Bogotians take really well to foreigners. Most are proud that Colombia elicited some distant traveller’s interest and seems worthy of a visit.
My first impression of the city was, however, pollution and traffic, followed closely by the prevalence of graffiti. Some elaborate and skillful art spanning walls and blocks not infrequently yielded to slogans: existimos porque necesitamos.
Listen up: already today we are using 25% more resources than our planet can provide sustainably (source: WWF).
How are we supposed to build a future around that?
We have to be willing to take action, collectively and immediately.
We must reduce our ecological footprint, and keep it to an absolute minimum.
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Deforestation is currently responsible for 20% of all emissions, contributing twice as much to global warming as was thought. Our goal should be to prevent greenhouse gas emissions from deforestation by raising awareness and taking whatever action we can.
Forests are rich ecosystems and significant pools of biodiversity – important breeding grounds for millions of species of flora and fauna.
Their role in maintaining climate functions regionally and globally, and the regulation of regional climate patterns through hydrological cycles is of immense importance.
The trees which absorb carbon dioxide are a great tool to combat global warming: stopping deforestation could cut global carbon emissions by as much as three billion tonnes a year – the equivalent of more than 1/3 of all fossil fuel emissions.
The Amazon is the single largest remaining tropical rainforest in the world, housing at least 10% of the world’s known biodiversity, including endemic and endangered flora and fauna. The world depends on this rainforest basin for carbon storage: it has the capacity to sponge 90-140 billion metric tons of carbon (source: BBC).
Main deforestation threats are as follows: burning forests to create grasslands for cattle, mechanized agriculture expansion resulting in soil erosion, river siltation and aquatic contamination with agrochemicals, poorly planned transportation and energy infrastructure, oil and gas spills from hydrocarbon exploitation, and illegal logging.
Unfortunately, immediately after announcing that deforestation is down since conservation efforts began in 1988, the authorities in Brazil voted yesterday to approve a controversial legislation which will alleviate strict fines for some illegal forest clearance and ease overall rules on deforestation.
The reason is a necessity for arable land to feed the growing population and to meet the growing demand for food, stimulating economic development. Farmers are arguing that environmental protection harms their sector and the entire food production system.
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Leading environmental agencies are warning that the changes will spoil Brazil’s significant environmental achievements of recent years and dangerously impair global efforts to fight climate change, reduce carbon emissions, and speed up the loss of biodiversity.
The changes are also expected to expose native tribes and poorer regional settlements to larger risks from floods and droughts.
Another December, another UN Climate Change Conference..
Whether the expectations are realistic or not, an agreement of any kind seems to be out of reach. Or is our ability to save the planet from climate change effects beyond our reach?
COP are annual conferences that assess progress in dealing with climate change. (What progress?) The annual convention, known as Conference of the Parties gathers signees of the Kyoto Protocol. It’s held in Durban, South Africa this week.
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Climate change is far from being a simple problem; its consequences affect or are affected by various global issues – poverty, economic development, population growth, sustainable development and resource management, although it is an environmental issue.
A “climate-safe” future includes:
More info: user guide and expectations.
The end of consumerism as we know it.. a distant dream or a possibility?
Social researcher Rachel Bosman has some interesting ideas about a new movement called ‘collaborative consumption’. The rise of collaborative consumption is a cultural and economic force, reinventing, not just what we consume, but how we consume.
We’re bartering, trading, swapping, sharing, but they’re being reinvented into dynamic and appealing forms.
We have actually wired our world to share.
Many big concepts were emerging — from the wisdom of crowds to smart mobs — around how ridiculously easy it is to form groups for a purpose.
We started moving from passive consumers to creators, to highly-enabled collaborators. The Internet is removing the middleman, so the peer-to-peer revolution is happening at phenomenal rates. We now live in a connected age where we can locate anyone, anytime, in real-time, from a small device in our hands.
There is a renewed belief in the importance of community, the usefulness of real-time technologies, the pressing environmental concerns, and a global recession that has fundamentally shocked consumer behaviours: all collectively define collaborative consumption.
There are thousands of examples from all around the world of collaborative consumption, organized into three clear systems.
The first is redistribution markets based on ‘reduce, reuse, recycle, repair and redistribute’ mantra.
The second is collaborative lifestyles – the sharing and resources of money, skills and time.
The third system is product service systems. This is where you pay for the benefit of the product — what it does for you — without needing to own the product outright.
These three systems are coming together, allowing people to share resources without sacrificing their lifestyles, or their cherished personal freedoms.
The site, the book, audio & video of her lecture at the RSA, her presentation at the TED.
Even though BP Oil representatives have persistently tried to put down speculations of long-term environmental damage as a result of the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, almost a year ago, there is sufficient research that shows otherwise.
The BP Oil Spill disaster impaired the productivity and resources of the habitat and its ‘carrying capacity’, weakening its potential in meeting the needs of the region and impeding its ability to renew and restore own resources.
I wrote about it here when it happened a year ago.
The delayed emergency response and the long-drawn-out cleanup have contributed to a virulent state of the region, which some critics called hopeless. The delicate Gulf ecosystem was devastated and entire chains of perfectly symbiotic habitats disrupted.
The injuries that the region is already facing and will be facing in the future may include direct impact on food stocks and fisheries, their economic and tourism losses due to environmental constraints such as contamination and pollution of waterways and land, and the many changes of policies as a result.
The cleanup was only an immediate solution, the true impact is seen and felt only after the emergency steps have been implemented, so in the long run, the spilled oil may produce oxidized compounds which increase dissolution, dispersion, emulsification and formation of tar, contributing tot he toxic exposure for the ecosystem.
