When I visit the supermarket here, plastic bags are an extra cost and checkout employee will ask if you would like a plastic bag rather than immediately placing your shopping into one. Some shops also use large paper bags, which have the ability to degrade much more quickly. This is quite a bit different to Japan, which is really struggling to wean itself off  its addiction to plastic bags. It is not uncommon for food in Japan to be placed into three separate plastic bags at purchase. The large focus on the customer service in Japan means that the environment often gets forgotten or ignored in the rush to please customers.

Australians have also well adopted the use of green or eco bags. Green bags, are the bags that can be reused. These bags are usually made of woven plastics, cloth and the best, Hessian. The latter being the best due to having a higher ability to break down. The point of these bags has been lost in translation in Japan. I used to often see people placing their shopping which was already in a plastic bag into the green bags.

I personally think that the campaign by green groups in Australia is what has paved the way for people to have a high understanding of the impacts on the environment and how they can make a difference by changing there daily routines. Many people in Japan understand that the environment is in crisis and want to make positive changes to their lives but don’t have the guidance. Governments place large emphasis on so called “green” technology such as  particular appliances and cars. The criteria for these “green” products is pretty vague. This campaign is more about marketing for the economy than helping the environment.

The past few weeks, the international meeting of CITIES has been held to consider action on the worlds threatened species. Blue Fin Tuna, a large fish and part of a million dollar fishing industry, is a major topic of discussion. Due to increase in demand, largely due to its popularity in Japan as Sashimi, the species numbers have dramatically reduced to 80 percent of previous stocks. Reductions on catches have been enforced in the past few years but have proved to make little difference.

Bluefin Tuna was once only fished commercially by rod in a traditional method called Ipponzuri, literally meaning rod fishing. According to Justin Norrie from an article from Australian paper, The Age, the practice saw fishermen catch between 3 and 5 fish a year. These large fish could fetch high prices then, so the fish didn’t need to be harvested in large numbers to be profitable. However the industry changed when large fishing trawlers developed the ability to capture large numbers of these fish in one session. This practice of fishing, is what has lead to the overfishing for this species. The World for Wildlife recent wrote a report that claims that this fish could be extinct by 2012 in worst case scenario.

A move to ban the fishing for the species angers money hungry industries that have already reaped massive profits from this over exploited resource. Since Japan consumes 80 percent of the fish at Sushi restaurants, much of the criticism for a ban is coming from major companies that have vested interests rather than speaking on cultural arguments.

In Justin Norrie’s article from The Age newspaper, comments some of the criticism against the overfishing is actually coming from within Japan from small ipponzuri fishermen that still survive by fishing with their rods.

”The government lets the trawlers come through and take everything – the adults and the juvenile fish together,” said Teruaki Yabuta, head of Nikko Fisheries at Omaezaki, in Shizuoka Prefecture. ”The trawlers are plundering our seas. It’s not sustainable. If the government won’t regulate it, then the local guys won’t survive.”

While a ban on the species would be very beneficial to the species and is the preferred option for environmental groups, some countries such as Australia suggest that much harsher limits of captures should be enforced instead. Perhaps a complete ban on fishing methods that prove most detrimental to the population should be banned, allowing for a small trickle of ipponzuri supply the market.

Yesterday, key countries struggled to get support for the proposed ban, arguing that tighter regulations will be agreed on to support the fish’s survival. It will be interesting to see what steps the industry will take to secure the health of these populations considering that some environmentally groups such as WWF expect the species to go extinct within 3 years.

Sources -

The Age article

Recently, an Australian biologist studying native fish in Victoria discovered a healthy population of the Bell Frog in Victoria, a species that was thought to have gone extinct after the introduction of the fungal virus which has become much more widespread partly due to the effects of global warming making its distribution easier.

More recently, in a much more strange circumstance, local people in the prefecture of Miyagi in Japan have spotted Kangaroos leaping around on roadsides.

For years they have spoken of a beige animal with large ears, 1 to 1.5 metres tall, that stands by the roadside and then hops away.

