Do Curitiba July 16, 2007
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Carlos Richa, Mayor of Curitiba Brazil
Dialog: ‘Um pouco mais elevado do tipo tanto tem sido da prefeitura com o governo do estado e com o governo federal principalmente na recuperacao dos nossos balanciais por que involve um custo social que e o custo de construir moradias para que familias que sao removidas casas balanciais? tenham uma opcao digna de viver’ Journalist ‘quando a comecou…’
TRANSLATION
Dialog- A little higher up there has been a partnership between the city (mayor’s administration), the government of the State and the Federal Government. Especially in recovering our finances because there are social costs of building homes for those families who are evicted from their homes but who may have an option to live with dignity…
I think quality of life is something that plays a significant role in the Brazilian Psyche. Curitiba is certainly one of the most progressive cities in the world when it comes to long term urban planning and sustained intitiatives especially in transport. Its also the home of the wickedly good Brazilian Pop Group Bonde do Role.
A Brazilian diplomat friend of ours at the United Nations said Brazil’s mission is not to teach the world how to live but how ‘to live well.’ I think Curitiba is a good example of that.
City of Curitiba
Bonde do Role in Action
Valuing Bio-Diversity July 11, 2007
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Places to Begin Looking
Wealth based on bio-diversity is difficult to quantify in a spreadsheet. It is a four dimensional visualization that must take into account past and current Green Infrastructure Services as well as the future and unknown bio-potential of plants and animals which may or may not be yet known to exist.
Only a small subset of Economists, known as Ecological Economists try to analyze this relational data and display its relationship in context to the rest of the economy.
It is easy to say that there are short & medium term negative effects from the destruction & degradation of ecological systems. It is possible to measure and and show these impacts over time, but it is hard to ascertain the economic importance and assign a dollar value to the many and varied services nature provides.
It is also had to quantify or measure natural systems, plants & animals which are not yet known to exist, are incompletely understood or whose importance has been overlooked or underestimated. It is also necessary to value the potential for disruption and deleterious longterm environmental and ecological impact.
Comprehending Interactions
The scientific disciplines that compose this magisteria: evolutionary biology, bio-chemistry, taxonomy, bio-geography, ecology, environmental science & ecological economics are among the most poorly funded in science.
They are a part of the Natural Philosophies neglected because they are not a part of general education until far into the post-graduate realm. The money required for research to collect the data and begin building models is not forthcoming because governments and the men who organize capital do not necessarily see the potential for immediate profit. There is as we are beginning to realize a great potential for the creation of ‘negative value’ from neglecting to study the potential impacts.
In addition there is a good deal of shortsightedness because what we are talking about is quantifying the unrealized potential of biodiversity over the longterm and by doing so making it economically viable to ‘bank’ or preserve it for future generations. This has the current benefit of allowing these systems to continue to perform their natural functions without which we cannot live.
This rationale is based on many parts, but self interest and appreciation are two of them. Ex situ that potential for ‘bio-diverse’ wealth is worth less than when viewed and used in context. Controlled cataloguing, mapping and observation is better than the alternative of unregulated harvesting.
Even more important it provides the economic impetus for the conservation, investigation, development of the potential of 99% of species. One example is that a great majority of potential discoveries lie in the tropics, which are being daily decimated by deforestation. A modest absolute investment in forest preservation yields longterm increasing returns.
Complicated Relationships in Action
People will conserve land and species fiercely if they see a material gain for themselves and their families. Legal rights can make that part of a conservation ethic, fees generated from exploration can be used to create a longterm preservation trusts. Hiring local workers gives them a vested interest in protecting their heritage.
They also provide an economic impetus for local people to preserve their resources, heritage and traditional techniques of cultivation and conservation evolved over centuries if not millenia of trial and error. In itself a kind of sorting algorythym. Most pharmaceuticals come from the study of species and are discovered through screening.
Economically less developed countries can supply the labor intensive manpower needed which makes expeditions, collects samples and prepare specimens. They can also conserve and cultivate promising varieties for future study and use. The indigenous inhabitants are going to have far better local knowledge acquired a lifetime of experience than a quickly visiting team of savants.
To attempt to quantify the value of 1 hectare (2.5acres) - including labour needed for extraction was $228 Guatemala, $339 in Brazil. These values preserve the systems intact if a-extraction remains locally profitable and b-provided the extraction reate can be kept sustainable.
Human beings have come to depend on the intensive exploitation of less than 1% of living species for our existence. Potentially a very thin margin which allows for little error but which can underemphasize the potential for many many new discoveries if the interest, inclination and manpower is there.