The extent of it will be only visible when the damages can be measured and recorded, however it has already been almost a year since the event and the ecological schism may already manifest itself. At the rate the oil is breaking down, some of it could still be there a century from now!
As an area of growing strategic and economic importance, the navigable passages of the Canadian High Arctic should be unconditionally secure. Uninterrupted monitoring, consecutive patrol, and the capacity to take action when needed are top priority in terms of safeguarding. Economically, an accessible high Arctic passage facilitates maritime trade between Canada and our Northern neighbours. Combine Canada’s sparse Northern population and spotty surveillance of vast territorial waters and the world’s second largest country is limitless.
Moreover, due to bordering international waters, inhospitable climate, and isolation, infrastructure and population density are minimal. The limited availability of community resources, remoteness, and austerity restrict the growth of communities and the development of businesses.
The Canadian Forces have recently become more aware of the need for persistent surveillance of extensive proportions to cover the Canadian waters and the network of passageway within our jurisdiction.
Lack of facilities for a comprehensive and interminable monitoring of the entire area is a factor that can compromise our security.
In 2010 London implemented a new action plan, introducing a bicycle hire program, aimed to encourage more cycling, relieve overcrowding on public transport, improve its efficiency, help cut traffic congestion, and eventually significantly reduce CO2 emissions.
The great potential of cycling is that it is low-impact, requires less road capacity, is non-polluting, and recreational.
The plan’s long-term objective is to make cycling an equitable and sustainable solution for cities looking to overcome the socio-spatial segregation and even out the distribution of public services across greater territorial expanses in an attempt to lessen burdens on traffic and mass use of private car on short journeys.
Imposing central congestion charges in main cities, along with minimal parking spaces and high parking charges has contributed to reduced private car use in the central core.
New and improved measures that promote cycling conditions are important: properly planned cycle lanes, safe streets with slow-moving traffic, parking at transit stations, etc.
The scheme’s effortless procedure, procurable on the spot, online and at numerous tourist points shows flexibility and openness.
This program was inspired by the Parisian Velib which has worked wonderfully there, remodelling not only its transportation and tourism scene, but also the Parisian lifestyle.
Divided into 20 quarters/neighbourhoods, the city is laid out in a spiral-like shape, pragmatic and brilliantly planned out so that its urban design compliments the transit around the city that services its own constant flux.
The coiled pattern was so constructed to ease traffic congestions and the burdens of transportation flow, although the daily commuters still may face some gridlock.
A few years ago Paris presented the first-ever bicycle rental project and thus revolutionized not only its transportation and tourism scene, but also its social one.
Simple, practical and highly original, after its debut in 2001 Velib project took off flying in Paris, and was soon after implemented in other French cities, and then worldwide, with London the latest, just this spring.
Available 24/7, it became the perfect alternative to night buses and taxis, and residents and tourists all jumped aboard.
The Velib scheme (en francais: velo liberate) was so popular it was dubbed the “velorution” due to great benefits, including: the restitution of urban spaces for pedestrians and cyclists, reduced traffic and transit times, strengthening of the transportation networks and their sustainable projections, less pollution, and more recreation.
Many other cities followed suit. Check out London’s take on it, and Toronto’s attempt.
Seagrass is valued for its ability to absorb carbon, its role in the oceanic carbon budget significant as it deposits considerable amounts in below-ground tissues, with larger seagrass species having greater capacity for accumulation of carbon due to the relatively slow turnover at the roots.
Global climate change resulting from carbon emissions, is accelerating the loss of seagrass habitats and causing decline and disturbances. 
Seagrass meadows play an vital role in coastal zones and provide the ecosystem with important functions, including feeding coral reefs and marine life, protecting smaller animal species, and sheltering organisms.
Algae that cover seagrass leaves, providing nutrition for the fauna itself, constitute an important link between terrestrial and other marine habitats.
Carbon affects temperatures, acidification and changes in currents, interfering with ecosystem flow.
Unlike coral reefs which produce more carbon than they consume, seagrass reacts differently to the cycle.
Depending on the processes that occurs within it as a result of carbon cycle and in relation to other ecosystems, it reflects its high rate of carbon trade.
Global warming will inevitably lead to decreased efficiencies in sequestering carbon, resulting in the reduction of nutrient supply to deeper ocean layers. This will reduce ocean’s ability to uptake carbon dioxide, contributing to oceanic acidification.
Jeddah, an important Saudi focal point due to the holy Islam centres Mecca and Medina in its vicinity, is a burgeoning city that has grown at the expense of its surroundings.
Its informal settlements are particularly vulnerable as they lack the proper infrastructure, posing a risk to health and safety of the entire community.
The settlements, which supply low-cost housing for underprivileged citizens and immigrants, have emerged as a result of unmet demand for low- and middle-income housing, and are in violation of the adopted local planning policies.
The areas, labelled ‘unplanned’ or ‘informal’ settlements encounter enormous urban inequalities, including difficulties with setting and achieving prioritized targets aimed at reclaiming the settlements and helping transform the city into a cosmopolitan community.
The temporary housing solutions impede the growth and the quality of surrounding neighbourhoods, while still posing pressure on the municipality to provide affordable and adequate quarters for the growing population.
Spontaneous growth and layouts closely following those of the old city, with a network of small streets, shaded alleys and no passable motorized traffic resulted in neighbourhoods losing internal connectivity, making the city hard to navigate, service and desegregate.
Regeneration and reorganization of the informal areas into regular, unified neighbourhoods will free up the land and help create opportunities for responsible and sustainable future land uses.
More info: Fantasy cities, Saudi reality, Dev’t and urban reg, Strategic Plan, UN-HABITAT.
