Because of its generous incentives program, Germany, a country that gets about as much sun as the darkest parts of the United States, has become the largest market for solar power in the world. That in turn has helped create a thriving solar manufacturing industry in the country. Because of its success, the German system has been imitated around the world in places such as Spain and China. At renewable energy conferences, industry experts plead for a similar system in the United States.

But even as it’s hailed as an example, Germany’s federal government has started to cut back on the program, and plans to cut it even more by April. If that happens, it could devastate the German solar industry, and send shockwaves through the industry around the world. It could also reveal what could be the inherent weaknesses of the approach–it doesn’t address the fact that it’s cheaper to manufacture solar panels in China.

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One thing seems clear, fostering a solar market in the U.S. or Germany is not enough in itself to create and maintain solar manufacturing jobs in these countries. To compete, companies in these countries will need to find ways to make cheaper solar panels. And they’ll probably need strong government incentives to build factories in their home countries.

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The past half-century has seen marked growth in food production, allowing for a dramatic decrease in the proportion of the world’speople that are hungry, despite a doubling of the total population. Nevertheless, more than one in seven people today still do not have access to sufficient protein and energy from their diet, and even more suffer from some form of micronutrientmalnourishment. The world is now facing a new set of intersecting challenges. The global population will continue to grow, yet it is likely to plateau at some 9 billion people by roughly the middle of this century. A major correlate of this deceleration in population growth is increased wealth, and with higher purchasing power comes higher consumption and a greater demand for processed food, meat, dairy, and fish, all of which add pressure to the food supply system. At the same time, food producers are experiencing greater competition for land, water, and energy, and the need to curb the many negative effects of food production on the environment is becoming increasingly clear. Overarching all of these issues is the threat of the effects of substantial climate change and concerns about how mitigation and adaptation measures may affect the food system.

Link to the article…

Link to an overview of the complete food security special issue in the 12 February 2010 Science...

Designers Victor Massip and Laurent Lebot of Faltazi have designed a conceptual system where water is recycled and waste is broken down by worms inside the kitchen. 

Called Ekokook, the project aims to process waste as close as possible to the point where it’s produced.

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Desde el martes hasta hoy se desarrolla la Sexta Conferencia Mundial sobre Sostenibilidad Ambiental, Cultural, Económica y Social en el Aula Magna “Mario Jaramillo” de la Universidad de Cuenca.

La cita está coordinada por la Universidad de Illinois, Estados Unidos; el Observatorio Mundial de Asia y el Pacífico para la Diversidad Cultural y el Desarrollo Humano, con sede en Australia; el  Comité Ecuatoriano del Consejo Internacional de Museos (ICOM) y la Universidad de Cuenca.

Cerca de 200 participantes del mundo entero se dan cita en este encuentro para compartir reflexiones, propuestas y experiencias.

Una de las preocupaciones fundamentales de la conferencia gira en torno a la conservación de los recursos naturales y el equilibrio del medio ambiente, elementos base para el desarrollo sustentable de los otros elementos y actividades.

La doctora Ann Mitchell, del Grupo de Investigación de Productos Naturales, División de Ciencias Farmacéuticas del Instituto de Farmacia y Ciencias Biomédicas de la Universidad de Strathclyde, Glasgow, Escocia, calificó de “muy grave” a la presión sobre la Selva Amazónica que abarca los países de Colombia, Ecuador, Perú y Brasil.

La investigadora que trabaja al momento con algunas comunidades en la frontera de Colombia, Brasil y Perú expresó que esa presión se centra especialmente en la tala de grandes extensiones de selva virgen por parte de los colonos para la extensión de la frontera agrícola y ganadera, a ello se suman la explotación petrolera, minera y otras actividades.

De esta manera se pierde en forma total la biodiversidad y mucho de los secretos de la naturaleza para las investigaciones médicas y farmacéuticas así como los conocimientos ancestrales y tradicionales de los pueblos indígenas, expresó Ann Mitchell.