A Study of Complexity
Broken down ex parte the value of the biomass decreases in value. Installed, undisturbed and in situ its value is more than the sum of its parts. The teaching and study of these natural sciences are no longer a part of general education until far into the post graduate realm and as such remain woefully underfunded in the general curricula.
A number of organizations have begun to preserve by buying land and encourage a form of sustainable exploitation of potentially valuable products using local labour. Essentially buying acreage in order to preserve it and also quite possibly as a ‘bank’ from which future discoveries, some of potentially highly profitable can be made.
Human beings have come to depend on the intensive exploitation of less than 1% of living species for our existence. Potentially a very thin margin which allows for little error. But understates the potential for many many new discoveries if the interest, inclination and manpower is there. One simple example being that 1 in 10 tropical plant species contain the potential for useful anticancer recipes. In addition some simple exploration is likely to yield discoveries which result:
-creation of superior fibers
-recipes for microorganism and parasite control
-enhanced variety and new strains of DNA from natural landraces.
This kind of preservation, sustainable exploitation and local training is becoming the preserve of some new models for conservation. NGO’s like the Iwokrama Rainforest Trust in Guyana, the African Rain Forest Conservancy in Tanzania and Cool Earth founded by
Martin Sorrell of WPP and Frank Field former British Labour MP don’t just create a preserve, they train the peoples that live there in stewardship so that it becomes the interest of the local inhabitants to preserve there heritage for future generations.
Elephant in the Room July 9, 2007
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Our very big Friend
The omission of avoided deforestation in Kyoto has been a catastrophe for the World’s tropical forests.
The current state of Kyoto makes it easier to get credits by cutting down standing trees and planting something else rather preserving standing forests. In many areas this was actually done with existing forests bulldozed and replaced by oil palm plantations. This allowed the owners to sell the wood and then gain both a carbon offset credit and sell palm oil on the currently very lucrative international market.
In the next 24 hours, deforestation will release as much CO2 into the atmosphere as 8 million people flying from London to New York. Stopping the loggers is the fastest and cheapest solution to climate change. So why are global leaders turning a blind eye to this crisis?
The latest figures from the United Nations building on estimates contained in the Stern Report show deforestation accounts for up to 25 per cent of global emissions of heat-trapping gases, while transport and industry account for 14 per cent each; and aviation makes up only 3 per cent of the total.
Africa
According to the latest audited figures from 2003, two billion tons of CO2 enters the atmosphere every year from deforestation this equates to the deforestation of an area about the size of Texas annually. The remaining standing forest is calculated to contain 1,000 billion tons of carbon, or double what is already in the atmosphere. Continuing liberation of even a portion of that amount will have untold negative consequences for climate change.
Indonesia
There are many reasons why reforestation projects have been slow to take off. First, unlike industrial projects, the rules for forestry-related carbon trading have only been clear for a little more than two years. The momentum is yet to build up. Second, the approval procedures are cumbersome. Third, forests that were degraded after 1989 are ineligible. Smoke from tropical deforestation is visible from space across the entire band of the tropics. From Brazil to the Congo to Indonesia. To stop this mass destruction of forestry resource no new technology is needed, just the political will and a system of enforcement and incentives that makes the trees worth more to governments and individuals standing than felled.
“Tropical forests are the elephant in the living room of climate change,” said Andrew Mitchell, the head of the GCP
Globally, more than 4.4 million trees are removed every day or 1.6 billion trees each year - almost 1 billion of which are not replaced.
Brazil
The focus on technological fixes for the emissions of rich nations while giving no incentive to poorer nations to stop burning the standing forest means we are putting the cart before the horse, much of the activity needs to focus on building technical capacity developing countries, getting relevant regulations and law enforcement in place, promoting sustainable forest management, and diversifying the economic base of forest-dependent communities. Making it easier to implement avoided deforestation carbon offset programs would certainly help this process along by making it profitable to not cut down standing trees and these must be part of the fast tracked post Kyoto agreements up for review in Bali this December.
South America
After all, creating an economic incentives for planting and not cutting down trees ought to be easier than getting the Americans, the Chinese and the Indians to agree to cut back on energy consumption.
Prouvé Gets the Height Right! June 19, 2007
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FSOB by Christies on the East River
East River Day upon us we know one thing. Jean Prouvé got the height right for new storm surge ‘proof’ housing in New York City. If its on the shoreline and its not elevated at least 3 meters, it will be underwater. The question is when not if.
