Natural Environment Blog

It was great to read that a United States amusement park has encouraged kids to collect almost 40,000 plastic bags.

Playland Amusement Park in Westchester, NY, provided free rides to kids who turned in 100 plastic bags or more on June 28.

Dubbed “Plastic Bag Day”, the event resulted in 39,995 plastic bags being retrieved. This means there are now 39,995 less plastic bags that can harm the environment.

The plastic bags will eventually be recycled into products such as outdoor decks and fencing.

Source: Mid Hudson News

The FSC certification is widely recognized as the most rigorous social and environmental certification program in the forestry industry. Basically, FSC certification helps save the world’s forests by ensuring that land owners manage their forests responsibly.

The good news is that the amount of forest that is being FSC certified is increasing at an impressive rate.

he following chart demonstrates the amount of land that has been FSC certified since 1995:

Furthermore, as of March this year, over 100 million hectares of forest is now FSC certified. To be more precise, 103,456,399 hectares of land across 79 countries is FSC certified.

This represents a significant increase in the amount of forestry land that has been approved for certification. Consider these facts:

• Within 10 years, FSC certified land has increased from less than 10 million hectares to more than 100 million.
• In 2006, FSC certified acreage grew by 33 percent.
• Globally, FSC certified land now represents 7 percent of production forests.

Andre de Freitas, FSC Head of Operations, commented…

The larger the forest area certified to FSC standards, the larger the forest area that is managed socially and environmentally responsibly. Each additional hectare certified to FSC standards brings us closer to achieving our mission: to improve forest management world wide.

About FSC

Established in 1993, the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) is an international organization that brings people together to find solutions which promote responsible stewardship of the world’s forests.

As mentioned, the FSC certification program is a rigorous social and environmental certification program for the forestry industry.

To learn more about FSC, visit the official FSC website.

Last night, the Australian government released its federal budget, which included increased spending for environmental issues.

Included in the budget, is:

• $200 million will be allocated to protecting the Great Barrier Reef
• $180 million will be allocated to new protected areas
• $150 million to be allocated to Indigenous conservation
• $500 million will be allocated to a fund for development and deployment of clean coal technologies
• $300 million to be used for a “green loan” scheme. Under the scheme, households will be able to borrow up to $10,000 to make their homes more green. This could include installing solar panels, rainwater tanks, greywater recycling, insulation, solar hot water heaters and energy-smart lighting. The loan will only be available to low to middle income households - those who earn less than $100,000 per year. The benefit of this loan is that it’s available at a low interest rate - a maximum of 2 percent of the annual gross income.

• Money will be spent on increasing the market penetration of renewable energy. Currently in Australia, only 8 percent of electricity comes from renewable sources. The government aims to increase that to 20 percent.
• $3 billion to be allocated to water buybacks.
• In total, $12.9 billion will be allocated to “Water for the Future Plan” over the next 10 years in order to improve Australia’s water supplies.

The response to the budget? Mixed. Although more money is being spent on environmental issues, many green groups believe too much is being allocated to the wrong areas, and that not enough is being done about climate change.

Here are some responses from various environmental groups:

• WWF-Australia’s response - Generally happy with the budget, but more action is required.
• Greenpeace’s response to the budget - Disappointed with the lack of measures to attack climate change. Renewable solutions have been sidelined whilst dirty coal is bankrolled.
• The Greens Party’s response - Budget utterly fails climate and oil challenge.

The New South Wales (NSW) government of Australia has agreed to introduce new legislation to make industrial hemp cultivation legal.

After decades of opposition to hemp, the NSW government is finally recognizing the benefits that hemp can bring. As well as reaping the great environmental benefits of hemp, the government expects that this will pave the way for a new and viable industry.

Primary Industries Minister, Ian Macdonald, says:

Industrial hemp fibre produced here in NSW could pave the way for the establishment of a new viable industry that creates and sells textiles, cloth and building products made from locally grown industrial hemp

Although hemp cultivation has been illegal in NSW until now, trials have been carried out in the west of the state. These have yielded 10 to 12 tonnes of dry stem per hectare, which is similar to yields reported from crops in other Australian states, as well as in Europe.

The National Farmers Federation are welcoming the legislation, although they aren’t aware of many farmers who are hanging out to grow hemp. I suspect over time, many farmers will diversify into this area. Especially if they find it commercially viable.

I sure hope the hemp industry in NSW gets all the support deserves. After all, how many other plants can yield the amazing environmental benefits that hemp does? And how many other plants can provide for such a diverse range of product applications as hemp?

