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Articles by Bart Meehan
Australia's burning while the climate changes
The Australian bushfires have shocked the world. To fight the fires of the future, we need to work better together, writes Australia-resident Bart Meehan. The bushfires that are devastating so much of regional Australia, have rightly received international attention.
How natural flood management can build resilience - Environment Journal
Launching a new report this week on the evidence behind natural flood management, the Environment Agency’s executive director of flood and coastal risk management, John Curtin, said it was Major General Horatio Gates, who formed the American Army Corps of Engineers back in 1778 who first developed the idea.
EV charge networks hit back at ‘unreliable’ claims - Environment Journal
A survey by the website Click4Reg.co.uk claimed 88% of EV drivers believe the current public charge network in the UK is ‘unreliable’ and a similar number (82%) believe the government is not keeping up with the demand for public EV charge points. The survey also found 96% of EV drivers are dissatisfied with public charge points and almost three quarters (74%) said the availability of charge points was a key factor in deciding where to park.
And the winner is… the value of sustainability awards - Environment Journal
The award was presented by the International Sustainable Campuses Network and recognised the best practices the Australian National University was implementing to improve the campus environmental performance. I was pleased by the acknowledgement especially for a small team that had worked so hard to convince an otherwise preoccupied community to invest time and resources in improving the campus environmental footprint but what surprised me was the reaction of university senior management.
Directors hail digital technology as a ‘game changer’ for highways - Environment Journal
The route to the highways systems of the future, published by the Association of Directors of Environment, Economy, Planning and Transport (ADEPT), examines how digital innovation can help with the construction, operation and maintenance of local road networks and other highways infrastructure.
Shining a light on community energy - Environment Journal
Firstly, can you tell us about how and why Joju Solar was set up? Joju Solar was founded in 2006 by Joe Michaels and myself. Joe was the entrepreneur, who saw the potential for renewable energy and wanted to set up a business in this space, but wasn’t an expert in the technology. At the time I was running the solar energy research at Oxford University’s Environmental Change Institute and had thought about setting up an installation company, but lacked the cojones it go it alone.
The future of waste infrastructure funding? - Environment Journal
The British company 4NEW has announced it is sell an Initial Coin Offering (ICO) to raise funds for the world’s first ever energy-from-waste facilities entirely integrated on a blockchain network. The firm will be offering 225 million coins in two separate rounds, which will eventually be listed on the crypto-currency exchanges for live trading. Virtual currencies, like Bitcoin have grown in popularity in recent years, although remain controversial to some.
Committee calls for more help for fuel poor homes - Environment Journal
The Committee on Fuel Poverty’s second annual report warns of the slow progress being made to upgrade homes and recommends fuel poor households receive ‘at least the same levels of assistance’ through the winter fuel payment scheme to pay their bills as pensioners. It claims less than 10% of the money from the scheme and the warm home discount go to fuel poor households.
One million Scots living in ‘dirty communities’ - Environment Journal
The report by the charity Keep Scotland Beautiful claims there has been a marked increase in the presence of litter, fly-tipping and graffiti in communities across the country over the last 18 months. Although, the report states has been a reduction in dog fouling nationally, the gap between the indicators for litter, fly-tipping and graffiti in the most deprived and the most affluent communities is widening.
Bottled water: health hero or environmental villain? - Environment Journal
One warm afternoon I was sitting on the steps of the fountain in the central square, people watching. The cafés around me were crowded with tourists and a band was playing sentimental Italian songs. Every now and then, a couple would jump up from their table and start to dance across the square.
We need a smart energy system that empowers communities - Environment Journal
Soon, many people may not have an electricity supplier in the traditional sense at all. Instead they might be trading energy with each other – sharing it at a local level with neighbours and friends. Peer-to-peer trading is a predicted area of growth and will advance the creation of ‘smart’ towns and cities. Local community energy projects are already being delivered across the UK, with at least 5,000 community groups undertaking energy initiatives in the last five years.
Farmers urged to consider water management schemes - Environment Journal
Analysis by the Green Alliance and the National Trust recommends upland farmers use water management contracts with utility firms, infrastructure groups and public agencies in areas susceptible to flooding as a means of raising income in a post Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) environment.
Council prepares for Clean Break and a renewable future - Environment Journal
The fishing ships still use the port, but in recent years it has also become home to a growing number of companies involved with the burgeoning offshore wind energy sector, including Dong Energy UK, Siemens and Centrica. And now North East Lincolnshire Council is hoping to build on its recent successes and turn Grimsby and the surrounding area around the Humber into a centre of excellence for the British renewable energy industry.
Experts warn EU Withdrawal Bill threatens Green Brexit - Environment Journal
The Environmental Policy Forum, which represents around 70,000 environmental professionals has written to both environment secretary, Michael Gove, and Brexit secretary, David Davis, outlining their concerns about the bill, which is due to be debated by MPs today (7 September). In a briefing document, which has been published online, the forum calls on ministers to provide some assurance that the UK’s citizens and environment will be ‘appropriately protected’ as Britain leaves the EU.