Mining Garbage June 13, 2007
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Putting It In, To Dig Up Again
Don’t cap those landfills just yet, unless you are extracting the methane. Landfills underneath soil, subdivisions and newly created parks may be in danger of being opened up and mined. Everyone is looking to add an additional something to their revenue stream, in this case maybe even Garbage.
The large American construction company Turner is now sorting and separating several hundred thousand tonnes of debris a month looking for reusable materials.
With the long commodities boom it had to happen many items that were thrown away are now worth something. Especially scrap metal which is worth recovering even in relatively small quantities. Some commodities are more precious such as silicon chips which are being mined by a Chinese company, Renesola to be reused in solar panels.
The Earth’s Methane Cloud, Another Greenhouse Gas
Greenhouse gas management has also resulted in some interesting purchases. Pig farms have also been purchased and are popular as methane can be be extracted from their runoff. Which keeps it out of the air and water and may also make possible some kind of carbon credit if properly managed as part of a CDM project.
Look to see this kind of recycling become common as the amount and availability of easily extractable industrial minerals in the Earth’s Lithosphere becomes scarcer over the next 50 years. Every product will begin to feature built in recyclability as matter of course.
Behavior Modification June 7, 2007
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Singapore and London have implemented congestion pricing schemes and now possibly soon New York will follow as first steps in programs to clean the air, reduce congestion & pollution costs and improve the quality of life and public transport. Fossil fueled vehicles are likely to become cost-ineffective dinosaurs in cities first, hopefully precipitating a trend that will spread outward from urban cores.
Congestion pricing has as much to due with changing traffic & transportation patterns as is does with behavior modification of both the people who plan and use them. It is a first step on the road to planned obsolescence of petroleum fueled vehicles and their replacement both by less destructive fuel systems and more efficient public transportation in urban areas where air quality really suffers and residents pay an additional carbon based lung tax with every breath.
Hard to Break Addictions
Less traffic and more efficient transportation may eventually lead to the development of cost effective ‘people mover’ type technologies, ZipCars being a first iteration of this in the US and the personalized people movers planned in the UAE a second. It also offers a significant opportunity to begin replacing roadbeds with pervious surfaces better for both walking and run-off control and ultimately leading to a reduction in the pavement area needed to support traffic.
Nicky Gavron, the Deputy Mayor of London makes clear, well thought out points that are based on the practical experience of the large scale implementation of congestion pricing in a big city. The system in London works even though the US Embassy, for example, has gained local notoriety for its refusal to pay its congestion charges.
Central London
One of the most important points Deputy Mayor Gavron made was the importance of ‘doing your homework so as to have answers ready for the questions your constituents will inevitably ask about how it will affect them.’ One of her main goals was to make the last mile home a safe and enjoyable commute for everyone. When you change the pattern of transportation you make the look and feel of the streets better which causes a boom in people outside on the streets and leads to a general improvement in sidewalk amenities across the board.
“Right now we are feeling the effects of oil burned in the 1950’s. Today we use the same amount of oil in 6 weeks we used in a year back then. The consensus is we have 10 years to stop runaway climate change. One of the principle ways we can do this is to reduce fossil fueled car & truck use which accounts for 60-70% of CO2 (and other) greenhouse gasemissions,” Nicky Gavron.
“London introduced congestion pricing as a first step. It was done against hysterical and sustained press opposition and after a London City Government was re-instated after having been abolished 14 years previously by PM Margaret Thatcher.
“At that time London had the worst air quality, in terms of nitrous oxides and particulate matter at street level of any city in Europe. At baby carriage level this meant children were getting advanced placement in Asthma from the cradle on.”
As part of congestion pricing, London decided that buses were the most cost effective and immediate way to get people moving quickly. Using established techniques such as dedicated lanes, express buses and developing a reliable schedule TfL started overhauling the bus system.
The Jam
After congestion pricing was implemented, all bus schedules had to be changed because all the buses started running ahead of schedule for the first time in memory.
There was a strong bias against using buses due to Margaret Thatchers famous remark ‘if you are seen on a bus after 30, you are a loser in life.’ A perception that took some effort to change so that the bus system is now perceived as classless.’ Modern, convenient and on time scheduled transportation have done a lot to change that previous view.