De todas formas, el trabajo desplegado tiene resultados importantes, sobre todo en la creación de la conciencia ambiental de las comunidades para presionar ante los gobiernos la protección de la selva amazónica, indicó.

Voz alternativa

De acuerdo a  Carolyn Shields, del  Departamento de Organización Educativa y Liderazgo de la Facultad de Educación de la Universidad de Illinois, la meta de la conferencia es que los profesionales fortalezcan una posición interdisciplinaria común y como grupo mundial hagan escuchar su voz a los gobiernos que en gran medida no sintonizan con el real sentir de sus poblaciones. (MCM)

To see the article…

For the ITN report as broadcast on The Newshour…

When delegates from 192 nations arrive in Copenhagen in December for the UN COP15 summit, they will confront a 181-page draft negotiation text, 2,000 bracketed passages still in dispute, and just 11 days in which to come to some sort of consensus. To power them through these discussions, Denmark has promised a smorgasbord of ecologically minded fare: All water will be tap (not bottled), tea and coffee will be fair trade, and the food menu will be no less than 65 percent organic.

Though undoubtedly well-intentioned, this last provision is troubling, but not because anyone really cares about the provenance of Ban Ki-Moon’s turnip greens. Rather, it suggests a willful and dangerous ignorance about the tenuous state of global agriculture, and the prospects for feeding 9 billion people while also addressing biodiversity loss, water shortage, and, yes, climate change. Organic foods are enjoying skyrocketing popularity in the US and Europe, as are their ill-defined sidekicks, “natural,” “whole,” and “real” foods. Yet popular notions that these foods—and the agriculture that begets them—are at once better for people and for the planet turn out to be largely devoid of experimental support. Worse still, “organophilia” tends to go hand-in-hand with technophobic skepticism towards the very sorts of scientific approaches most likely to supercharge an ailing food system while leaving our planet intact.

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By placing conditions on access to European markets, REACH has set what may become a de facto global standard. The influx of chemical information expected under REACH, as well as the potential for countries outside Europe to become markets for toxic substances prohibited in the EU, presents other regions with an opportunity, and imperative, to retool their chemicals policies.

In the fall of 2009, the Obama Administration unveiled principles for U.S. chemicals policy reform, proposing that chemical producers be required to submit sufficient hazard, exposure, and use data for EPA to determine that chemicals meet a health-based safety standard (21). The principles further acknowledge the EPA’s need for authority to act on priority chemicals, reducing risks they pose to sensitive subpopulations. These principles could influence development of TSCA reform. If implemented, they could improve EPA’s ability to protect public health and the environment, while also providing the necessary incentive to move the chemicals market toward green chemistry, with the ultimate goal of placing the U.S. chemical industry on a more sustainable footing.

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Core Distinctions between Chemicals Policies of the United States (TSCA) and the European Union (REACH)

]]> http://onsustainability.com/2009/11/30/comparing-us-and-eu-chemicals-policies/feed/ http://onsustainability.com/2009/11/30/eco-alchemy-in-alberta/ http://onsustainability.com/2009/11/30/eco-alchemy-in-alberta/#comments Mon, 30 Nov 2009 17:52:09 +0000 homer http://onsustainability.mu.commongroundpublishing.com/?p=2055

Bitu-man. A scarecrow in a "tailings pond" helps keep birds out of toxic mine water. CREDIT: MAGNUM PHOTOS

From Sam Kean in Science for 20 November 2009:

Environmental law says that tar sands companies must restore tailings ponds and pit mines back to “equivalent land capability,” but that phrase is contentious. Ecologists and environmentalists would prefer that every square meter of disturbed boreal forest or wetland be restored to its original state. In practice, companies can perform a sort of eco-alchemy: Pit mines can be converted to either new land, like a forest, or a lake, while tailings ponds can become either a lake or new land. Each transformation has its own challenges and controversies.

