Archive for the ‘Ireland’ Category

The Department for the Environment and Rural Affairs (Defra) is planning to crack down on retailers handing out plastic carrier bags to customers, after new figures revealed that a voluntary commitment by supermarkets to cut the number of bags they distribute has stalled.

Figures released by the government-backed Waste and Resources Action Programme (WRAP) today reveal a five per cent national increase in the number of single-use carrier bags handed out in supermarkets in 2010 compared to 2009/2010.

However there is a different picture in Northern Ireland and Wales – indicative national figures showed a decline in the number of bags handed out in these two countries which have legislated to cut carrier bag use. In contrast, bag use has risen in England and Scotland where no such legislation is in place. Read the rest of this entry »

METHANE, BLACK CARBON, TROPOSPHERIC OZONE ARE GROWING THREATS

CLEAN AIR TASK FORCE ADVOCATES FOR SLCF MITIGATION STRATEGIES

Today – tuesday, June 14 the United Nations Environment Program (UNEP) will release the full text of its long-awaited report: “The Integrated Assessment of Black Carbon and Tropospheric Ozone,” following the distribution in February of the report’s Summary for Decision Makers. Key findings of the report include: Read the rest of this entry »

Are resilient cities ‘the only game in town’ when it comes to climate adaptation?

By Philip Monaghan, June 2011

In the spirit of the theme of the conference I attended in Bonn (Resilient Cities: 2nd Annual World Congress on Cities and Adaptation to Climate Change, 3-5 June 2011), I was pleased to overcome the shock and surprise of Icelandic volcanic ash cloud and an e-coli food outbreak to share my latest research insights with 500+ delegates from local government and global finance from around the world. Read the rest of this entry »

As the global landscape evolves, risk analysist Maplecroft believes it is imperative to navigate, manage and monitor the political, economic, social and environmental risks that affect new growth opportunities for business, especially in emerging markets.

According to their new report six of the G7 countries, including the UK and the US, are at a high risk of short-term disruptions to energy supply as a result of global political instability and shrinking conventional energy sources, new research has found.
France, Germany, Japan and China are also among 122 of the 196 countries as highly vulnerable to shocks in energy supplies and price fluctuations over the coming days or months. Read the rest of this entry »

Ocean acidification is now one of the most worrying threats to the planet, say many marine biologists. Humanity is pouring more and more carbon dioxide into the atmosphere and some of these billions of tonnes we emit each year lingers in the atmosphere and causes it to heat up, driving global warming. But about 30% of that gas is absorbed by the oceans where it turns to carbonic acid. It is beginning to kill off coral reefs and shellfish beds and threaten stocks of fish. Very little can live in water that gets too acidic.

Millions of marine species are now threatened with extinction; fisheries face eradication; while reefs that protect coastal areas are starting to erode. Read the rest of this entry »

Energy-related CO2 emissions were the highest in history last year, it has been revealed. After a dip in 2009 caused by the global financial crisis, emissions are estimated to have climbed to a record 30.6 Gigatonnes (Gt), a 5% jump from the previous record year in 2008, when levels reached 29.3 Gt, the International Energy Agency (IEA) said.

The organisation has also estimated that 80% of projected emissions from the power sector in 2020 are already locked in, as they will come from plants that are currently in place or under construction.

The shock rise means the goal of preventing a temperature rise of more than 2 degrees Celsius – which scientists say is the threshold for potentially “dangerous climate change” Read the rest of this entry »

Charity says era of permanent food crisis will hit poorest people hardest and spark social unrest

The average price of staple foods will more than double in the next 20 years, leading to an unprecedented reversal in human development, Oxfam has warned. Rising food prices are tightening the squeeze on populations already struggling to buy adequate food, demanding radical reform of the global food system.

The Oxfam report followed warnings from the UN last week that food prices are likely to hit new highs in the next few weeks, triggering unrest in developing countries. The average global price of cereals jumped by 71% to a new record in the year to April last month.

The world’s poorest people, who spend up to 80% of their income of food, will be hit hardest according to the charity. It said the world is entering an era of permanent food crisis, which is likely to be accompanied by political unrest and will require radical reform of the international food system. Read the rest of this entry »

The accumulation of a nation’s wealth bears little relation to the happiness of its citizens, so why measure GDP growth?

Some years ago the Fab 4 had a catchy little number called “Money Can’t Buy you Love”. Well it seems according to studies that the Beatles were right. In the following article Nic Marks, the founder of the Centre for Well-being at the new economics foundation and the author of The Happiness Manifesto, (a TEDbook available for download on Amazon) asks some very important questions regarding measuring the wealth of nations:

Gross Domestic Product (GDP) growth has become virtually every society’s default measure of progress, yet it is neither fit for this purpose nor was it ever designed to be – and it is now long overdue that we find a much better replacement. Read the rest of this entry »