The Horseshoe Nail

Bean there: Coffee Circle's brewing and tasting workshop

No Responses » Tagged with: Berlin, environmental justice, glocalisation, sustainable development

Feb 152012

Berlin startup, Coffee Circle, began life in a humble corner of Betahaus. Two years later, they’re housed in a typically cavernous ex-warehouse office space shared with a handful of similarly youthful businesses. Plenty of room, finally, to host a Gidsy event to share their passion for coffee.

This afternoon’s workshop was led by Robert, one of the three founders of Coffee Circle. The remaining two are currently soaring at speed in a south-westerly direction, bound for the Ethiopian capital, Addis Abbaba, on their annual quest for the best coffees the country has to offer.

Unlike most other coffee traders, Coffee Circle buy direct from growers in Ethiopia. Due to a lack of infrastructure, employment and welfare in the country, people generally have to sustain themselves by growing their own food. Families often club together in cooperatives to farm small plantations, producing some of the world’s best coffee, completely organically. By cutting out the middle man, the company can source the best coffee and make sure the growers get a fair deal. For every kilo of coffee purchased, Coffee Circle gives €1 back to local development projects. Farmers see the benefits within their community and increase their efforts to produce the best beans, driving up quality of produce for the company and ensuring ongoing investment in local development projects. Hence the name Coffee Circle.

We learnt a great deal about the different coffee producing areas of Ethiopia and the difficulties in finding, getting to, tasting, choosing and eventually purchasing coffee – and that’s before it even gets to the roaster. The process is painstaking, adventurous, competitive (Starbucks is also a major direct purchaser in the region), fascinating and incredibly complicated, requiring expertise at every stage. Two years down the line, Coffee Circle seem confident in themselves and their product, so it was time to start tasting their fare.

In this spirit of complexity, there were five different coffees to taste and five different brewing methods – far too many variables to elicit a clear winner in both categories without proper scientific process, but more than enough to get us started on the road to coffee connoisseurship. The coffees included three Coffee Circle products: Limu, espresso and Sidamu; one Square Mile Bolivian filter coffee; and a Kaiser’s common-or-garden filter coffee.

The brewing techniques:

#1 Espresso

A familiar favourite on a particularly impressive La Marzocco machine. Obviously only the espresso beans were sampled in this test, and we learnt some of the finer points to the barista’s art. It’s called espresso, of course, because of the short brewing time – the water has only a maximum of about 20 seconds to pass through the coffee, so ideally the beans should be finely ground and also need to be roasted for longer during the roasting stage to ensure strength of flavour and aroma.

#2 Drip filter

Another classic and relatively old-fashioned method, the drip filter has been improved by the Japanese invention of adding small ridges to the funnel, which prevent the filter paper sticking to the wall and improve the flow. The paper must be rinsed by pouring warm water over it before adding the ground coffee, to avoid that papery taste.

#3 The syphon

Also known as a vacuum coffee maker, this method is visually amazing. It works by varying the temperatures of two connecting vessels, firstly increasing the pressure to force water upwards and then lowering it to allow it to soak back down through the coffee. It’s been around since the 1930s but has recently enjoyed a resurgence in popularity, possibly due to its gimmicky look (apparently it pulls in crowds at events, but I didn’t rate the results – see my verdict below).

#4 Chemex

Much like the drip filter but with thicker paper (which again must be rinsed before use) and a slightly different vessel, the Chemex produces a noticeably smoother cup of coffee by filtering out all the residue. Its diligence as a filter means it does take a while, but the result is well worth waiting for.

#5 AeroPress

Currently a very popular choice of brewer, especially among singletons for whom one cup is just enough, the AeroPress is a quick, simple and highly effective method, even if it does lack the glamour of its contemporaries. Consisting of two cylinders that create an airtight chamber, the device works much like a syringe.

