Water, Water, Everywhere...?

After the torrential rain and subsequent floods which hit the UK a few months ago, it can be hard to dismiss that over the long-term, the South of the UK is one of the most water-stressed parts of Europe.  That basically means that we're using too much water (in our homes, business and in agriculture), than our normal freshwater supplies will allow.

Water is an incredibly cheap resource (relative to the benefits we derive from it), so it can be easy to dismiss its importance.  However, with climate change likely to cause an increase in extreme weather events, droughts may be become more common.  If we act now and start to change our behaviours, collectively, we can minimise the inconvenience of any problems in the future.

Use of hot water

Although water is relatively cheap, energy certainly isn't.  Surprisingly, many people haven't understood the link between their use of hot water, and their energy bills.  In fact, it is estimated that 17% of your energy bill may go towards heating water.  So for an average dual-fuel energy bill of £1264, £215 is for heating water.  So, having slightly shorter showers (and minimising baths), can make a real difference to your energy bills.

Water (and energy!) saving shower head

Free water-savings gadgets

Your local water company wants to help you save water (in fact they've had a duty to promote the efficient use of water for all their customers since February 1996), so most offer free water-saving gadgets.  Just click the relevant link below for your water company and select the freebies which are most relevant to your needs.

James Lovelock - "A Rough Guide to the Future"

This evening, I was lucky enough to watch James Lovelock be interviewed at Conway Hall, by John Gray.  He was launching his new book, "A Rough Ride to the Future ", which I'll read when I get a chance, and add my thoughts to this blog entry.

James is over Ninety years young now, but the audience could hardly tell, as he sat in a particularly challenging chair, and brought to life some of the key themes of his book so passionately.

James Lovelock being interviewed by John Gray

Of course, the audience were aware that James is well-recognised as being a leading thinker in Earth being a self-regulating system, with the 'Gaia Theory'. And he didn't disagree when it was suggested that some of the latest thinking around climate change, and the need to balance mitigation with adaptation, were ideas he's been a forefather of.  Here's a very quick skip through some of the other ideas which caught my attention as I listened - hopefully I haven't misrepresented him...

Anthropocene

The anthropocene is an era of time (which we're in currently), when "mankind began to exert a noticeable effect on the living environment (a definition which has been extended to include "changes to the Earth's atmosphere and surface sufficiently great to be discernible by observers viewing the Earth from space".  James suggests that us Brits started it all off, when Thomas Newcomen invented the steam engine back in 1712.

Concurrently to the anthropocene, James also recognises an accelerated evolution, leaving Darwinian timescales, and piggy-backing off things like Moore's Law - the doubling of computing power roughly every two years. Humankind can turn the sun's energy into information and rather than be alarmist about how this could lead to robots taking over from humans, he suggests that much like his own pacemaker, computing will supplement humans, either in an isolated fashion, or perhaps as a shared consciousness (I think Twitter is already doing this).

Cities

James looked to nature and saw inspiration in "...social insects like ants, bees and wasps."  He went on to reference the perfectly controlled micro-climate of a termite mound in Australia. Relating that to human-scale, he then considered Singapore, a city which is highly successful, surrounded by fertile land, yet averages 12 degrees higher than the Earth's average.  He ponders whether human's sustainable future will be found in gravitating towards cities.

Geoengineering

Although geo-engineering has its detractors, and certainly it's important to understand the longer-term unintended consequences of actions, James was supportive of certain measures needing to be utilised as the climate worsens. In particular, he supported giant aerosols spraying fine seawater mist from cargo ships, to help clouds form, wherever they were required.  However, the political barriers may be harder to overcome than the engineering ones, as humans are fundamentally a tribal species with allegiances to our own nations.

Nuclear

Controversially perhaps, James is a supporter of Nuclear power and thought that it was "... given to society as an incredible gift..".  The challenge was that it was misused initially, and thinks that society still feels guilty about it.  When questioned about radioactive waste by an audience member, he suggested we should look across the English Channel, where the French burn their waste.

Oceans

James acknowledged that climate scientists had "got it wrong", assuming that the linear relationship between atmospheric carbon and temperature still held in the anthropocene. He argues that climate science is more complex due to the pollutants in the atmosphere which reflect the sun's rays (e.g. aerosols), and also the incredible importance of our oceans - an area of almost 2/3 the Earth's surface, but hardly understood at all.

Science vs. Inventors

As well as being an eminent scientist, with over 200 scientific papers published, he sees himself as 50% an inventor.  And that we shouldn't underestimate the potential breakthroughs that inventions may bring, perhaps even without understanding the science.  Just think of Faraday...

In wrapping-up with audience questions, when asked what James considered 'progress' to be, he suggested that, given the sun has a worse case of global warming than Earth, it is simply "...measured by success in an ever worsening environment."

Hearing an optimist speak about such serious issues is refreshing - climate science can often seem like a doomsday scenario, so fans of human ingenuity like James should be given a louder voice.  And it certainly helps put in perspective the day-to-day challenges of corporate and political sustainability and helps reflect on the (even) bigger picture.

Every cloud has a silver lining...?

The floods in the UK in the last couple of months have truly been newsworthy, in fact some of my own (uninspiring!) footage of Guildford was used on a BBC London News bulletin:

In some parts of the country, water levels were (are!) reaching unprecedented heights, property, livelihoods and transport infrastructure has been damaged, and people are questioning how warnings have been ignored, with funding allocated to more vote-winning (until now) political areas.

I hope everyone comes through this safely, and Great Britain will bounce back and become stronger, perhaps considering some longer-term sustainability wins...

Respecting Nature

Although it's easy to assume that human activity hasn't exacerbated the impact of prolonged, heavy rain, there's plenty of evidence to suggest that changes in land-use in upland areas mean there's a greater likelihood of flooding in lowland areas.  Towards the end of 2013, before this recent flooding started, I started reading a book by Tony Juniper, "What Has Nature Ever Done For Us?".



It's an incredibly well-researched book with page after page of examples about the importance of the biodiversity and ecosystems we live around - and the monetary impact of taking them for granted.  Specifically, it cites examples where countries have seen the impact of changes of land use impacting flooding.  It certainly adds complexity to the potential move to allow destruction of ancient woodland (see Independent Article) - a habitat which is crucial to the UK.

Climate Change

Climate change is happening, and of course whether humans have contributed/caused it, is debated by some.  There is though, significant evidence to suggest that as the planet warms, the atmosphere has a greater capacity to store water and this will lead to a greater frequency of extreme weather events.  

Sometimes extreme weather in distant lands can be hard to relate to (albeit with global supply chains, the UK can feel the impact in indirect ways). Having such extreme weather events in the UK though, brings it (literally) home, and might help revitalise the debate about climate change.  What's going to be really interesting though is how to apportion efforts (and budgets) between adaptation (e.g. flood defences), versus mitigation (reducing carbon emissions to prevent as much as possible any negative changes in climate).

Sense of Community

Parts of the UK have lost their sense of community, but the importance of community is critical to a sustainable future.  There is nothing like a crisis to bring people together, so for flood-impacted areas, maybe a huge positive can be born.  Could we see collaboration between the local authority, large employers, community groups and charities coming together to create a resilient 'civil defence' group?  Could the same group explore community energy schemes, collaboration consumption, cycle (or canoe!) hiring schemes, etc?