The Japan Times, 13/March/2010

The small town, is located about 350 kilometres north of Tokyo in an area of Japan that is least populated of the Japanese mainland. The mountainous area of Miyagi has about 441 households. Word has it, that local journalists are now attempting to get a photo of these illousive marsupials by setting up remote cameras in areas where they have been spotted. Its possible that these Kangaroos, if they do exist, have escaped from capativity or have been purposely released for some unknown reason. If it is true, its quite amazing that these animals are able to exist in such a different styled environment when compared to the grasslands that that are seen in large numbers in Australia. Its also interesting, that the Kangaroos spotted are described as the Red Kangaroo, a mammal that usually exists in warmer areas in Australia.

Sources

- The Japan Times – 12/March/2010

- The Age – Yellow-spotted Bell Frog

 Coal is actually organic matter, dead plants, that is formed after millions of years of being layered under sediments with the right conditions. Because of its organic foundations, its not surprising that coal is largely made up of CO2. In the past, large quantaties of carbon dioxide have been produced into the atmosphere, this CO2 has been stored within the earths surface. Coal is one of these reserves of CO2 that can be harmful when released into the atmosphere rather than being domant underground. Coal is actually between 60 and 90 percent CO2 (1).

Jeff Goodwell, author of “Big Coal: The dirty secret behind Americas energy future” comments in the Washinton Post (5) that

Digging up hard-to-get coal will also devastate Appalachia, where huge mountaintop-removal mines have already buried 700 miles of streams and 400,000 acres of forests. (Mountaintop-removal is a particularly destructive form of mining in which entire mountains are blasted apart to expose the coal seams inside; the rubble is typically dumped in nearby valleys.)

 The mining is also difficult and dangerous, with each year many major accidents occuring throughout the world. Furthermore the use of it to produce energy creates harmful pollution from power plants such a mercury (brain damage, birth defects) and Sulfure Dioxide (acid rain) (5).

When coal is used for making electricity. The coal is usually ground down to a powder before being burnt in large furnaces. The heat from these furnaces boils large quantaties of water which inturn creates steam. This steam powers large turbines that channel electricity via copper wire. The process is said to have a 35 percent efficiency, with a lot of heat being lost and thus wasted. Although according to the Siemens website, recently built coal power plants can have up to 58 percent efficiency (2).

This really made me think, if the coal is only the fuel for the fire, and its effects are harmful, why is its use continued? Renewable sources can achieve the same levels of electricity production through similar techniques. For instance, Geothermal, uses heat from the earths centre to heat water to produce steam for turbines. Solar photothermal uses a combination of mirrors that channel the suns rays into a collective heat source to heat its water for turbines. While steam has a higher density than air, water has a much higher density than steam, which makes tidal energy look very appealing. While there is a claim by coal producers that surverys show that there is enough coal for the next 250 years of energy uses, much of the easy coal has already been sourced and used. What is left is buried deep under forests and cities which is much more difficult to mine (5). Why would we choose such a path of destruction? Because its cheap? 

1-http://tonto.eia.doe.gov/energyexplained/index.cfm?page=coal_home

2-http://w1.siemens.com/responsibility/en/environment/portfolio/fossil_power_generation.htm

3-http://www.worldcoal.org/coal/where-is-coal-found/

4-http://www.eia.doe.gov/cneaf/electricity/epa/figes1.html

5-Washington Post Article – Jeff Goodell

Another common stereotype associated with electric cars is that they are slow. It couldn’t be further from the truth. Have a quick search on Youtube for fast electric cars and a large number of videos appear showing projects from homemade racers to full dragsters proving their speed. In many ways, these backyard mechanics have paved the way for commercial brands to move in on the market.

If you haven’t heard of the Tesla Roadster you must have been living under a rock. Tesla is an American company that is producing electric cars for sale for use on public roads. The Tesla Roadster, a small coupe based on the Lotus Exige uses only lithium batteries to supply energy to its motor. It has blistering performance, with 0-100 in about 3.7 seconds. Automobile Magazine, an American publication was lent a Tesla Roadster for a week. The Magazines West Coast Editor is quoted as saying,

I’m hit with the realization that the world’s first electric sports car is fast in a whole new way: it explodes off the line, pulling like a small jet plane….It’s like driving a Lamborghini with a big V-12 revved over 6000 rpm at all times, waiting to pounce – without the noise, vibration, or misdemeanor arrest for disturbing the peace.

While the Tesla roadster is the first, there seems to many other Electric car companies that are now commencing production of their vehicles. As well as this, major industry leaders such as Nissan and Honda are all planning electric car releases. Mitsubishi released its MIEV mid last year and the Nissan Leaf starts selling later this year in America.