The verdict

The espresso was perhaps a bad place to start, because it was by far the most overpowering taste and possibly my favourite, though I can’t be sure my views haven’t been influenced by that magnificent machine. The Sidamu coffee tasted underwhelming from the drip filter but exceptional from the AeroPress, which gave it a cloudy texture and strong taste. Sadly, both the Limu and the Sidamu tasted bitter and burnt through the syphon. The Chemex-brewed coffees were impressive, especially the Square Mile sample, which tasted too fruity for quotidian dosage but perfect for a special occasion.

After all these amazing samples, it was only left to try the supermarket special. I often drink similar coffees and was completely unprepared for the taste that hit my tongue after all the high quality we’d just experienced. To quote one of the other participants, Philip, “it just tastes so… empty”. Empty indeed, and stale, and bitter and – frankly – awful.

Apparently, in the name of efficiency, supermarkets and other producers of cheap coffee roast their beans at high temperatures for three to five minutes to reduce the roasting time required. In order to get rid of the fruity acid and other toxins, and to preserve a delicate and desirable aroma, beans should be roasted at much lower temperatures for longer – up to 20 minutes or so. The result of cutting corners during the complex roasting stage is a poor tasting and unhealthy coffee.

So there we have it. Another expensive taste developed in a few short hours. Having said that, coffee is a staple in our household and I’m more than willing to pay the price for high quality, ethical produce, so these few eye-opening hours with Coffee Circle were well worthwhile, as well as highly enjoyable.

Related articles

Berlin: a monument to optimism

TEDx Berlin

FutureCityLab

No Responses » Tagged with: Berlin, glocalisation, inspiration and resources, oil independence, practical sustainability, sustainable development

Jan 272012

An open-source project aiming for sustainable cities by 2050, this loose but dedicated network of professionals and experts focuses on the move towards locally sourced food production, new forms of energy harnessing, and building upon what is already there rather than knocking down and starting over. Inspirational stuff. I just joined them at http://ftrctlb.com/

think the unthinkable from ftr.ct.lb* on Vimeo.

Our Velocity

No Responses » Tagged with: inspiration and resources, social media

Dec 292011

Or how I learned to stop worrying about social media and up my game.

Yesterday I had a headache that felt like Twitter. It was, in fact, merely a symptom of caffeine withdrawal: dilated blood vessels in the brain and over-sensitive receptors flailing furiously for their next fix. Thankfully, I’m fine now, but Twitter is still here, and it seems it’ll take more than a cup of coffee to silence this particular neurological cacophony.

2011 was the year that Twitter stole my brain. Since signing up it’s slowly dawned on me that I’ve entered into some Faustian pact, wherein I’ve exchanged access to endless information for my ability to digest it. I can’t say for sure that social media is responsible for the gradual erosion of my soul – that might be a bit extreme – and I don’t even know what I believe about how or whether it is changing our brains. Maybe I haven’t been able to concentrate for long enough to come to a conclusion, but I’ve definitely noticed some changes in my behaviour, many of which are outlined in Assisted Living Today’s excellent infographic, which you can check out below (if you’re still focused enough to bother).

Don’t get me wrong, I’m not about to kill off my online identities and join the Luddites. We should be celebrating that we’re clever enough to invent and use these new technologies so intuitively. It’s no coincidence that 2011 was also the year that people used social media to shake up the established world order. What’s more, we adapt so well to this new online environment. Surely, if readers’ concentration wanes, writers have to up their game (really hope you’re still with me). I’m sure I’ve read more than three articles from start to finish over the past 12 months, but these are the most memorable, and for very different reasons.

Slow Travel Berlin’s interview with Ewan Pearson was captivating because of the thoughtful questions and intelligent responses, covering complex topics with rare insight and sensitivity. Pearson’s comments on gentrification and the new xenophobia have stayed with me and clarified somewhat my confusion about the topic: “…A lot of the rhetoric coming from the more anarcho-left seems uncomfortably close to that of the nastier bits of the old-school right: anger at tourists, foreigners and people who are not from Berlin. It’s pretty unpleasant.”

Okay, this is a pretty predictable and voyeuristic choice, but it kept me glued to my screen like little else. Eyes wide, heart in mouth, I read Popular Mechanics’ What really happened aboard Air France 447. I’ll say no more, except that – for all the wrong reasons – it did help solidify my ongoing boycott of the airline industry.

