Getting the household involved

The report the third in the IPCC series has been hailed by many for bridging differences on the issue of cli­mate change. The report shows scientific consensus that human activi­ty was to blame for climate change and that global warm­ing was already adversely af­fecting human, animal and plant life.

As I have outlined in this blog many times efficiency within the trans­port, buildings and household is one key factor that can lower emissions without a real change to lifestyle. It is clear the next two to three dec­ades are crucial in setting the stage for stabilisation of the concentration of carbon di­oxide, the key greenhouse gas contributing to global warm­ing.

I am an advocate for action such as a fuel tax or mechanisms that bind us to the limits for carbon dioxide emissions set by the Kyoto Protocol. However not all actions should be at a Governmental level. On the efficiency end we can get our children involved at a household level and bring up their awareness. Here’s how we are doing it in our house…

Our children get pocket money like many other children. But they need to invoice us as parents on a weekly basis. No invoice, no pocket money. The end amount scales up to a maximum sum that they get if they have made adequate contribution that week. Within our “family council” we have evolved the design of the invoice over time to include aspects such as tidiness and energy consumption…. their actions to turn of lights, aircon and reduce our consumption of electricity is a factor in the weekly pocket money. In Singapore it’s hot every night, so they have the responsibility to turn off aircon when they come out of their rooms in the morning. Lack of action on this item will reduce the amount they can claim for that day.

It’s worked for us; we don’t have to harp on about turning off electrical devices and saving energy. And, our discussion and agreement around the invoice design gets agreement on what’s important and why. It’s a simple one page sheet with tick boxes and it sits on a clip board in the room. The use is daily (although I must admit sometimes this needs a little reminder!). Even discussion on what temperature we should set the thermostat to is a critical discussion.

Replacing all bulbs that were incandescent with low energy long light bulbs was another action that is simple and effective action that reduces consumption without changing lifestyle. Have a look at this slide from a kids school presentation that I did. The first

For short trips (to the local shops and Roti Prata stall) we use and encourage bike riding rather than taking the car on these short trips. Again you can engage your family in a discussion about the impact of this action - raising awareness and benefit of reducing car usage. Depending on your views it is also known that one non-technical option for mitigating climate change, is eating less meat. Emissions associat­ed with the beef cycle are significant however we have not invoked this, and prefer to use other mechanisms to reduce our carbon footprint. But the family discussion is worth the time and effort again just to look at how the earth is impacted by our activity and what actions is appropriate for us as a family to minimize our footprint.

Cutting your losses

With drought one of the biggest concerns in terms of climate impacts, the world is in a good position to both adapt to and mitigate climate change, if it is able to reduce green house gas now. Australia is in a good position to help this issue because water has always been scarce that country.

By using water in different ways you can get a lot of outcomes from one bucket of water.
At the moment water is very cheap and there's a lot of it around, so farmers tend to let it drain through the soil profile, causing problems such as wetland salinity. Only 70% of irrigation supply makes it onto the farm, the rest seeps into the groundwater or evaporates.

What we need to do is reduce demand and increase efficiency, and there are a number of steps that can accommodate that. For example, automated water control systems, and improvements in weather forecasting could both reduce the amount of water being pumped around any country. On Australia's typically long flat rivers it takes about a week for water to get from a dam source to irrigators, and if it rains in region being irrigated in the meantime that rainwater water goes to waste. So an integrated view of weather prediction must be coupled with irrigation.

In urban areas, the energy impact of water can be decreased by a shift towards local supplies, reducing household demand (with water efficient shower heads and better appliances), recycling on site and pumping water less around cities.

Cities can be much more water efficient than they have been. For example you could be using wetlands to trap stormwater and pumping that back to houses for gardens as a second reticulation system. My earlier blog also covered some need inventions in Australia for reusing grey and black water.

Eventually countries need to find new water supply systems, and this is where R&D can help to improve efficiency and reduce costs. Desalination and recycling have high energy costs but new technologies are being developed that could reduce energy needs eight-fold, says Prosser. Nanotechnology being developed by CSIRO in Australia and local university scientists can improve the membranes used to remove salt or pollutants from desalinated or recycled water. The membrane massively increases throughput rate and reduces clogging, so less force is required to push water through the membrane.