Doing the advance research and groundwork is really important to get congestion pricing implementation right. In addition to dedicated bus and bicycle lanes you need:
-reliable number (license) plate recognition technology
-reliable comfortable and timely bus service
-resident discounts
-free weekends
-local resident parking permits
-vouchers for visitors
-exceptions for alternatively fueled vehicles, hybrids & handicapped
-and multiple payment technology options
In London’s case one can be billed, pay online, pay by text message or just about any other variation you can think of. Also London has worked out schemes to keep neighborhoods on the periphery of the central zone from becoming in Nicky Gavron’s phrase : ‘Rat Runs’ places where drivers descend en masse upon to avoid the central zone charges passing through or leaving their vehicles to clog these border or peripheral areas with traffic, parked vehicles and noxious fumes.
The system works in London. Councilman Goia from LIC District in New York states that we already have a pricing regime that encourages rat running in NYC and helps put asthma inhalers in kid’s pockets. So implementing an actual charge that can be put into the transportation coffers is not such a big step since commuters are already paying the costs but getting no benefits.
A Google View
Numbers:
Some features and statistics. Residents of London’s central zone receive a discount of upto 90%, alternatively fueled vehicles go free, wherever they come from. The number of cars in the central zone is down 30%, traffic in general is down 25%, 60% switched the means of their commutes while there was no overall change in the number of commutes. Like in London over 40% of New Yorkers do not have cars so the majority of people already use public transport.
The system costed about 190 million sterling to setup and costs about 95 million sterling to run annually in Central London. It generates about 212 million in revenue of which 120 million is reinvested back into the system. Particularly into freight transfer centers which act as joint depots for the delivery of materials, goods and cargo.
It seems to have had a neutral impact on businesses, some business have benefitted other niche businesses have been forced to relocate to different parts of London indirectly stimulating those neighborhoods with unexpected new development. There have been increases in average speed and people feel much better about their streets.
Lagos Rush Hour
The program affected about 15% of Londoners, 10% of car commuters but the 10% of shoppers who journey by car stayed the same. Tourists, commuters in general and cyclists seem to have benefited. Their successful implementation shows the importance of getting your technology and monitoring right and take into account the public.
Congestion pricing leads to and can encourage emissions influenced charges effectively a system of differential charges based on tailpipe outfalls. It will encourage the use of alternatively fueled vehicles and help create the market infrastructure to produce, fuel and maintain them. Effectively stimulating growth from the center out. Vehicles, especially commercial ones, are often replaced in a 6-10 year cycle as they live out their appointed lifespans. This can lead to a significant change in vehicle composition in only a space of 10 years. Congestion pricing is a tool to get there.
Effectively an aging, congested transportation system already levies a time and a gas tax on business. Who if they change their vehicle types go free or at a reduced rates of 33% which would give them and advantage over their competition and result in more available loans for vehicle change-over, lower cost insurance and other benefits such as cutting down on vehicular emissions which affect the public health because as a recent USC study has shown 50% children who grow up withing 500 meters of a expressways have lung damage by the age of 10.
Things that can be done now with little or now capital outlay:
-Intermodal Hubs
-Express Bus service
-Commuter Rail access
-Light Rail Expansion is necessary but more expensive so comes later.
Congestion pricing also effectively changes the pattern of real estate and business development by feeing up resources and giving people a different route for the last mile home. For example New York’s transportation system was mostly designed 100 years ago to bring workers from the Boros to industry in Manhattan. The city has changed a lot since then and so has the demand for better interboro, interregional, intermodal passenger & freight connexions.
New York, Same Problems
Making the right economic choices for the future helps. Congestion pricing is a tool that Singapore & London have used to get on that road to regional transportation systems that work better and ecourage the purchase and use of fossil fuel free personal and commercial vehicles.
Planned implementations, are likely to be criticized in the press as some kind of social engineering from the top down whether the result is ultimately good or bad. Sometimes it takes the carrot and the stick to get a slow moving beast on the right road.
For More information:
http://www.tfl.gov.uk/
Fly Me to the Moon June 1, 2007
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Missions to Mars but our job ‘not to wrestle with global warming.’
Yesterday on National Public Radio (NPR) the politically appointed head of NASA, MIchael Griffin made some choice comments about global warming to a national audience.
In his morning interview after grudgingly acknowledging the existence of climate change which seems to have been influenced by ‘human-made greenhouse gases.’ Mr Griffin went out to speak about Missions to Mars and the serious threat cometary impacts pose to the earth.
Comet Impact: a real and immediate threat
Mr Griffin is the head of NASA and organzation with a budget of around $18 Billion. Its brief currently includes going to the Moon by 2018 or so and organizing a manned expedition to Mars. It does not include in Mr Griffin’s words ‘anything to do with global warming.’ Apparently Mr Griffin has more friends in the current administration than academic credentials since in addition to the Godard Institute for Space Studies at Columbia University in New York he manages many other climate related research pojrects both on and off the earth.
