Notes on Sustainability

I was speaking at a conference in Singapore recently and the ongoing audience theme was ‘the world is going to end…’.  No one seemed to have the answer and there was a great level of distress.

This mode is an enduring theme in the sustainability debate.  No one really has enough information to turn the problem around and companies are making “green-washing” claims to allay consumer fears.

FOR THE RECORD, We, humans have the technology to turn around most of the damage to the planetary eco-system.

The problem is that our leaders don’t have sufficient information to lead the turn around.  The beloved financial community can only see short term gains and are pre-occupied with “Carbon Credits” and staying in business.

Through all this hype there needs to be a clear framework for response. This information is really quite simple but has been in front of us all the time.  So here it is, according to the source,

RULE ONE – WHAT WE HUMANS NEED AND CAN NOT DO WITHOUT

Breathable Oxygen or we are dead in 3 mins,

Unpolluted water or we are dead in 3 days,

Suitably nutritious and un-contaminated food or we are dead in 3 weeks,

Suitable shelter within 3 months or we can not raise our young,

RULE TWO – THE THINGS WERE ARE SO ACCUSTOMED TO AND THINK WE CAN NOT DO WITHOUT AS WOULDN’T MAKE ANY MONEY!

Cheap Energy for industry, lighting, transport,

Resources to easily exploit to provide our standard of living

Education to allow us to use energy to exploit resources

Communication to allow us to share how we use energy to exploit resources with our education,

(These needs have only really been around for about a century in a meaningful way….and contributed to the unbalanced resource, energy and waste system which have developed due to cheap oil and tolerance of pollution).

RULE THREE – The technology to reduce pollutions and wastage is already here and is commercially viable…

Technology for treatment of existing waste is already hear but can not be fully implemented as funds are not available for most of the developing world.

Clean Energy is available but is struggling to compete with traditional polluting sources as the real cost of pollution is not measured or charged.  China, India and the USA remain the main obstacles to securing a level playing field for energy technologies.

Some examples where a change can make a huge difference-

Palm Oil Mill Effluent currently goes to ponds and turns to methane – for a standard mill, 32,000 Tonnes of CO2 equivalents (about 1500 Tonnes of Methane which is 21 times more damaging to the ozone layer).  By capturing this methane and using it to fuel boilers, engines or trucks, Mill owners can save money and create jobs.  This is changing but a lot of owners dont understand how they can save money.

Town Councils and local Governments collect rubbish and mostly bury it in the ground.  This creates lots of pollution in the ground water and causes lots of problems with rats and disease.  By hiring people to sort the rubbish, recycling the plastics/glass/metals/computer parts & phones, turn the food into biogas for energy and then bury the balance in an enclosed fill or burn the balance (this can produce some very nasty chemicals in the air but a number of companies are working on solving the air pollution risks).  This thinking is yet to catch on in the emerging markets of the world but it really should.  Jobs and industry are created.  More energy is available.  And yes there is a net reduction in the amount or Methane released.

Power stations can capture CO2 released from thier smoke stacks and use sewerage water to grow algae in special bioreactors.  This technology is in its infancy but is expected to produce algae for biofuels whilst reducing the impact of coal. When coupled with the push to CO2 reducing “clean Coal” technology, this greatly reduce the imapct of coal power.

Simplified packaging of items can greatly reduced the energy and resource cost of production and also the cost to the environment.

Stay tuned for more info.

S

I had coffee with a great mate of mine who is a retired senior banker…he is 48 years. Clearly this guy has great insight.  His passing remark to me was “well maybe this is the great test of our generation…”.  But what is the “Test”.

I think the test facing us is multifaceted:

1     Collapsing banking system and world Wide financial collapse.

2     Consequent breakdown in accepted world order – “we are too linked together to  go to war..” – HMMM lets hope so.

3     Lack of real money to feed, water, clothe, house and provide utility to people all around the world….including many who previously were better feed, clothed, housed, and serviced with utiility.

4     Lack of funds to create the climate mitigation projects to slow climate change due to collapsing carbon prices and lack of liquidity for project developers.

I am no financial sage but I am sure that none of the current financial sages have any idea where we are headed.  I recently spoke with a another banker, the chief economist for another emerging markets bank, who said he felt that the only course of action open to the United States was to print more money.  There would be benefits of more local jobs but hyperinflation and loss of international standing would be mean the end of the current world order.  Needless to say anyone outside the US who bought US treasuries would suffer immensely.  I cant see China being terribly happy about that.  It would be a body blow to world trade.

From a sustainability point of view, the days of the huge carbon mitigation projects are finished.  The small scale local action projects will drive the debate in the next two years.  The funds simply aren’t there.

I suppose it will be a matter of who is left standing in the fight against climate change…..But wars are like that.

S