, i.e. the metals, plastics, minerals & fossil fuels required to manufacture a car.
 Stage 2 - The resources needed to use the product, i.e. how much fuel you need for a vehicle per km (this will have a huge impact over the perhaps 200,000 miles the car may travel in its service life.
 Stage 3 - The resources implicated at the end of the products service life, i.e. how much resources are needed to recycle the cars components, or dispose of the battery safely

Question 16

Why is it still difficult to manufacture and supply goods using progressively smaller amounts of resources?

Answer 16

• Technology can only ever improve as far as the laws of physics allow.
• Renewable resources, including energy, are only renewable to a limited extent and are often expensive to harness.

Question 17

What is the concept of sustainable design?

Answer 17

This requires exploring if a product is manufactured in the most energy efficient and resource efficient manner using minimal materials or components that can be recycled or reused.

Question 18

What is affluence?

Answer 18

Affluence is all about wealth, and generally the wealthier a nation the most its citizens will consume. These can take the form of products, cars, TVs, laptops, phones, clothes, houses, schools / roads / bridges / water & sewer pipes – i.e. all different forms of infrastructure.

Question 19

Why does developed nations have a high level of affluence?

Answer 19

Developed nations citizens have more expendable income, and so can afford more of these services and products, and hence they have a much larger affluence (wealth) than developing nations. They therefore have a very high value of Affluence. North America and Western Europe

Question 20

Why does developing nations not have a high level of affluence?

Answer 20

Developing nations have much less expendable income (some are just about surviving) and as such they have much less affluence (wealth). They therefore have a very low value of Affluence. Most of South America and Africa would be in this category.

Question 21

What is population?

Answer 21

Every person consumes resources and therefore has an impact on the environment.

Question 22

What finite resources are needed more as the population frowns?

Answer 22

Finite amounts of land, water and energy resources have to be shared out between increasing numbers of people and the amount available for each individual gets smaller. More people means;
 -More food and water required to sustain the population.
- More land is required on which to grow food.
 -More raw materials are needed to provide clothing, shelter and other manufactured goods.
 -Large amounts of energy are required for cooking, heating and industrial activity.
 -Greater demand for resources increases the likelihood of conflict
 -There is less margin to survive changes in the environment, be they climate change or natural disasters such as earthquakes and flooding.

Question 23

Define ‘Ecological Footprint’

Answer 23

‘Ecological Footprint’ - compares human demands on nature with the biospheres ability to regenerate resources and provide services

Question 24

What does the Ecological Footprint represent?

Answer 24

The Ecological Footprint represents the productive area required to provide the renewable resources humanity is using to absorb its waste. This value can then be compared to the biocapacity, which represents the planets biologically productive areas including our forests, pastures, cropland and fisheries.

Question 25

How is our ecological footprint measured?

Answer 25

Ecological footprints are measured in hectares (Ha). 1 hectare is an area of 100m x 100m. This is roughly two football pitches side by side

Question 26

Why should we find out the populations footprint?

Answer 26

By measuring the Footprint of a population – an individual, city, business, nation, or all of humanity – we can assess our pressure on the planet, which helps us manage our ecological assets more wisely and take personal and collective action in support of a world where humanity lives within the Earths bounds.

Question 27

What are the Developing Nations Ecological Footprint per person?

Answer 27

– Its evident that developing nations are well below this 2.3 hectares per person threshold, while developed nations are well above it. Currently developed nations are not operating in a sustainable fashion
Developing nations currently have a footprint below 2.3 hectares per person. The required land per person will increase in the future as the nation’s become more affluent (wealthy).
Additionally these nations have severe problems in relation to poor health and poverty, and so more resources will be required, so that their citizens achieve a higher standard of living.

Question 28

What are the areas that affect your Personal Ecological Footprint

Answer 28

Diet
Clothing
Furnishings
Packaging
Size of your home and running it.
Energy / electricity generation, renewable means of fossil fuels?
Large in size – huge materials required, or small, which materials?
Heating – fossil fuels of renewable means (Biomass, Heat pumps, if run from renewable electricity).
Travel

Question 29

What can Nations when they calculate their ecological footprint?

Answer 29

19 – Nations whom calculate their ecological footprint are able to;
1 - Assess the value of their country’s ecological assets.
2 – Monitor and manage their risks.
3 – Identify the risks associated with ecological deficits.
4 – Set policy that is informed by ecological reality and make safeguarding resources a top priority.
5 – Measure progress toward their goals.

Question 30

Define Carbon Footprint

Answer 30

Carbon Footprint – consists of the net greenhouse gases emitted by an entity, individual, organisation or nation.

Question 31

What does the Carbon Footprint represent?

Answer 31

A Carbon Footprint is often expressed as tons of carbon dioxide or tons of carbon emitted, usually on a yearly basis. It is directly related to the amount of natural resources consumed and increasingly used by people. The use of products such as cars uses crude oil (diesel or petrol) which gives of CO2. Even the manufacture of the car required material that had to be extracted, transported, all pumping out GHGs

Question 32

How is a Carbon Footprint be created?