These days, we hear a lot about the tragic consequences of plastic bags on the environment. In particular, plastic bags are causing significant damage to our oceans and marine life. But what about other plastic items?

In today’s world, we are surrounded by plastic. We live in a plastic world. What’s more, we throw out most of our plastic products at an alarming rate. Some plastic items, such as packaging, won’t even last a day before it’s tossed into the bin - or even worse, discarded onto the street or ocean. Other items - you know, those items that are supposed to last a long time - might be lucky to reach their 2nd birthday! Occasionally, we might purchase a plastic item that we keep for say, 5 - 10 years.

The ironic thing about this is that, one of plastic’s outstanding benefits has always been it’s incredible resilience and durability - plastic will last for hundreds of years. Yet, we throw it out, sometimes within a day of product purchase.

The fact that plastic doesn’t break down for hundreds of years causes a major issue for the environment. In particular, plastic is killing thousands of animals around the world every day.

Here are some (grim) facts/statistics on the impact that plastic is having on our oceans.

• Plastic causes the deaths of more than a million seabirds every year
• Plastic causes the deaths of more than 100,000 marine mammals each year
• About 90% of the rubbish floating in the ocean is plastic
• According to estimates by the UN Environment Programme in 2006, every square mile of ocean contains 46,000 pieces of floating plastic
• Hundreds of millions of nurdles (plastic pellets) find their way into the oceans each year. These nurdles act as a chemical sponge - they attract man-made chemicals, such as hydrocarbons and pesticide DDT. This makes them even more toxic. The nurdles then find themselves into marine creatures, then onto our dinner plate. We are indirectly eating our toxic waste.
• Plastic photodegrades. This means that it breaks down into much smaller parts. These smaller parts are continuously being eaten by marine creatures, who mistaken them for food. Many marine creatures actually feed their young on plastic items - again mistaking it for food. One turtle found dead in Hawaii had over a thousand pieces of plastic in its stomach and intestines.
• Floating plastic can sometimes transport marine life to a new location - one of which is outside their normal habitat. This can result in the migrant becoming a pest in the new habitat.
• Not all plastic floats. Much of it - up to 70% - ends up on the ocean floor. This ends up killing the marine life which is found there. Dutch scientists estimate that there’s up to 600,000 tonnes of plastic on the sea bed of the North Sea alone.
• The Pacific Ocean has a garbage dump twice the size of continental United States. The dump is so large that scientists believe it would be impossible to clean it up. Most of this gigantic dump consists of plastic.

Since 2003, the UK has held a Hemp Expo, which aims to raise public awareness of the value of hemp as a national crop.

Each year, the Hemp Expo is held in held in various locations around the UK. This year it’s returning to London - the place of the first Hemp Expo back in 2003.

Here’s what the official website has to say about the Hemp Expo:

Featuring the latest and greatest in new inventions, clothing, bags, food, books, alternative therapies, healing, music, famous names and famous faces, seminars, new seed strains, vaporisers and much, much more.

Exhibitors, inventors, wholesalers and retailers will be coming from all over the world to show the best in hemp and alternative technologies.

This year’s Hemp Expo will be held on 14th, 15th and 16th of November 2008, at the Truman Brewery, Brick Lane, London E1

It’s pretty much common knowledge that we’re burning through oil at an unsustainable rate. Sooner or later we’ll run out of oil and then what?

When many of us think of oil, we think of the stuff that we put into our car engines. We might also think of gasoline (also known as petrol) - the stuff that our cars need to run on.

In reality, crude oil is a much larger part of our lives than many of us realize. There are more than 4,000 different petrochemical products. These products are manufactured by refining crude oil.

Here are some common products that are made from oil:

• Gasoline
• Diesel fuel
• Heating oil
• Jet fuel
• Bunker fuel
• Fertilizers/pesticides
• Plastics
• Synthetic rubber
• Synthetic fibers
• Fertilizers/pesticides
• Dyes
• Paint
• Detergent
• Photographic film
• Food additives (canned food)
• Medicine
• Synthetic fibers (such as polyester, nylon, acrylic)
• Make-up
• Candles

It would be extremely difficult (probably impossible?) to live a civilized life in a developed country without using oil. Even those of us who are concerned about the environment, can’t help but use products that are derived from crude oil. Sad but true.

Alternatives to Crude Oil?

As well as being more efficient (and conserving as much as possible), the best thing we can do is search for alternative ingredients for these products. And there are alternatives.

