The nitrogen cycle is one of our human life-support systems, supporting human life and life on our planet. Our disruption of the nitrogen cycle is a public health issue of profound importance.
In this week’s article from Fleeing Vesuvius, Laurence Matthews discusses Cap & Share: a fair, effective, cheap, empowering and simple way to reduce emissions from the burning of fossil fuels. It could form the basis of a wider global climate framework but how realistic is it to call for its introduction?
By Corinna Byrne, from Fleeing Vesuvius. Farming and other land-based activities could do a lot to mitigate global warming. Ireland needs new policies to get its land to absorb CO2 rather than release it. The large amounts of carbon locked up in the country’s peatlands must be safeguarded and damaged bogs restored so that they can sequester carbon again. In addition, the use of biochar could reduce methane and nitrous oxide emissions and build up the fertility and carbon content of the soil.
The availability of fresh water and the energy use associated with it, particularly in agriculture, is not thought about much in Britain and Ireland. Nevertheless it is a major issue – as a recent paper by two academics at the University of East Anglia demonstrates.
In this chapter from Fleeing Vesuvius, Emer O’Siochru describes how different activities should be situated beside each other to be more energy and carbon efficient. This flies in the face of current development planning which tends to focus on bringing similar activities closer together to reap the benefits of scale and agglomeration.
Many discussions on sustainability rarely mention the world’s growing population and whether current or projected future levels are – or can be made – compatible with living within the limits set by the Earth’s regenerative capacity. David Knight’s paper shows that the growing population is not incompatible with lower levels of energy use, but that the rising levels of consumption in rich countries and “emerging” ones like Brazil, India and China certainly are.
Most beef farmers in Ireland are losing money. In view of this, some policymakers and commentators think that it would be in the national interest to encourage a lot of them to give up their loss-making hobby and to switch to growing biofuels instead. The Carbon Cycles and Sinks Network is preparing a report which explores this idea and draws some unexpected conclusions, and comments are very welcome.
This submission was made by the Carbon Cycles and Sinks Network. It describes a possible framework for a Rural Environmental Protection-type framework which would reward farmers for practices that were likely to lead to their reducing their GHG emissions and also increasing the carbon content of their soils and the biomass growing on them. It suggests that best farming practice is re-assessed in the light of its climate effects and sequestration potential and re-defined if necessary. Farm payments would be made conditional on the adoption of these new best practice standards. No attempt would be made to pay farmers for…
Members from Britain and Ireland meet to discuss current thinking on the climate crisis and draw up the group’s programme of work for the next year. This year’s meeting is in Cloughjordan, County Tipperary, Ireland. Attendance is limited to 20 and only two or three places are still available.
Two public lectures hosted by the Carbon Cycles and Sinks Network and Gorta. The first lecture, “Organic farming’s role in improving food security and combatting climate change”, features Gundala Azeez as the speaker. The second, “Biochar’s role in increasing fertility and reducing fertiliser use”, will be presented by Dr. Witold Kwapinski and David Friese-Greene.
Cap and Share campaigners have just released a clever and playful 5-minute video which, they say, was produced covertly and then passed on to them by “Freakylinks”. Cap and Share would simultaneously control greenhouse gas emissions and boost equality, but as the video shows, the prospect of cutting out all the financial middle-men may not appeal to everyone.
The annual Climate Group meeting was held near the Findhorn Community in Scotland. We started with our usual public meeting on the evening of Thursday 25th February and broke up at lunchtime on Sunday, February 28th, in time for most people to travel home and be at work the following day. We had sole use of Newbold House, which was built as a hotel and is now a retreat centre, during our stay. See www.newboldhouse.org.
Recording of parallel workshop with Corinna Byrne.
This video is available to Feasta Members and attendees of the conference only. Please contact website @ feasta.org for access.
Richard Douthwaite, co-founder of Feasta and much-loved colleague and friend, died on November 14th 2011 after a long illness. We will miss his unique and far-ranging intellect, the clarity of his thought and writing, his warmth and his laughter. Tributes to him have come in from around the world and you can read them here.
In line with his wishes, we are continuing with our scheduled events and publishing of articles.
Independent radio producer and Feasta member Mary Phelan travelled to Tanzania and Zanzibar earlier this year in order to make two radio documentaries on the effects of climate change in East Africa. The first programme, which focuses on the impact climate change is having on Zanzibar, will be broadcast on Saturday 5.3.2012 on Newstalk 106-108fm at 7am. The second programme, looking at the situation in northern Tanzania and Mount Kilimanjaro, will be broadcast the following day, 6.3.2012 at 8am.
Schumacher Ireland Summer School
Exploring the transition to a sustainable society on the island of Ireland
Schumacher College is organising its first Summer School in Ireland from 11th to 15th June 2012, in conjunction with Queen’s University Belfast. Feasta members Jonathan Dawson and Peadar Kirby will be among the course teachers. [...]
Feasta’s Autumn conference examined measures that this country could adopt to secure its economic future which would not leave it reliant on external factors largely outside of its control. Scenarios explored included the potential collapse of the eurozone. The conference featured prominent international and Irish economists and was aimed at economists, politicians, policy-makers, business people, social partners, and other key decision-makers.
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