Other options include storing water in aquifers or pumping out groundwater, (although this can have severe consequences for some ecosystems).

Australia has an unprecedented budget surplus from the commodity boom in Asia. This is where the spending should be reallocated from. Again in a brilliant political move the Australian Prime Minister John Howard funnels the money to households as increases in social spending to buy the voters at this years elections – rather than producing some research activity that will boost Australia’s position in fighting climate change. “Good on ya John” again like Bush, great demonstrations of leadership (not!).

While we're fitting new taps, cycling to work and switching to solar power the inevitable impacts of climate change will be landing heavily on those perhaps least equipped to change - the biological world around us.

Many climate impacts can be avoided, reduced or delayed by mitigation, but even the most stringent mitigation efforts cannot avoid further impacts of climate change in the next few decades.
In Australian some species are vulnerable to even moderate climate change. With a 1-2 degree rise 88% of butterfly core habitat is lost, and there would be a 40% drop in total Eucalyptus species numbers. With catastrophic climate change - when temperatures rise over 5 degrees C - 90-100% of core habitat is lost for most of our native species. So, we are in a critical situation in Australia that will be impacted. Overseas in some countries this will even be greater.

Here’s some interesting links (all thanks to the ABC):
Climate impact in Australia: More bushfires, worse droughts and the death of the Great Barrier Reef. These are just some of the impacts predicted for Australia in the latest UN Climate Change report.
The Road to 2050: Never before has climate change been such a hot topic for the public. ABC Science series of features on what the science says we should be doing, what the policy makers and industry leaders are doing, and what we ourselves can do to cut greenhouse emissions.
Council House Two - the eco-office block of the future: Council House Two, or CH2 as its known, is quite possibly the eco-office block of the future – many of its design principles have been taken from nature.
Climate change quiz: Climate change is one of the biggest and most controversial issues facing humanity today, but with information exceeding action it can be hard to see the wood for the trees. Take the quiz to find out what you know.
Greenhouse calculator: Are you a greenhouse pig? Maybe you're an environmental Ghandi. Try this 5 minute greenhouse calculator.
It's easy being greener: Climate change is big news at the moment. If you're inspired to do something about it then making a few simple changes where it counts can have a big impact.
Ask an expert - Climate change: Climate change is one of the major challenges facing humanity in the 21st Century. Here are the answers from some of Australia's top climate change experts.

It's hard to look intelligent George....

Bush can’t help it. He gets it wrong everyday. Look at this report from Europe:

Reported by the Straights Times – “DIVISIONS over how to confront climate change and regional security are looming over a summit of the Group of Eight (G-8) wealthy industrial economies.
Even before the summit begins today, the United States put a damper on proceedings by opposing a proposal to combat global warming by German Chancellor Angela Merkel, the host of the summit, which takes place at the Baltic resort of Heiigendamm. The proposal calls for an agreement to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 50 per cent by 2050. The US opposes such a mandated reduction, preferring voluntary country-by-country targets. A lunch meeting between US President George W. Bush and Dr Merkel failed to close the gap, though both sides expressed a willingness to work together on climate change.”

Bush is clearly concerned about his oil interests. So here he is with the thought of “On one hand my oil interests, on the other Global Annihilation”. Hmm which one to take? Like a good politician with the thoughts of the people clearly at heart he chooses his oil interests.

As I have said before calling Bush a “leader” is a clear stretch of the imagination.

Here an interesting report from Greenland:
Video story

Bush is more concerned with the potential for Nuclear weapons in Korea and Iran. Climate takes the back burner. I read a great bit of dialog from the New York Times on this last year when the editorial said something like “oh yea, I get it, we (Americans) have the good nuclear weapons and the Koreans and Iranians have the bad ones; so we can’t allow that!”

So again Bush, leading the biggest Green House gas producing country in the world throws cold water on any sensible suggestion to save humanity – good for you George!