Talking of which, Grist’s ‘Brutal logic’ and climate communications honed a hugely complicated subject into the most comprehensive and logical argument I’ve yet read on climate change discourse. I won’t paraphrase because the article is worth a full read to see how author David Roberts reaches the conclusion that “everyone… no matter what role they play, could stand to push the edge a little bit occasionally, reminding their audience, whatever audience, that climate change is some genuinely dire sh*t and that now is the time for ambition and courage.”

To an ambitious and courageous 2012!

Infographic by Assisted Living Today – Assisted Living Facilities

Skin Deep: literary lunacy in the ebook era

No Responses » Tagged with: ebook

Dec 032011

The literary world has gone literally mad. Ignoring one of the most ubiquitous proverbs in the English language in a desperate attempt to save a floundering industry, book publishers have started eveloping their wares in ever more elaborate works of art.

It may seem like stating the obvious to point out that the beauty lies on the inside of a book. I could continue with a stream of clichés that convey the idea of not judging a book by its cover, but there’s no need because we know them all by heart. There’s a good reason that phrase is so popular.

For me, nowhere is it more true than when applied to this issue. Books are my music; literature my life companion. I dithered over getting a Kindle for a while but living in a country where English is not the first language, it quickly became a no-brainer as I devoured weighty paperbacks long before the next arrived, complete with hefty shipping bill. Since the Kindle arrived I have spent more on books than ever before in my life, and feel all the more enriched for doing so.

There are a number of troubling implications of this new trend towards the ‘beautiful book’. Firstly, it is an insult. Are we really all shallow consumers who value form over content, blinded by pretty colours and pictures, effortlessly coaxed into somnambulant shopping? Secondly, these assumptions actually devalue the real product. Adding a superficial layer of ‘art’ in order to capture the attention of potential customers is also – I think – insulting to the author, part of whose soul lies within those pages.

That’s why I found Julian Barnes’s recent comments particularly baffling. Paying tribute to those involved in the creation of his Booker winning novel, Barnes said, “Those of you who have seen my book, whatever you think of its contents, will probably agree it is a beautiful object. And if the physical book, as we’ve come to call it, is to resist the challenge of the ebook, it has to look like something worth buying, worth keeping.”

Resistance? This is not a battle, this is an opportunity. Ebooks are not a challenge to be overcome, they are the means to make access to literature truly democratic, not to mention a new market with huge economic potential. Just because an ebook can be copied, that does not mean it will be stolen. I could have downloaded the last 20 books I read for free, but I didn’t, because I recognise their intrinsic worth. If they want to save their industry, publishers (and authors) threatened by this brave new world would do well to do the same.

TEDx Berlin 2011: High Energy

1 Response » Tagged with: Berlin, biomimicry, environmental justice, glocalisation, inspiration and resources, oil independence, practical sustainability, responsible travel, sustainable development

Nov 212011

An eclectic line-up of apparently unrelated topics came together beautifully today at TEDx Berlin, with themes curving in a topical arc through this thoughtfully curated event.

Katherine Lucey, CEO of Solar Sister, ignited our imaginative kindling with a moving account of the power of electricity to change lives in rural Africa. Her company provides people with solar lights that cost a one-off price of $20, making it a more financially viable option than the toxic kerosene lamps that cost $2 a week to run. Working with local women in hardest-to-reach communities, the solar lamps improve quality of life and can kick start cycles of increased prosperity and self-sufficiency. Katherine argued that energy poverty and energy prosperity are gender issues – an angle that seemed to cause controversy amongst the audience, judging from post-presentation conversations.

Next, Alexander Voigt, CEO of Younicos, talked us through the potential of renewables, in particular photovoltaics (PVs). He showed that the challenge lies not with technology but our relationship to it. Solar panels are increasingly efficient and affordable, so why aren’t we all installing them?