Singapore’s UTown leads the way in sustainable design - Environment Journal
You move to your table crunching the discarded shells of the complimentary peanuts, order your Singapore Sling from a white jacketed waiter and close your eyes. Somewhere from the past you can hear the slightly off-key voices of round bellied Somerset Maugham types lustily singing There’ll always be an England.
Engaging the ‘yet to be mobilised’ in environmental activism - Environment Journal
But there is a reason why the slogan ‘Take Back Control’ resonated with so many UK voters and it’s because people feel they have little say over decisions that affect their lives. A new report published by the Fabian Society explores how local leaders might involve residents more effectively in local decision-making.
Festival highlights spirit of environmental innovation - Environment Journal
As a business that takes its raw material – water – from the water catchments around us and is then responsible for treating the used product and making it suitable for return to the natural world, the environment is at the heart of everything we do. So, when Nigel Watson, our director of information services, told me about his idea to run a week-long Innovation Festival, it was clear that we could – and should – make the environment central to what we hoped to achieve.
Standing up for transport in the south east - Environment Journal
Speaking to Environment Journal, the leader of East Sussex County Council, Cllr Keith Glazier admits in the past the region has missed ‘out on a coordinated approach to transport issues’. The new partnership, which was launched last month, brings together the area’s 16 transport authorities and five local enterprise partnerships to work directly with the Department for Transport.
Cigarette butts: the forgotten environmental threat - Environment Journal
But times were changing. I’d just married a lovely woman who didn’t smoke and was too polite to ask me to quit, though the crinkling nose every time I lit up was a clear sign of her position on the subject. Then at work a new rule emerged: no smoking was allowed in the office if anyone objected. It was the first step in moving the addicted onto the footpath outside the building. At first, I felt resentment – arguing that smokers had rights as well.
Recycled gym aims for inspiration and perspiration - Environment Journal
The community gym, at Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park, was created in a sustainability partnership between Right Guard, recycling company TerraCycle and The Great Outdoor Gym Company ahead of the World Athletics Championships in August. Some 50 public drop-off points in communities across the country were set up to collect old deodorant and antiperspirant cans. The Great Outdoor Gym Company then repurposed the aluminum to create premium gym equipment for public use at the iconic London venue.
Green Building Council calls for carbon target - Environment Journal
The council published a report yesterday, entitled, Delivering Low Carbon Infrastructure, which warns there is currently no specific target in place for the industry to work towards. According to the report, £500 billion is set to be invested in UK infrastructure between 2016 and 2030. As well as planning significant investment in infrastructure, the British government has also ratified the Paris Agreement, which requires a net zero carbon economy within the second half of this century.
New ADEPT president urges government to ‘get off the fence’ - Environment Journal
Speaking to Environment Journal, Simon Neilson, who took up the role last month after stepping up from the post of vice president, said ‘local responses’ to big national issues will not work ‘in our view’. Mr Neilson is currently the executive director, economy and environment for Walsall Council, and has also been part of ADEPT’s leadership team since 2014. What do you see as the key challenges for local authorities around transport at the minute?
Sustainability network highlights the value of co-operation - Environment Journal
Despite this, and the obvious enthusiasm of both organisers and participants, I was not really sure the group would last. Their goal of ‘providing a global forum to support colleges, universities and corporate campuses in the exchange of information, ideas and best practices for achieving sustainable campus operations and integrating sustainability into research and teaching’ seemed overly ambitious in a world divided by distance, cultures and languages.
Sadiq’s most important strategy as Mayor - Environment Journal
First off, the transport strategy is no simple declaration. At 361 pages, Boris’s strategy came two years after his election in 2008. After one year Sadiq’s first draft is good progress in developing policies to cover off a vast range of services: the Underground, Overground, TfL run railways, DLR, trams, buses, cycle hire, taxis, London’s main roads and funding to London’s boroughs to spend on their streets, for instance.
On the buses - Environment Journal
Volvo has been working on environmental issues for a very long time. In 1972, it became one of our core values and is strongly rooted in the organisation. In 2012, we took the decision about how to proceed with the Euro 6 engine, we had gas buses, diesel buses, and we could see that electrification was becoming more and more important. The Volvo Buses board took the decision that we should not proceed with diesel or gas for city buses beyond the point of the Euro 6.
Water firm's wildlife centre to open its doors - Environment Journal
The centre, which was featured in Environment Journal last year, has been designed to blend in with the natural landscape at the 170-million gallon reservoir, which supplies drinking water to Hull and the surrounding area. It features a 10 metre-long viewing gallery with telescopes and real-time camera footage broadcast on television screens, showing live scenes from across the nature reserve. The £600,000 centre also incorporates reclaimed materials from 1950s buildings around the site.