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The final issue of Volume 5 of The International Journal of Environmental, Cultural, Economic and Social Sustainability is now available.

Volume 5, Number 6 contains:

• Social Disharmony and Global Destruction by Ray M. Golding and Lynton G.F. Giles.
• Ecological Footprint, Environmental Sustainability, and Biodiversity Conservation: A Cross-Cultural Analysis by Ebenezer Aka.
• The Social Sustainability of Community Based Ecotourism in Southern Africa by Kevin Mearns and Victoria Edwards.
• The Sustainability of a Small Town: Will Fishing and Tourism be Enough? by Toni-Anne Carroll.
• A Preliminary Study on the Connection Between Creative Life Industry and Local Resources: A Case Study of Shin-gang Town in Chia-yi County by Chenglin Wu and Shyh-Huei Hwang.
• Sustainable Tourism Development through Community Based Strategies: The Case of Chamarel by Gowtam Raj Chintaram, Ramesh Durbarry and Thomas Baum.
• Sustainability of Small Businesses in Regional South Australia: Interaction with Customers and Suppliers by Nina Evans and Janet Sawyer.

• A Changing Worldview: The Role of Religious Values and Ethics in the Sustainability Debate by Shamim Samani.
• The Power of Belonging and Identity in Cultural Tourism: A Resource for Mature Tourism Destinations for Image Re-creation by Chantal Marie Portillo Stephens.
• Blogging Sustainability: The Environment Online by Mary Theberge.
• The Feasibility Study on Land Suitability Using GIS Tools by Nagini Sabbineni, Kiran Mai Cherukuri and Sundari Golamudi.
• The ‘Futures Game’: A Scenario Game Workshop Package to Engage Futures Thinking by David Beurle, Michael O’Connor and James Fisher.
• High Performance Working and Wellbeing: Sustainability of Human Resources by Diane Keeble-Ramsay and Andrew Armitage.
• Artisinal Mining in Tanzania: An Example of Sustainability? by Edelgard Mahant and Parkash Mahant.
• Securing Water for Environmental Purposes: Establishing Pilot Programs by Sharon B. Megdal, Joanna Bate and Andrew Schwarz.
• Sustainable Futures: Building Capacity for Social, Cultural and Environmental Futures in Preservice Teachers by Coral Cara.
• Economics and Sustainability: Targeting Demand Instead of Supply by Abbas Ameli.
• The Sustainability of Regional South Australia: Attracting and Retaining Skilled Employees in Small Business by Janet Sawyer and Nina Evans.
• Thirdscapes. Ecological Planning and Human Reconciliation in Borderlands by Anna Katharina Grichting.
• Design Factors and Energy Cost of Restaurant Operations in a North-Central Region of the USA by Hyung-Chan Kim and Joyce H. Hwang.

The sustainability movement from the grassroots to the global level has been both enriched and hobbled by the many different versions of sustainability articulated in scholarly and popular writings, town hall forums, and international conferences. The latest expression of this cacophony is evidenced in the emergence of “green-talk” and the growing substitution of varieties of “greenness” for sustainability and sustainable development in everyday and media parlance. This critical essay seeks to accomplish two things: draw out the differences between the green label and sustainability, and situate this debate within a hierarchical sustainability rubric that allows us to meaningfully offer gradations on the sustainability continuum. In so doing, we seek to illuminate the stakes involved in this conceptual debate and provide clarity about what these putative variations on sustainability imply for both theory and practice. In an age of mounting finite resource scarcities, rapid climate change, and continuing global population growth, combined with the growing clamor for Western-style economic development, the sustainability movement is not going to go away. Sadly, the meaning of sustainability and sustainable development remains highly contested and subject to ongoing and fierce dispute. This state of affairs is evidenced by the growing shift away from the language of sustainability and its variants to the increasingly popular, and easier to swallow, term green.

To read more…