The SDGs as a Climate Solution

Reducing extreme poverty is a complex issue that must be tackled from many different angles. The UN's Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) are a good way to categorize various improvements needed to allow those with the least to live more prosperous, and less carbon-intensive lives.

The Sustainable Development Goals show the work need to be done to eliminate emissions-intensive extreme poverty. Source: Council for International Development

The interconnectivity of all these issues is demonstrated by the application of environmental policy in poverty reduction and the effect of poverty reduction on environmental goals. The SDGs already directly (SDG 13) and indirectly (SDG 7, 9, 11, 12, and 15) promote climate change mitigation and adaptation in a way that reduces poverty. This follows President Mohamed Nasheed's vision of development by encouraging growth in energy, infrastructure, and communities in a way that does not necessarily increase emissions. The economic development of the extreme poor is exciting for environmental policy. It can help reduce high survival-emissions, such as slash-and-burn agriculture or traditional open-fire cookstoves. These actions, in turn, will help meet SDGs 7, 11, 12, and 13 in return.

Reducing extreme poverty has always appealed to our humanity, and now it can satisfy our pragmatism as we attempt to alleviate global warming. Donating to your favourite extreme poverty and sustainable development charity can change our world in more ways than one.

Fair World, Fair Climate

It is widely accepted that increased carbon dioxide in the atmosphere are altering how our climate acts. But why have greenhouse gases risen to a dangerous level? One interesting explanation is inequality.

The majority of people live sustainable lives. The most carbon intensive lifestyles come from the opposite ends of the income spectrum. They result from the consumer lifestyles of the rich and the high survival emissions of the poor. Source: Wikipedia, Jetlux

Ken Conca found that the majority of people live sustainable lives. The lifestyles of the rich and very poor are the most carbon intensive. Paul Wapner and John Willoughby conclude that addressing inequality is vital to solving climate change. They advocate both economic development of the poor as well as income reduction of the rich. Note that in this context 'rich' does not just apply to millionaires and billionaires. As demonstrated by my previous posts, I am guilty of emitting carbon at and unsustainable rate. Addressing inequality would also assist with the international talks that play such an important role in developing global climate strategies. Politicians from the Global South have pointed to inequality as an issue that undermines the trust necessary to move policy forward.

The problem of inequality and its relation the climate change will likely be increasingly examined as both are worsening. While the gap in global income is concerning, it, fortunately, can be tackled in many different ways. I will first explore the more universally palatable solution of development to decrease high survival emission. Then solutions that tackle the dominate emissions of the rich will be considered.

And We're Back!

I'm back from my hiatus and am excited to explore further what changes we can make both personally and as a society to fight climate change. During the break, I took a fascinating class called Politics of Climate Change taught by Dr. Sam Randalls. It involved examining different preconceived assumptions of the true cause of climate change and seeing how they affect proposed solutions.

Looking back at my posts, I have mostly considered technical solutions. This makes sense given my science background. Moving forward, I'm hoping to incorporate solutions that evolve from other worldviews. I hope you're as excited as I am to investigate opportunities to change the future.

Clean energy helps meet development needs in India. Source: Samir Saran

Did I Change for the Climate?

This is my final blog post. Over the course of this blog I've looked at a wide variety of adaptations to climate change. However, I believe that change needs to start on an individual level. I've been cutting my carbon footprint by walking to school, turning off lights, and trying to buy local, organic, and unprocessed foods whenever possible. And then the holiday came. After two flights across the Atlantic, I was nervous to see my final result. So courtesy of Carbon Independent, I calculated my footprint.

My final carbon footprint. Source: Carbon Independent

4 extra tonnes from two flights to New York. While I'm below average for the UK and US, this still stings.

Climate adaptation is going to be a challenge. It's heartbreaking to think that it may eventually mean that going home for the holidays is no longer an option. Hopefully, if there is enough mitigation, that scenario can be avoided. In the meantime, thank you for reading. I hope you enjoyed exploring this topic as much as I did. 

Source: Biarritz

Making it Rain: The Strong Water Harvesting Market

A commercial rainwater harvesting system Source: Stormsaver

Build Projects recently reported that 2015 was a great year for the water harvesting market. It has increasingly been used by homeowner looking to a value to their house and industry looking to cut costs. The technology now allows some insulations to save the owners money within the first year of purchase. And the momentum is expected to continue into 2016 with sales above inflation despite an expected lowering in the price of water.

Rain Water Harvesting (Part 2)

Domestic Uses

Helmreich and Horn Recommendations
The collection area's Helmreich and Horn recommended for domestic rainwater harvesting (RWH) include roofs, courtyards, and roads. GIS was predicted to be a useful tool in locating appropriate collection zones.

The most important aspect of the storage container is a tight lid that prevents contamination, algae growth, and mosquito breeding. They didn't have a definite recommendation for the location of the tank, above or below ground, nor the size of the container. Larger tanks were not inherently preferable as it took longer to cycle through water, so it's less fresh.

If drinking water is the aim of the harvesting, then open containers were not recommended. And collection sites in urban areas would need to filter out the air pollutants and roof contaminants.