Supporting diversification from oil and gas to renewables - Environment Journal
This includes transferring existing and well advanced offshore oil and gas supply chain skills and know-how into offshore renewables as well as attracting inward investment in Aberdeen, Scotland and the UK. AREG is actively supporting diversification of oil and gas skills into renewables and working closely with Aberdeen City Council’s trade and inward investment team to help shape the city’s approach to trade development activities and new investment opportunities to benefit the local economy.
Let’s turn down the volume to hear the climate change debate clearly - Environment Journal
This panel, made up of those for and against, represented the wider division that defines the debate on climate change. Go to any blog on the topic and you will see conversations that quickly lose scientific sensibility and devolve into a mix of conspiracy theories and insults about the ‘obvious stupidity’ of proponents on both sides.
Plastic waste: pushing the pledge to refill - Environment Journal
It’s been a busy couple of weeks here at FRANK Water. We have stopped selling our Devon spring water in single-use plastic bottles and we have launched a new campaign to encourage everyone to carry refillable water bottles and coffee cups and to ‘pledge to refill’.
Can PAS 402 help reduce waste in building projects? - Environment Journal
Is waste from your building project recycled and re-used or is it going straight to landfill? With landfill expenses continuously on the rise, councils and construction companies can now implement the PAS 402 scheme to help reduce the amount of waste in a building project. Everyone in the industry can now have confidence that the construction and demolition material that goes into a skip and leaves a site will be handled according to a strict standard.
What happened to the UK’s environment plan? - Environment Journal
The government set out its aims for the plan in its 2015 Conservative Party manifesto. The stated aim of the plan was to ensure the next generation inherits a better environment than the one we live in today, with cleaner air, water and seas, healthier wildlife, a low carbon economy and greater resource efficiency. The plan was originally due for release in December 2016.
Art for the environment - Environment Journal
Some 20 years ago, when I was writing my first environmental management plan for The Australian National University – a strategy to make our campus infrastructure more sustainable – I was approached by John Reid an artist and academic from the school of art, with (what seemed to me) an odd suggestion. He proposed that we have artists and musicians collaborate with scientists and facilities managers to highlight environmental issues facing society and promote the objectives of the university plan.
Cutting waste on major developments - Environment Journal
The Hendon Waterside regeneration project was established to deliver over 2,000 new homes and local amenities on a 30-acre site in West Hendon, within the London Borough of Barnet. Part of the regeneration project involved the construction of The Vista – a 26-storey flagship development made up of 142 apartments. To assist with the delivery of The Vista, developer Barratt London issued an appeal for new industry innovations that could help to minimise on-site waste.
Hydrogen-powered transport: a zero-emission future? - Environment Journal
The importance of providing energy security and decarbonising society, while improving air quality and reducing environmental impact, present huge challenges, particularly for the energy and transport sectors – producers of the highest CO emissions. In the UK a particular focus is provided by the government targeting an 80% reduction in all greenhouse gases by 2050, compared to 1990 levels.
A knowledge base for best practice in sustainability - Environment Journal
In fact, some were so good I wondered why everyone was not doing the same thing. The answer, I suspect, is because ideas often struggle to find a path out of their locality and for all the talk of the world being smaller, there are still barriers of language and culture that stand in the way of innovation and ingenuity crossing borders.
Cities aren't smart, people are - Environment Journal
Everything controlled by artificial intelligence that learns how to achieve the reset outcomes. This is the seductive, siren song of smart cities; computers make objective rational decisions to make optimum use of resources. Conversely, it transfers responsibility and authority for making choices to a profit-driven company rather than a democratically accountable public body.
District council to challenge wind turbines decision - Environment Journal
The council had rejected the applications at Pond Farm and Selbrigg Farm, but these decisions were overturned by an inspector after an inquiry. The local authority will now ask the High Court to quash the inspector’s decision to allow the turbines, which would be 78m high at Selbrigg and 66m at Pond Farm. Council leader Tom FitzPatrick said: ‘We are very much in agreement with the vast majority of the local community on this matter.
Research reveals the many benefits of making roads from waste - Environment Journal
The European waste framework directive states that there is a need to promote reuse and recycling, which are the preferred options to disposal or incineration of waste. However, there need to be clear pathways for that recycled waste to take. One such pathway is reuse in the construction and renovation of Europe’s road network.
Research reveals the most effective ways to cut coffee cup waste - Environment Journal
Researchers at Cardiff University looked at a range of ways to encourage the use of reusable cups. They found that a charge on disposable cups increased the use of re-usable coffee cups by 3.4% while environmental messaging in cafés increased the use of re-usable coffee cups by 2.3%. The availability of re-usable cups led to an increase of 2.5% and the distribution of free re-usable cups led to a further increase of 4.3 %.
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