Japan has recently stated that it will stick to the 25 percent cut of 1990 levels in greenhouse gases in order to satisfy the Copenhagen summit. This is a fantastic step by Japan. In order to achieve this goal, its been suggested that the government predicts that electric cars will take on 50 percent of the Japanese car market within the next 20 years.

Sources

Automobile Magazine Tesla Review

Nissan Lead FAQ

Nissan Leaf Press Release

Edmunds auto site – MIEV review

Must see videos of electric cars!

and

A new report released only days before the deadline for nations to announce their emission cuts, indicates that climate change could increase catastrophic bush fires  by up to 300 percent. The report written in collaboration with Greenpeace and the Fire Brigade Employees Union states that the temperature, rainfall, wind speed and fuel of the fire are important when calculating the fire danger of a community. With the introduction of climate change, these factors can be changed to influence increased chances of a fire.  For instance, temperature, a major factor for fire danger days has been increasing. According to the Bearu of Meterology annual climate statement, the last decade has been the hottest on record for Australia.

The report on fire and climate goes further stating that there are three scenarios depending on our choices that we make in relation to acting on the climate.

• FEAR - The first such scenario is that if the current pledges by the government are followed through. This would mean a 2 percent rise in temperatures, and a 50 percent rise in bush fires.

• CATASTROPHE – The second scenario is what would be the case without any treaty, or in other words the current path to destruction. Temperature would rise by about 2.8 percent in Australia which would see a the number of devastating fires rapidly increase.

• HOPE - The last scenario is one they label as “hope”, that the current government would increase its aims to cut the emission significantly. However this scenario is quite unlikely. There would still be an increase, but the increase would be a lot less than that of the other scenarios. For instance, fire danger around Sydney, Adelaide and Canberra would increase by between 8 and 17 percent, but without great emission cuts this figure would be 200 percent.

In many ways, the governments conservative approach could cost more in the long run.

However, by failing to treat the root causes of increased

fire danger, we are knowingly placing more lives and

property at risk.

- Future Risk – the increased risk of catastrophic bushfires due to climate change, 2010.

Australia should be setting an example for the rest of the world. The country is in the position to be able to harvest sustainable resources such a wind and solar, it doesnt need to invest in coal.

Sources;

http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=australia-faces-worse-bus

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/environment/climatechange/6934519/Last-10-years-were-Australias-hottest-ever-decade.html

http://www.greenpeace.org/raw/content/australia/resources/reports/climate-change/future-risk-280110.pdf

Solar

Solar used to generate electricity can be used to power a house, heating, cooling, machinery, anything really. Solar power is harnessed in two main ways, solar-thermal, and Photovoltaic.

Photovoltaic solar power is the dark panels that can be seen on roofs of houses or attached to concept cars or even some calculators. These panels a made up of silicone cells, a product of sand that is able to harness electricity. Each panel has two layers of silicone cells, one side that is positive, the other that is negative. When light is shined on the cells, the electric field between the two layers of cells causes electricity to flow. The system is dependent on light not sun, so even days when its entirely cloudy, electricity can be generated from glare from the clouds.

Solarthermal is a little different and more suited to an industrial style of harnessing energy. Through this process, sunlight is directed to a single area using mirrors where it creates steam that powers fans that generate the electricity.

Wind

Wind energy is harnessed by large turbines that are positioned in valleys or areas that encounter continuous wind currents. While not the only design, the most common is a three blade that when spinning generates electricity with the help of the magnets and copper wise inside the turbine.

According to a report, The Global Wing Energy Outlook 2006, wind energy could make up to 1/3 (34 percent)  of the worlds energy by 2050 and if wind energy is harnessed to this effect, it would be able to  remove up to 113 billion tons of CO2 from the atmosphere. In China for instance, development of wind turbines is increasing rapidly. It has been suggested by Professors from Harvard and Beijing’s Tsinghua University that wind could power all of China until 2030. Peter Farley of Technology Review says;

China has doubled its installed wind power capacity every year for the past five, and is on pace this year to supplant the United States as the world’s largest market for new installations. But researchers from Harvard University and Beijing’s Tsinghua University suggest that the Chinese wind power industry has hardly begun to tap its potential.