“I would ask which human beings, where and when, are to be accorded the privilege of deciding that this particular climate that we have right here today, right now, is the best climate for all other human beings,†he said. “I think that’s a rather arrogant position for people to take.â€
This same agency also is affiliated and runs numerous satellites which survey the earth, a climate monitoring network which includes Dr James Hansen an outspoken critic of this administration and its attitude to Science and last, but not least Columbia University’s Earth Institute. An institution dedicated entirely to Earth Studies.
At the White House, the President’s Science advisor said he was not ‘disturbed by the remarks.’ Apparently they must reflect administration policy.
President Bush seems inclined to talk about the link between emissions and climate change next week in Germany. Whatever they talk about though its worth remembering this administration hasn’t ratified any international treaties since coming into power in 2001. Kyoto, ICC, International Telecom Acts all get shot down or tabled, so don’t expect much from the Bush Administration and you will not be disappointed.
Others more disturbed comments: Jerry Mahlman, a scientist at the National Center for Atmospheric Research, said Mr. Griffin’s remarks showed he was either “totally clueless†or “a deep antiglobal warming ideologue.â€
James Hansen, a top NASA climate scientist and lead author of the research paper, said the comments showed “arrogance and ignorance†because millions of people will probably be harmed by global warming.
Source: New York Times
Tipping Points:
Science Daily
Times
Sustainability Gets Taller - in Dubai May 31, 2007
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The UAE is about to get some of its first sustainable structures as well as its first green community. Abu Dhabi will invest in a greener future by building the world’s first city targeting zero-carbon and zero-waste.
Masdar, the capital’s $5 billion initiative, yesterday launched the world’s first sustainable and environmently friendly city in the region.
The new community, covering six square kilometres will feature energy, science and technology centres and will open in late 2009.a
“There is nothing like this in the world. We are creating a synergetic environment, it is a true alternative energy cluster. Here you will find researchers, students, scientists, business investment professionals, and policy makers all within the same community,” said Masdar CEO, Sultan Al Jaber.
Ahmad Al Shorafa, the project’s analyst said Masdar will announce soon the details of the project that will contain a complete community beside Khalifa City and Abu Dhabi International Airport.
Working toward a carbon neutral goal, the city will be car-free, powered by renewable energy with digitally managed systems.
With a maximum distance of 200 metres to the nearest transport link and amenities, the network of streets will encourage walking and is complemented by a personalised rapid transport system.
Shaded walkways and narrow streets will create a pedestrian friendly environment in the context of Abu Dhabi’s extreme climate.
Under Construction 24/7
Meanwhile next door in Dubai, the Dubai International Financial Center (DIFC) announced their design for a 66-story office tower nicknamed ‘The Lighthouse.’
Conceived by Atkins Middle East, The Lighthouse will be a first in low carbon commercial towers a reality in Dubai. It will reduce total energy consumption up to 65% and water consumption up to 40% certainly majory considerations anywhere in the world but more so in the Gulf Region.
The height and shape of the tower play functional roles in contributing to the low energy footprint of the the tower. The building will also be equiped with three enormous 225 KV wind turbines (29 meters across) and 4,000 photovoltaic panels on the south facade.
Technorati May 24, 2007
Posted by GreenerMachines in : Uncategorized , add a commentZerofootprint in Toronto May 22, 2007
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Toronto By Night
On the Civic front the Mayor of the City of Toronto, David Miller, last week announced a program which will encourage public participation in diminishing their own CO2 footprints.
Earlier this year the city of Toronto organized a green roof competition featuring public and private structures. A short-term pilot program - The Green Roof Incentive Pilot Program - was developed to support residential, commercial and institutional construction of a variety of types of green roofs. This new program, called ZEROFOOTPRINT is software based.
A Toronto NGO, Zerofootprint has created an online calculator designed to help citizens reduce their environmental impact. its a combination of an environmental footprint calculator and a web based social network based on technology developed by a company named Business Objects. “The tool graphically illustrates the impact of every day activities,” says Mayor Miller,” it will help our citizens make Toronto one of the greener cities on the planet.”
World Carbon Emissions
This carbon footprint calculator is the most comprehensive and extensible I’ve yet seen and I expect it and other variants to become increasing common in the use of evaluating products and services for purchase as it is incorporated into more general use.
The Calculator:
http://www.zerofootprintoffsets.com/calculator.aspx
Climate change and the fact that the majority of the world’s people now live in cities can make calculators like this one an important tool any citizen can use to start making a change for the better.