For example, instead of using crude oil, many of these products could be manufactured from hemp. Hemp is a natural fiber which provides amazing environmental benefits over crude oil. And you might be surprised by the enormous variety of products that hemp can produce. Some say there are over 25,000 uses for hemp! For starters, here are 60 uses for hemp.

Plus, there are alternative energy sources such as solar, wind etc.

One day the world will need to make a transition from oil based products to alternatives. I suppose you could say the transition has begun. The more we embrace this transition, the better.

Sometimes it seems that just about everything we buy these days ends up being bad for the environment. I mean, even the clothes we’ve all been buying and wearing for so many years have turned out to be bad for the environment…

Now, don’t get me wrong. I’m not saying that wearing clothes is bad for the environment! The problem lies in the fabrics that are being used to make our modern day clothes. These fabrics tend to be far from eco-friendly. Here are some examples:

• Cotton: The production of (non-organic) cotton destroys farmland and pollutes waterways. The production of a simple T-shirt requires two pounds of pesticide!
• Dyes: Most common dyes that are used in fabrics contain heavy metals that can be harmful to animals, the natural environment, and ourselves.
• Synthetic polyesters and nylons: These are made from petrochemicals via a process of refining crude oil, which creates horrible pollution.
• Silk: Commercial silk is made by boiling the silkworms’ cocoons, then unwinding the single silk strand onto reels. This results in the silkworms being boiled to death in their cocoons.

What’s more, many fabrics cause further environmental problems when they’re dumped in landfill. Fabrics can typically take hundreds of years (or more) to break down in landfill.

But there is hope. Many major clothing companies are recognizing the environmental problems caused by traditional fabrics, and they’re starting to do something about it. These companies are now producing clothes that are made from eco-friendly fabrics.

Unfortunately, eco-friendly clothes still tend to be the exception rather than the norm. That’s why it’s so important for us, as consumers, to start searching for clothes made from environmentally friendly fabrics. The more of us that do this, the more commercially viable it will be for companies to use eco-friendly fabrics in their clothing lines. Here’s an example of one major clothing company doing just that.

I just came across this article, We should teach less about materialism, more about environment, which discusses how schools should make the effort to teach about sustainability, preservation, and living in harmony with nature.

I agree with the author of this article. I think today’s society has become too caught up in having the latest and greatest of everything. I love these lyrics to Donovan Frankenreiter’s song Heading Home… “Didn’t even exist last year but now it’s what we need“. That line pretty much sums up the materialism of today’s society - at least in the developed countries. Think about how many people would tell you they couldn’t live without their mobile phone.

Sometimes we need to step back and think, “Do I really need a new car every few years?” or “Do I really need that expensive wide screen TV?” or “Do I really need that latest mobile phone?”.

And I’m not pretending that I live a life totally free of modern day comforts either. I particularly love sitting at the local cafe sipping my coffee while thinking about what I’m going to type into my laptop! But I have started to make some big changes in order to live more in tune with nature. I think there’s a nice balance that can be reached between materialism and the environment.

If you haven’t done so already, I encourage you to have a think about what you can do to live a less materialistic life and one more in harmony with nature.

Is there such thing as a healthy balance between materialism and environmentalism?

There’s no doubt about the environmental impact of plastic bags. They can have an enormous impact on the natural environment. It’s a big problem and it will only be solved by using a big solution.

Fortunately, governments around the world are starting to wake up to the plastic bag problem. Here’s what some are doing:

• Uganda has banned plastic bags.
• Bangladesh has banned plastic bags
• Taiwan has banned free plastic bags. Customers are charged for plastic bags if they want them.
• Kenya has introduced an extra tax on plastic bags. It also plans to ban ultra-thin bags early this year.
• Rwanda has banned plastics less than 100 microns thick and introduced public awareness campaigns
• In 2003 South Africa banned plastic bags thinner than 30 microns and introduced a plastics levy
• China has just announced a nationwide ban on stores distributing free plastic bags from June 1, 2008. After June 1, supermarkets will be required to charge for plastic bags they provide. Also, the government will ban the actual production of ultra-thin bags less than 0.025mm thick.
• Ireland now charges a levy of 15 cents per bag bought. This resulted in a reduction in plastic bag usage by up to 95 percent.
• The Australian government is currently considering either introducing a levy (similar to Ireland), or introducing a complete ban on plastic bags by the end of 2008
• In America, San Francisco has become the first city to ban plastic bags from large supermarkets and chemist’ shops
• Several towns and cities in the UK have banned plastic shopping bags (but it’s not yet a nationwide ban).