Geothermal

Geothermal is actually just what its name suggests, earth heat. The core of the earth is extremely hot. Large wells at about 1.5kms below the surface boil water and other liquids to generate large amounts of steam which is channeled into large turbines that harness the electricity. According to Greenpeace, geothermal is a great resource that is largely untapped.

Geothermal power generation causes virtually no pollution or greenhouse gas emissions. It’s also quiet, and extremely reliable. Geothermal power plants produce electricity about 90 percent of the time, compared to 65-75 percent for fossil fuel power plants.

Unfortunately, even in many countries with abundant geothermal reserves, this proven renewable energy source is being massively under utilized.

Wave Energy

Tidal power is somewhat similar to wind turbines, but instead the turbines are positioned underwater in channels that can maximise the power and kinetic energy transfer from the tides. Seawater is actually 800 times more dense than air, this means that a turbine is far more efficient than a wind turbine. Its also been suggested that while fossil fuel energy efficiency is rated at a maximum of 30 percent, tidal efficiency is 80 percent. Time magazine says;

With 70% of the earth’s surface covered by the restless tides and currents of the oceans, the idea of harnessing that movement to serve the planet’s energy needs is too tempting to ignore.

Hydro Power

By using a dam, water is released and channeled through large turbines that generate large amounts of electricity. While hydro is a renewable source of energy, it can have quite potentially harmful effects on the plant and animal life at either end of the cycle.

The best thing about these sources of energy, once they are up and running, the energy they produce is free and renewable. It really makes you think why so much is invested into fossil fuels when there are already sustainable sources of energy that are also alot more efficient. Australia in particular has some great sources of solar and wind but is far from the leader in the industry.

http://solarpowernotes.com/renewable-energy/tidal-energy/tidal-energy.html

http://www.technologyreview.com/energy/23460/page1/

http://www.greenpeace.org/international/campaigns/climate-change/solutions/geothermal

http://www.greenenergyhelpfiles.com/electrokinetics.htm

Interesting video about tidal (wave) power

The human population is currently almost 6 billion people, a vast increase from 1 billion in the early 1900s. The United Nations Population Fund predicts this figure to greatly increase over the next 30 years due to developing nations increasing their quality of life. The UN predicts a figure from 7 billion to 10 billion people by 2050. The later being a particular worrisome figure due to stress on world resources. Also according to the UN 2009 report, climate emissions are directly related to the number of people, more specifically the number of households that use energy.

I have read comments on other blogs that assume that the only means to resolve the problem of overpopulation is to introduce incentives to people to limit birth rates or limit the number of children people can have, the UN report says differently. The report heavily focuses on the need to lift the quality of life for those living in developing countries. Increasing education, changing gender roles, and giving more freedom to people to make their own decisions would have a profound effect on the population.

Since the 1994 International Conference on Population and Development (ICPD), however, the world has learned that trying to “control” human population risks depriving women of their right to determine how many children to have and when to have them. What we can work toward instead is environmentally sustainable population dynamics that are characterized by safe childbearing, long life expectancies and freedom for individuals to make their own reproductive health decisions. We can also step up our efforts to support young people so they may live productive lives and fully realize their rights to education and health.

Japan has seen a large decrease in birthrates. In fact the Japanese Health ministry predicts that the nations population will decrease by 25 percent by 2050 from 127.8 million in 2005 to 92.5million. Has Japan introduced any legislation that has influenced this decrease? No, in fact efforts have been to encourage this birthrate. Education and the improving role if women in Japanese society has meant that many women are interested in having a career rather than a big family as in the past. The UN reports agrees with such a concept;

Particularly when combined with education for girls and economic opportunities for women, family planning services and supplies are especially powerful in delaying the age of first pregnancies and reducing the size of completed families.

People participating in the overpopulation discussions need to understand that is not about creating restriction, nor is it about limiting the numbers of children families can have, instead the solution is a much more humanitarian.

Outmoded attitudes about “population control” have been replaced by more holistic, rights- and health-based views about population dynamics and their relationship to climate change.

- United Nations, State of the Worlds Population 2009.