Implementation Example
Bangladesh is looking toward rainwater harvesting as a potential solution to reduce urban flooding during the monsoon seasons and alleviate water shortages in the dry season. A study was conducted by Akter and Ahmed to access the potential for rooftop RWH in South Agrabad (southwest part of Chittagong city). They were able to demonstrate the value of GIS in analysing sites' suitability  for  RWH, as Helmreich and Horn predicted.  Factors considered in their model include the area of the roofs, the slope of the land, how easily runoff could flow, and the amount of drainage. (Elevation changes in the land was a factor that Hornreich and Horn emphasis for agriculture but not domestic collection.) South Agrabad was divided into 16 watersheds. Watershed one is lauded with rooftops being able to absorb .44 meters out of the 1.71 meters of total rainfall. Therefore Akter and Ahmed say that roof top rain harvesting can alleviate up to 26% percent of the flooding depth.

The possible amount of rainwater that could be collected in
each watershed compared to the current amount of runoff
in South Agrabad. Source: Akter and Ahmed

The 31% collection of total runoff in Watershed 10 was not considered a satisfactory reduction of water because the amount of stagnant water would still be above rickshaw height. The cause of additional flooding may be due to Watershed 10 being the lowest slope in the region. Excess runoff from other areas may accumulate there.

The amount of water each person could receive from roof water harvesting was calculated for 2006 (a dry year), 2011 (an average year), and 2014 (a wet year). They found that the daily amount provided by these collections was 20 liters per person.

Rain Water Harvesting Takeaways

The theme for both Africa and Bangladesh was using RWH to alleviate drought while reducing flooding. The principle applied to both agricultural and domestic water use. Helmreich and Horn briefly mention intense rainstorms, but they never delve into the benefits that water collection could have on reducing flooding risks.

It is interesting that Maswa, Tanzania used roads as a collection point, when Helmreich and Horn recommended it for domestic purposes. While the urban environment has more roads, they are a prominent feature of rural landscapes. It makes sense to take advantage of a surface material that causes runoff, which Helmrich and Horn see as a fundamental first step in RWH. Another reversal of recommendation occurred with South Agrabad, Bangladesh's use of land slope in their consideration of RWH sites. This might not have been considered a factor for Akter and Ahmed as they didn't consider any benefits inlvoving flood reduction.

Rain Water Havesting (Part 1)

The benefits of Rain Water Harvesting are not just in preventing runoff, as was mentioned in my World Soil Day post. It is also an important tool for softening the effects of drought.
Helmreich and Horn examined the potential for rain water harvesting (RWH) for both agricultural and domestic uses. This post will examine their findings with respect to agriculture and see an example of agricultural RWH. Next post will examine domestic RHW and compare it to the methods used in agriculture.

Agricultural Uses

Helmreich and Horn Recommendations
The two types of agricultural RWH mentioned by Helmreich and Horn were (1) water stored in the soil where it fell and (2) water collected away from the farm and stored away from the crops.
The initial requirement for a good collection site is a surface material that allows runoff. Additionally the slope of the land must be great enough to cause the runoff to flow.
The collection point could be above, below, or within the ground. Underground was recommend over above-ground structures as it prevents evaporation. If the water was to be stored within the ground itself, then the soil must retain water well.
It was recommended that local labour and materials were used to assess areas to adapt and build the necessary infrastructure.

Implementation Example

Maswa, Tanzania is a semi-arid region where a lack of rain can prevent crop growth and trap farmers in poverty. The crops may miss out on the benefits of up to 80% of rain, because they can't absorb it fast enough. RWH allows farmers to replace low-profit, drought resistant crops, such as Sorghum (a cereal), with high-profit, thirsty crops, like rice and vegetables. A study by Hatibu et al. looks at the economic benefits of different times of RWH systems. The examined Microcatments, Macrocatchments, Macro catchments paired with road drainage, and Macro and Microcatchments paired with pond storage. These RWH were mainly made local labor and materials (lots of earth ditches) as recommended by Helmreich and Horn. While the roads are not locally funded, the RWH systems branching off from them are locally constructed.

Really quick term definitions:

Typical microcatchment set-up. Source: Ali et al.

Microcatchments- small enhancements in the topography (eg. trenches) to increase the amount of water going to plants; Type 1 of Helmreich and Horn, which they highlight as cheap and local

 

Due to the lack of other jobs, economic benefit
(in US$) is best measured with respect to land
area. Source: Hatibu et al.

Macrocatchments- similar principles as microcatchment but for diverting large pools of water that accumulate during storms; Type 2 collection with Type 1 storage of Helmreich and Horn

Marcocatchments paired with road drainage- this diverts the pre-existing large catchment of water (used to prevent flash floods on roads) to crops; Type 2 collection with Type 1 storage of Helmreich and Horn

Macro and Microcatchments paired with pond storage- allows farmer to store water away from the crops and water them when needed; Type 2 of Helmreich and Horn


Hatibu et al. found that that Marcocatchments paired with road drainage was the most profitable in terms of US$ per hectare (land area).  This finding exemplifies the dual benefit of flood and drought alleviation that RWH can provide. The pond storage might be improved by the underwater storage recommend by Helmreich and Horn. The pond's higher potential for evaporation may be way it is so much less efficient than the road drainage.