Answer 32

There are numerous way in which an individual creates a Carbon Footprint.
 Car travel – Depends on distance driven, fuel efficiency, and number of passengers per vehicle (car sharing helps here!).
 Air travel – Depends on distance and number of flights. Take-off and landing use large amounts of fuel, so two short flights produce more carbon than one long flight of comparative distance.
 Boat travel – Depends on distance travelled, fuel efficiency and size of the boat. Can produce up to 8 times more CO2 than an airplane travelling the same distance.
 Public transport – Bus, trains, trams – loads of people share these journeys and so the Carbon Footprint is reduced.
 Electricity use – Does the electricity come from fossil fuel power plants, high Carbon Footprint. Using renewable means of electricity will of course reduce the Carbon Footprint considerably.
 Home heating – Again are fossil fuels used, of biomass or heat pumps, which may be run on renewable electricity.
 Food miles – Sourcing locally reduced refrigeration and transport costs considerably, therefore reducing your Carbon Footprint.
Diet – Eating meat has a much higher Carbon Footprint than vegetables.

Question 33

How can you reduce your Carbon Footprint

Answer 33

Food – Source locally, reduce amount of meat you eat. The Ecological Footprint of a meat diet and vegetarian diet can be seen below;
Vegetarian diet – 0.18 global hectares.
Meat diet – 0.85 global hectares.
Transport – Use car sharing, public transport where possible cycle or walk. Low tax cars are energy efficient, saving on running costs and your Carbon Footprint.
Home heating – Passive solar design, biomass, renewable energy used to power heating systems. Thermally insulated home to reduce heat losses.
Water usage – Toilets & showers with low discharge levels for flushing. Turning of taps after use. Shower instead of bath. Greywater harvesting, using rain water for washing cars and watering flowers and gardens. It is estimated that households can reduce their water use by 60% by just adopting more conservative water usage.
Lifestyle – Do you really need a 4x4 to take 1 child to school and back every day? Elaborate products are sometimes not necessary.
Recycle – Where possible reuse products, and recycle where you can.

Question 34

Explain the link between Ecological Footprint and Carbon Footprint

Answer 34

A higher Carbon Footprint = A higher Ecological Footprint

Question 35

What is One Planet Living?

Answer 35

One Planet Living (OPL) is an initiative to make truly sustainable living a reality. OPL uses Ecological Footprinting and Carbon Footprinting as its headline indicators.

Question 36

What was the first OPL concept?

Answer 36

The concept of OPL grew from Bioregional work to build the BedZED ecovillage in south London. Beddington Zero Energy development (BedZED) is an environmentally friendly housing development in Hackbridge London, constructed in 2000 - 2002. Designed to create zero carbon emissions, it was the first large scale community to do so

Question 37

What does this concept comprise of?

Answer 37

This project was pioneering as it was the first construction project where the local authority sold land at below market value to make this sustainable development economically viable.
It comprises 82 homes, with some 1,405 square metres of work space. To encourage green transport, walking and cycling are encouraged, use of public transport is encouraged and parking spaces are limited.

Question 38

How was the Performance of this Concept?

Answer 38

In terms of the performance of the utility, monitoring conducted in 2003 found that BedZED has achieved the following reductions in comparison to UK averages;
 Space heating requirements were 88% less.
 Hot water consumption was 57% less.
 Electricity used was 25% less (11% produced by Solar PV). This % will increase in the future when a wood chip powered CHP plant is brought active in the short term future.
 Mains water consumption is lower by 50%.

Question 39

Was there any Failures with this Concept?

Answer 39

A review of the development in 2010 drew mainly positive conclusions, however a few significant failures were highlighted.
 The biomass woodchip boiler had some reliability problems and was no longer used as the backup power source (a gas boiler was).
 The water recycling facility had been unable to clean the water sufficiently.
 The passive heating from the sunspaces has been insufficient.
 Despite the best efforts, residents were in average leaving an ecological footprint of 1.7 planets, which is more than the target 1.0 (but much less than the UK average of 3 planets).

Question 40

What are the Ten Overarching principles of One Planet Living?

Answer 40

Zero Carbon
Zero Waste
Sustainable Transport 
Local and Sustainable Materials
Local and Sustainable Food
Sustainable Water
Natural Habitats and Wildlife
Culture and Heritage
Equity and Fair Trade
Health & Happiness

Question 41

What is an Action Plan?

Answer 41

Action Plans – Every partner project or organisation on the OPL initiative develops a ‘One Planet Action Plan’ which his based on these 10 principles. This action plan outlines the strategies, actions and targets to achieve One Planet Living. It provides a route map which can be monitored and adopted over time.
The Action Plan is made public so everyone can see the commitments being made. As well as an Action Plan, every project or organisation reports annually on progress and publishes their results. Undertaking this OPL initiative therefore offers a great marketing image for a company

Question 42

What was the First OPL Company?

Answer 42

The first OPL company was B&Q – the leading UK home and garden retailer. It joined in 2007. Based on the latest available annual report for 2013 / 2014, achievements include;
 A 31% reduction in overall carbon footprint from store operations, waste and business travel on the 2006 baseline.
 Range of 25,000 eco-products endorsed by Bioregional accounting for 33% of sales.
 Maintained 100% responsible timber sourcing.
 17,622 staff completed the revamped One Planet Home e-learning module.
 £750,000 donated to nominated charities. In addition B&Q stores partner with local community groups, organise activities and donate materials.