Sources

United Nations Population Fund

Aging Japan – Bloomsberg

Nomura Jelly fish are a very large jellyfish that can grow to as large as 200 kilograms with a diametre of 2 metres. These large floating jellies have been increasing to large numbers in Japan to an estimated number of 500 million. According to an article in The Japan Times by Micheal Casey, a journalist for the Associated Press, comments that these large blobs made a mass appearance around once every 40 years, but as of 2002 that have been present in large numbers every year.

In a country where seafood is of the most importance to the culture, this issue has large implications for the society in Japan. Nomura Jellyfish are in such great numbers that they are destroying fish catches by overwhelming numbers. They are also stinging the captured fish, which can severely decrease the value of the fish price at market.

While a number of factors could be to blame, including overfishing of predatory fish that prey on the Jellyfish or changes to the habitat where Jellyfish breed, the change in climate could be a major influence.

Scientists from Hiroshima University have been studying the unusual movements of the Nomura Jellyfish which usually inhabits warmer waters off china. It has been established that the warming of the water around Japan from climate change has played a significant role in the Jellyfish invasion with the growth of perfect feeding grounds for phytoplankton. Much in the same way that the change in climate could benefit the dispersal of malaria via mosquitoes, these Jellyfish are moving into the Japanese waters on mass as the water temperature is warming, becoming more suitable as Jellyfish habitat.

This phenomenon is not limited to Japan, with many nations experiencing significant increases in Jellyfish. According to a paper from the journal of Fisheries Oceanography, “Evidence for a substantial increase in gelatinous plankton in the Bering Sea, with possible links to climate change”, indicates that the warming of the oceans from climate change correlates with the increase in numbers. Although, more recently, they have found numbers to have decreased which could point to other contributing factors. Climate conditions for increasing Jellyfish numbers is also reflected in the findings of Jenny Purcell, a leading scientist on Jellyfish. She claims that

There keeps coming up again and again examples of jellyfish populations being high when it’s warmer.

saying further that…

It’s hard to deny that there is an effect from warming.

Its clear that the climate change is already changing the worlds ecosystems. Even small changes in temperatures are proving lethal for our oceans, and amplifying problems that seemed minor in the past. The changing conditions to the oceans could see many species that inhabit the oceans disappear and other take over the ocean. Which would you prefer for dinner, fish or Jellyfish?

Sources;

http://search.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/nn20091118f1.html

http://www.pmel.noaa.gov/np/pages/inter-agency/brodeur_jellyfish.pdf

http://www.pmel.noaa.gov/foci/publications/2008/brodS668.pdf

First let me take you to the other day at the office.  After looking through the old magazines that we have in our staff room, to my surprise I found an old Time magazine from April the 9th 2007. The staff room magazines rarely get thrown out as they make a great read and are rarely brought in. So I decided to give it a burl while I enjoyed my coffee break. In this edition of Time, on the front cover there is a picture of a lone Penguin standing on an iceberg, and reads “The Global Warming Survival Guide”. Inside are a number of articles talking about the threats of global warming and what can be done to prevent this disaster.  Most interesting, and easiest to read in my short break is the article “51 things we can do”. It looks a lots of small things that individuals can do to slow the effects of global warming.

Each of the 51 things we can do is delivered in point form. Point 22 reads; Skip the Steak. Its asks;

Which is responsible for more global warming, your BMW or your Big Mac?

Thats right, its the Big Mac, infact according to the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organisation, farm animals produce up to 18 percent of the worlds greenhouse emissions, which is more than motor vehicles.

From 1.5 billion cattle, methane produced from the cows digestion is up to 23 times more potent than CO2 in the warming effect that it has on the atmosphere. Accompanying the cow farts into the atmophere is Nitrous oxide produced from the giant turds left behind. Nitrous Oxide is up to 296 times more potent.

The large numbers of livestock, 1.5 billion cattle, 1.7 billion sheep and goats, is set to rise with a higher demand for meat as many countries increase their levels of wealth. Demand for meat is expected to double by 2050.

Im not saying that people shouldnt eat meat. I remember from my early classes at University that biologically that humans can be classed as carnivores. For instance we have a carnivore digestive system, and our human nature of communication and working together are key factors when identifying a carnivore. However, evolution has allowed us to become omnivorous which benefited our survival through the ages. Meat, was once something that people consumed on random occasions, but as society in the west has become richer, people have chosen to consume meat everyday.

Ideally, I think if people ate meat one day less a week, it would have a significant impact on the environment.