 Your new post is loading...
My aim is not to discourage people working toward an energy transition, but to insist that we develop a realistic plan for energy descent, rather than insisting on foolish dreams of eternal consumer abundance by means other than fossil fuels.
The 15-minute city is a concept that responds to the climate emergency by ensuring that everyone can meet their essential needs within a small radius of home.
That question animates Dr. Ann-Christine Duhaime’s new book, “Minding the Climate: How Neuroscience Can Help Solve Our Environmental Crisis,” published by Harvard University Press.
A neurosurgeon explores how our tendency to prioritise short-term consumer pleasures spurs climate change, but also how the brain’s amazing capacity for flexibility can—and likely will—enable us to prioritise the long-term survival of humanity.
FULFILL – Fundamental Decarbonisation through Sufficiency by Lifestyle Changes - Fulfill Sufficiency
Modelling tools are becoming increasingly important to policy makers for creating transition pathways. More detail is required as the pace of change accelerates. Yet complexity is increasing as new technologies and solutions come online. And those models are needed at the local level, not just the national and global. It’s why the EU is funding, […]
The Spanish public water operator of the city of Seville, EMASESA, is leading the EU-Funded project LIFE WATERCOOL – a water-efficient systemic concept for the climate change adaptation in urban areas whose main goal is to develop and test innovative solutions to cope with climate change impact in the urban environment. LIFE WATERCOOL is an …
The University of Utah provided details of a new study on the Science Daily website that examined the comparative effectiveness of energy efficiency improvement and renewable energy production in the United States. For the past 150 years, humans have pumped extraordinary amounts of greenhouse gasses, such as CO2, into the atmosphere and warmed the planet…
Very important work has been done over the last decade to take industrial ecology and the circular economy into the mainstream. A lot of credit has to be given to the Ellen MacArthur Foundation. At the same time, it needs to be highlighted that the cascading of material and energy flows in small and fast and large and slow cycles is a core pattern of ecosystems and the biosphere. For most of our history as a species we managed our household (economy) based on understanding these patterns of nature (ecology). Bioregionally adapted ‘circular economies’ are nothing new. They are the only long term viable economies! Our current linear and globalised system is the aberration!
The Energy Research Partnership has released a new report which has found that the UK’s Net Zero target is at risk without substantial change in corporate and public behaviour.
All new climate change initiatives need “behaviour change enabling plans” to ensure success, with deployment of products and services needing to consider “ease of installation, operability and affordability”, according to a new report by the Energy Research Partnership.
We spoke with Peter Walker about his new book The Miracle Pill & how increasing activity could help the environment too.
In order to nudge the residents of its new apartment building towards a more sustainable lifestyle, Swedish housing company Riksbyggen made the bold choice to not offer them any private parking spaces. Instead, they were offered a comfortable alternative through a new mobility concept, developed within the Horizon 2020 project IRIS Smart Cities. Located in …
As the threat of recession looms in the wake of Covid-19 slowdown, discussion turns to economic recovery as the EU clinched a deal after marathon negotiations this July. In this interview, Rosa Martínez spoke to anthropologist Yayo Herrero about how to approach reconstruction in an eco-social way. In building societies that are resilient to shocks, whether caused by pandemics or climate change, the challenge will be breaking with capitalist logic to propose solutions that prioritise wellbeing while factoring in ecological limits.
|
In the beginning, there was an ideal location — the river that made trade possible, the port that filled city coffers.
In the age of climate change, what once made a city prosper could make it unlivable.
Athens and Rome became key power centers thanks to easily defensible locations on verdant plains blessed with temperate weather. Amsterdam, Lisbon, Hamburg and Copenhagen used their coastal settings to dominate global commerce.
Adam Aron, Professor of Psychology at the University of California, San Diego writes on The Conversation website about the results from his recent books that explains three reasons why local action addressing climate change is more powerful than many people realise. 3 reasons local climate activism is more powerful than people realize Global warming has…
Sofia (Bulgaria) has unveiled the Green Ring project, a 30-kilometre-long park and bike lane that is supposed to connect residential areas and increase the quality of life and access to sustainable mo..
These are all critically important issues. But here’s the rub: Even if the Democratic administration were resoundingly successful on all fronts, its initiatives would still be utterly insufficient to resolve the existential threat of climate breakdown and the devastation of our planet’s life-support systems. That’s because the multiple problems confronting us right now are symptoms of an even more profound problem: The underlying structure of a global economic and political system that is driving civilization toward a precipice.
Researchers analysed 18 carbon-cutting measures at home and at work in areas such as food, transport and energy and assessed the impact of each on issues such as health, clean air and water quality. Of the 306 categories they looked at, 79 % were positive for wellbeing. Tom Bawden discusses the study in an article…
The only way to fix our problems is to change our lifestyle. We need to buy less stuff, travel fewer miles, consume less resources, live in smaller homes (or share your larger home with more people). We need to live less complicated lifestyles including little or no social media. We can plant a garden, eat more plant based, locally produced food. We can slow cook more meals (including vegetarian and vegan options). We can recycle our clothes and household goods by giving them to stores such as Goodwill. We can enjoy the simple but rewarding experience of sharing a meal with friends and family.
the UK public can use the Climate Calculator to choose their preferred package of solutions for tackling climate change.
When making choices, users will be shown the direct impact on jobs, household budgets and other aspects of their lifestyle. The new tool will, for the first time, enable people to see how impactful different policies would be in order for the UK to meet its 2030 climate targets.
The Climate Calculator is designed to be accessible and easy to use, including for those who are not climate change experts, and it can take just five minutes to complete.
Behaviour change debate needs to move on from individuals and households to dealing with the causes of over-consumption of carbon.
En réponse à de nouveaux besoins des habitants, à une évolution des objectifs d’une ville, ou face à une crise, l’urbanisme tactique permet une adaptation très rapide de l’espace public. Ainsi, en France, les enjeux de mobilité face à la crise du coronavirus ont encouragé de nombreuses villes à réaliser des aménagements temporaires : 210 kilomètres de pistes cyclables temporaires ont ainsi été créés à l’été 2020 dans la métropole du Grand Paris. Le Cerema (Centre d’études et d’expertise sur les risques, l’environnement, la mobilité et l’aménagement) a d’ailleurs mis en ligne en Juin 2020 un guide des Aménagements Cyclables Provisoires en réponse à cette forte demande. Mais le terme « urbanisme tactique » n’a pas été inventé par des municipalités ou des pouvoirs politiques centraux.
greenApes was founded in 2012 with the mission to reinforce individual incentives for sustainable living via digital solutions.
By repairing their items instead of throwing them away, citizens of Vienna are actively contributing to the fight against climate change
Repairing and reusing one’s items is crucial in the fight against climate change. Instead of throwing stuff away and generating more and more waste, citizens of Vienna have had an opportunity to have them once again made usable thanks to the city’s repair vouchers and receipts.
A massive success, both saving money and protecting the environment
The Vienna repair voucher is a one-of-a-kind platform that brings together consumers, vendors and repair shops. The network created by the city allows for citizens who purchase from specific venues to have their items repaired at one of the Austrian capital’s many repair shops at a significantly reduced price by simply downloading the repair voucher on their phones.
"Repairing instead of throwing it away, that is an active contribution to climate protection and I am pleased that the Viennese are taking our offer so well," said Environment City Councilor Ulli Sima
Behaviour change – reducing emissions by changing how we live our lives – should be part of every government and think tank’s sustainable scenario, explains Schalk Cloete. That’s because impressive advances in energy efficiency and clean energy won’t be enough to contain the emissions of a world continuing with the essential task of lifting billions …
|
Scoop.it!
