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Posted on behalf of Professor Jacqueline Rowarth:
Costing the earth….
How much are you prepared to pay for your lifestyle?
Connor’s principle states at most, only two of the following can be high at any one time:
Population
Environmental quality
Freedom from regulation.
Mike Connor is an engineer, established the subject Sustainability, Policy and Management and was a deputy director of the Office for Environmental Programs from 2003 – 2006.
His principle is elegant in its simplicity and provided a frame of reference for participants at the Plane Tree Forum on the 4th September. Population is increasing, environmental quality is deteriorating, and regulation costs money – so how much are we prepared to pay?
Sustainability is the issue. The Brundtland definition (1987) of sustainable development is “development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs”.
The International Framework for Evaluating Sustainable Land Management was formulated and adopted at the world congress for Soils in Mexico in 1994: “Sustainable land management combines technologies, policies and activities aimed at integrating socio-economic principles with environmental concerns so as simultaneously to:
maintain and enhance productivity
decrease risks to production
protect the potential of natural resources and prevent the degradation of soil and water quality
be economically viable
be socially acceptable.”
Another aspect for incorporation is, as Barbara Reimer, a PhD student with the Melbourne School of Land and Environment, articulated “Resilience and the capacity for adaptability and making choices…”.
For Tess Reimers, a student in Environmental Programs, sustainability is neutral accounting – aiming for no impact of activity.
All of the definitions are associated with a cost for present generations (which could be considered as redress for free-loading in the past). Accepting that people need food, discussion swung to the cost/impact of various production systems. The Department of Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, UK, released a report on The Environmental Impacts of Food Production and Consumption in December 2006. Examination of the environmental Life Cycle Assessment of a wide range of products, from various production systems (e.g., organic and conventional), and in various presentations (e.g., raw and frozen) and revealed some data which challenged common belief…
What consumption trends could be encouraged ‘sustainably’?
Organic v conventional
Organic agriculture poses environmental problems in terms of nutrient release to water, greenhouse warming potential and acidifying potential. It also requires almost twice as much land to produce the same quantity of food as conventional agriculture, though the amount of energy required per unit of food is lower than in conventional agriculture.
Personal v local v global
“Evidence for a lower environmental impact of local preference in food supply and consumption overall is weak and for environmental impact of bulk haulage is not decisive. The wide variation in the agricultural impacts of food grown in different parts of the world (e.g., quantity of water consumed) global sourcing could be a better environmental option for particular foods.
Fresh v chilled v preserved
Refrigerated and frozen food consumes more energy than fresh food, but the potential for wastage with fresh (and also with chilled) food is high.
From the DEFRA analysis, which involved data from many countries, there are no simple answers. What is clear, however, is that food will continue to increase in price over the next few years. Adding any Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS) into the equation will cause further increases.
Last year the food price index for Australia increased 3.9%. Although cheese went up 14.2% over the year, and milk 12.1%, fruit decreased 12.7% and vegetables decreased by 3.3%… yet it is the increase in cheese and milk that has stuck in society’s mind. At $25/T Carbon for the emissions trading scheme, a kg of milk solids will require $3.23 to pay for the carbon produced. That cost will inevitably be passed on to the consumer. Countries which have not signed up to the Kyoto Protocol will not require the farmers to pay for the carbon…. the milk and cheese will therefore be cheaper.
Already the consumer is making choices between battery eggs and free-range; some are prepared to pay the difference for ‘happy hens’ – but in the carbon issue animal welfare is not the differentiator.
How much will you be prepared to pay?
Here is Sunita on ABC after the lecture http://www.abc.net.au/rn/latenightlive/stories/2008/2365808.htm
Her UniMElb talk will appear on the AsiaLink website and on 3CR Radio.
Here are my opening remarks:
Opening Chair’s remarks by Simon Batterbury, at public address by Sunita Narain, University of Melbourne, 17 Sept 2008.
SUNITA NARAIN
Sunita Narain has worked at the Centre for Science and Environment in New Delhi from 1982. She is currently its Director. CSE is the publisher of the fortnightly magazine, Down To Earth. http://www.downtoearth.org.in/
Sunita is a leading thinker on environment and development issues and has led many public campaigns for environmental sustainability in India. It is not her first visit to Australia (that was in the late 1980s!) and we are lucky to host her as part of a short Australian tour after an absence of 20 years.
Ms Narain is the author of 11 major works, many with the late Anil Agarwal, and numerous papers, magazine editorials, and reports. She began her work contributing to the State of India’s Environment reports, and then travelled across the country to understand people’s management of forests and natural resources.
