A Green Degree

This blog intends to bring a new perspective on all things 'green' and sustainable, covering (mostly) energy, politics, the economy & more, what I feel as the most pressing concerns we face. In short, sustainability needs to progress & become the social everyday. That's my passion, and our solution. Screw business as usual people!













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June 4th 2012

1 note |#

Having only just finished revising and taking an exam in payments-for-ecosystems (PES), it’s great to see a tangible effect in the real world through this video rather than a simplified textbook version. 

This PES scheme focuses on multiple different people throughout the African landscape, including farmers, fishers and teachers, all who are utilising such schemes to promote healthy living and biodiversity growth, all in the name of sustainability. Considering Africa is a highly degraded region and has only been showing signs of taking on board sustainable lifestyles in recent times, it’s inspiring to see the people in this video talk about it so enthusiastically as they do.

Combined with this is some brilliant photography (the cameras are insane quality, as you’d expect from Vimeo) and music, all of which make a wonderful 6-and-a-bit minute experience I highly urge you to check out. Might make you slightly more optimistic about society, ya never know.

http://wwf.panda.org/about_our_earth/all_publications/living_planet_report/2012_lpr/africa_ecological_footprint_report_2012/

Posted at 1:12pm and tagged with: vimeo, video, africa, PES, payment for ecosystem services, agriculture, sustainable, biodiversity, fishing, inspring, photography,.

April 30th 2012

Reblogged from climate-changing|6 notes |#

ideatrotter:

The Future of Renewable Energy

Currently, 82.8 million barrels of oil are consumed everyday. 30% of this energy is wasted. Energy forecasts for the year 2050 are 4:1 in terms of renewable energy to conventional energy consumption. While this number may sound positive, we have to incorporate the facts of life into the future energy equation i.e. there will be more people, there will be more devices, there will be more infrastructure, there will be more aggressive control mechanisms put into place to combat climate change etc. 

In order to reach that ratio, our renewable energy source has to produce an exponential amount of power to meet growth expectations. Already smart grids, wind turbines and solar panels are being aggressively installed in China. Japan is actively looking into this space. The US understands the need to be vigilant in this space in order to not face another OPEC crisis. With oil prices going through the roof, airlines industries on the brink of going sour, more aggressive funding needs to go into energy R&D to deal with this in a more punctual manner. Maybe we can expect some new developments in the field of hydrogen fuels. 

Lovely little video.

Posted at 12:08am and tagged with: renewable, energy, power, future, video,.

April 25th 2012

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Incredible new video commissioned and released by the Planet Under Pressure conference in late March to highlight the newest epoch brought about by us, the Anthropocene. 

This video is beautiful and majestic in its depiction of how humanity has spread its influence across the entire globe, with animations overlaid on the Earth demonstrating road and rail networks, internet lines, shipping routes, flightpaths and so much more; it is literally a wonder to watch and behold the might of us humans. 

It boggles my mind to think how we have spread so far, built in every continent and country and literally blanketed the planet in our technology, for better or for worse. 

Everyone should watch this just to experience our power and understand our species just that little bit better. There’s even a non-narrated version if you just want to sit back and soak up the video in all its sheer wonder. 

Posted at 6:04pm and tagged with: vimeo, earth, anthropecene, humans, humanity, globe, roads, railways, internet, video, technology, influecne, awe, power, beauty, planet under pressure, majestic,.