Towards Green Villages (1989) advocating local participatory democracy as the key to sustainable development. A 1997 book on water harvesting (Dying Wisdom) does a great job in demonstrating to the world the dynamism of Indian environmental expertise. The 2001 edited book, Making Water Everybody’s Business: the practice and policy of water harvesting [by Anil Agarwal, Sunita Narain and Indira Khurana] reiterates this. Natural resources, particularly water, must be protected to benefit the poor.
Moving to the international world of climate policy. ‘Global Warming in an Unequal World: A case of environmental colonialism’ was published in 1991. I remember picking this up from IIED in London, and using it for teaching the basics of this issue in 1993, well before such literature became widely available. Since the Kyoto Protocol in 1997, she has worked on a number of projects concerning the justice of climate change policy, and equity and entitlements in climate negotiations. The INjustice of current negotiation rounds and the actions of the big emitters is her focus. Sunita sits on a high level Swedish panel devoted to raising issues of climate change and its impact on poor people prior to the Copenhagen COP (2010).
She is a tireless campaigner. She argued in a 2002 article (http://www.india-seminar.com/2002/516/516%20sunita%20narain.htm) that India’s environmental movement was not led by green groups, as in the West and as in Australia, but by a pro-poor, grassroots human-centered environmental lobby with protests against natural resources relied upon for daily subsistence, and thus targetting deforestation, construction of dams, destruction of wildlife, and growing pollution. I think this movement is also joined by the CSE, and together they, and Indians, have been trying to “tame the politicians and bureaucrats”, by instilling lasting regulation and environmental action in government and state agencies, that now faced with rising levels of environmental pollution.
It seems evidence-based environmental reform is a hard task in India. However CSE is behind the successful campaign to compel all public vehicles in the highly polluted city of Delhi to switch to clean compressed natural gas, the first city in the world to do so. She has taken on Coca-Cola and PepsiCo on 2 occasions for having high levels of pesticides in soft drinks, and campaigned for government regulation of the industry, as it already does for bottled water. The pesticide industry has attacked her through lawsuits and protests.
Sunita was awarded the Stockholm Water Prize (2005) for promoting effective water management along with improved human rights. She won the 2005: Padma Shri medal, and was named “India’s Most Influential Environmental Activist” by Time Magazine in 2007.
This event is presented by Asialink and the Australia India Council with the support of the Australia South Asia Research Center, Australia National University.
Grateful thanks to all.
Welcome again.
I attended the lecture on 23rd Sept and was very impressed with Tim Flannery’s knowledge on climate issues and he has done a tremendous job in bringing awareness of the problem to all levels of society and Gov.
However Tim seems to be taking on himself the task of coming up with silver bullets to solve the problem of climate change – a task that I think is beyond any one person.
Solutions need to come from a range of sources. Once price signals are set entrepreneurs will be an important source of new ideas. But local local communities are also an important source.
This will require local communities to be far more informed on this issue with which raises two points.
1. It is time for behavioural science to become more involved in this issue. How do we get the large scale behaviour change that will be needed?
2. are you intending to set up some sort of discussion at the State and regional level on this topic?
I love it
On Thursday evening I attended a symposium at Federation Square. The panel of experts was introduced by the Deputy Lord Mayor of Melbourne. Outside, the air was balmy and the atmosphere jovial. Deck chairs abounded and water birds filled the big screen. Nearby, the leaves on the spotlit, native trees were brown and lifeless, except for the smallest tree which, miraculously, displayed signs of fresh, new growth. The green signs sprouting below read: Federation Square’s garden beds are nurtured with recycled water. I went home to ponder the theme of the forum – water management.
If Melbourne City Council can’t keep a few trees alive in our iconic square then what hope is there for the rest of the city?
Sue Nolle
189 Kambrook Road
CAULFIELD 3162
9571 5173
0400 441 114
From Sydney Myer Asia Centre, you’ll be cycling with Nick or enjoying the bus ride with me. See you then!
Cheers, Devin
When is the deadline??
The deadline is 3rd April 2009.
Film has always been a part and parcel of Indian culture since a long time. I hope “The Rising Wave “ of Shweta Kishore and Yask Desai is a good film…
Sadly I didn’t see any OEPers…
Get yourself involved with Australian Youth Climate Coalition (http://www.aycc.org.au/?page_id=350) and Climate Movement (http://www.climatemovement.org.au/)
Devin, did you go?
I was expecting to go..ive made my RSVP, but only then i realized that we have EE class…
no wonder you came out early..
if i knew you were going, im sure be following you…
Hey Zuhaini!
Yep! I won’t miss a single class unless for very good reasons
The talk was about how climatic change evidence is collected, disseminated, and acted upon. Schneider advocated wartime levels of spending on technological responses to global warming, including the application of best practice in the emerging industrial sector in middle income countries. The most disturbing material related to Schneider’s visit to Greenland, where Konnie Steffen (U of Colorado) has been tracking ’sink holes’ of fresh water well inland on the ice cap. These are so numerous, that Schneider is beginning to wonder if some form of climatic ‘tipping point’ is upon us. This is what all climate scientists fear.
Ah! I missed it damn it! What was the movie like?
If anyone is interested in the Darebin Parklands Earth Hour event, video is now available at Northcote Independent.
Congratulations on your Environment Week program. Last night’s event on the 2008 Victorian State of the Environment Report was engaging and informative – well done!
Hey James! It was alright. It took slightly different perspective from Al Gore’s. I guess if you had enough exposure to climate change and other environmental problems, then you’d probably find this movie okay. Anyway, the challenge is to get the message spread out
For those of you interested in Emissions Trading and surrounding questions, please note the free panel discussion (RSVP required):
Invitation to the Thomson Reuters Carbon Forum
28th May 2009, Thursday
5:30pm onwards
Speaker Event followed by Refreshments
We have the great pleasure to invite you to the second Australian Thomson Reuters Carbon Forum for 2009. This time, we intend to react to the recent postponement of the introduction of the Australian ETS with a panel debate titled:
‘The Australian ETS: Implications of the delay until 2011 and regulatory changes’
Questions the panel will address are:
- Have businesses that prepared early for the start of the ETS been wrong-footed by recent developments?
- Does the postponement change the importance CERs are going to have in hedging strategies of corporations and the government?
- Is there an immediate impact on the job market that is developing in response to the ETS?
Our panelists are:
Richard Wrightson, Emissions Trading Implementation Group Manager, Loy Yang Power
Marc Barrington, Head of Carbon Management Services, AGL
Anthea Harris, Assistant Secretary, Emissions Trading Division, Department of Climate Change
The panel is moderated by
Peter Hinton, Energy Bank Link Specialist, Thomson Reuters
Please RSVP by e-mail to florian.fischer@thomsonreuters.com
Very good one!
Recommended!
i was at this presentation… was incredible – thanks heaps.
is there anyway to get the mp3 so i can put this on my ipod? id love to share this and spread the word.
please email me back if you can
lex
download now linked above
A 65yr old PhD Metallurgist friend of mine believes Ian Plimer has the evidence to back his denial of manmade CO2 as the major cause of climate change. Why is this evidence faulty and where does one find the evidence to support the argument put forward by Prof Karoly? I would love to put my friend straight on this.
Nice Article ! I love getting blog information, as I like to reference them to research papers in college, well summer school now.
A great blog with quality content – will be back for more.
Bill
You will find a comprehensive review of Plimer’s book by a Melbourne colleague Professor Ian Enting, here http://www.complex.org.au/tiki-download_file.php?fileId=91
I doubt there could be a more thorough analysis.
Finally, I found this information about the climate change. It took me time just to find it. I really want to know it. Thanks for the time and effort. I hope to read your next post.
Good luck Chris!
You go girl!
Very Impressive – what a fantastic experience. Transdisciplinarity is better than it sounds!
Woohoo, proud of you babe!!
Just voted!
Cool site, love the info. I do a lot of research online on a daily basis and for the most part, people lack substance but, I just wanted to make a quick comment to say I’m glad I found your blog. Thanks,
A definite great read.. <a href=”http://wiki.hudson-ci.org/display/~bill-bartmann”
-Bill-Bartmann
Great site-great info-thanks.Take a look at the amazing info about geothermal heating and cooling-so earth friendly-I think you’ll LOVE it!Francis http://www.geothermalquestions.net
THIS WILL BE HUGE!!
Join us on your bikes to send a vibrant strong message to our Government that we will not give in to climate catastrophe!
im so happy to found such blog like this its very educational and informative..thanks alot
Excellent article, Clive James I’m disappointed in you.
The University and other organisations want to organse one of these in Australia.
One Trackback
co2 gas…
Your topic The GLRPPR Blog ” Blog Archive ” Environmental Stewardship Program … was interesting when I found it on Sunday searching for co2 gas…