It may have been due to the moving start that the first TED video talk seemed particularly overwhelming. Using biomimicry, Markus Fischer and his team created their SmartBird, an achievement that has to be seen to be believed:

Design duo Mischer’Traxler create products based on the history visible in the rings of a tree. A solar powered machine threads and dyes cotton around a mold, so that rings are produced and different colour intensities depending on how sunny it is (thus how fast the solar powered machine feeds the thread). A time lapse video and examples of their work demonstrates the ingenuity perfectly.

To end the first session, climate engineer and director of Trans Solar, Wolfgang Kessling, complemented Voigt’s earlier points well by showing that only 20m2 of PV panels is required to supply a family’s energy for a year. This would cost just €5000 and, of course, reduce energy costs significantly. Another 20m2 would be enough for 15,000km in an electric car.

As we shivered uncomfortably through the session, Kessling talked about ‘high comfort’ and making a building comfortable by controlling the air temperature and the radiant environment. We often underestimate the importance of ensuring the passive efficiency of a building before investing in energy to heat it. What’s more, he said, “We overestimate what we can do in the future and underestimate what we can do today.”

Things warmed up in session two as we were told we would be part of a real time experiment in ‘high comfort.’ Fittingly, Nils Lindell was next up to divulge his experiences of attempting to live a One Tonne Life with his family in Sweden.

Martin Cordsmeier of Million Ways, then called for creative tenders to help society move towards a more person-focused system. There are surely few more focused people than Lewis Pugh, who is widely regarded as the world’s greatest cold water swimmer. His efforts at swimming in a lake left by a melted glacier at 5,300 metres aim to raise awareness of climate change, “The Mount Everest of all problems.”

Verena Delius, CEO of Young Internet, delivered a thought-provoking analysis of dynamism within companies and that dangers facing those that do not adapt to evolving markets. Despite its focus on industry, we agreed in chats afterwards that such approaches can be equally applied to interpersonal relationships. Strike while the iron’s hot!

After a musical interlude from Studnitzky, Rune Nielsen, co-founder of Kollision, clarified what is meant by ‘media arcitechture,’ and how it can be used to make the invisible, visible; the abstract tangible and the boring playful. Projecting interactive light shows onto the sides of buildings provided opportunities to engage the public in a conversation about the facts of climate change, and their interactive nature encourages communication between strangers.

Closing the loop on session two, Lehna Malmkvist of Swell Environmental Consulting, brought us back to the biomimicry theme by arguing that we need to reject one-way systems of resource management. Ecosystems are the most complex and efficient systems on earth and we should take a leaf from nature’s book and move towards integrated systems where one stage’s waste is another’s resource. Swell’s project at Dockside Green near Victoria, BC is a work in progress that practices what they preach, and they are learning by doing whilst implementing an economically and socially viable urban design project.

A glance at the programme for the third session indicated a sinister aside that seemed somewhat off-topic. Axel Peterman, criminologist and consultant to cult TV series Tatort, began with an advocation of interdisciplinary criminology that includes profiling suspects’ personalities. Interspersed with gruesome photos and more captivating than an episode of CSI, the talk was a rare, if somewhat tenuously fitting insight into a world we all find so morbidly fascinating.

Of all the amazingly inspirational and industrious people that spoke at TEDx today, magician Thimon V. Berlepsch, taught me the most valuable lesson; something new about myself. He showed us that our human need for routine also has a detrimental side, in that it can blind us to childlike wonderment. Breaking the patterns of mundanity brings the magic back to life. For Berlepsch, this break comes in the form of travel, adventures into the unknown. I’ve always wondered what that feeling is when travelling; that unique euphoria which melts into an elusive sense of homecoming perspective. Some people tell me the urge to travel is a sign of instability, unwillingness to settle or a means of escape. They are right, but that’s not a bad thing.

The transition to Pamela Meyer’s How to Spot a Liar video talk was surprisingly smooth. An interesting speech, whose most poignant argument in today’s context was that in order to avoid deception we must be self-aware enough to know what it is we are hungry for:

J Henry Fair’s aerial photographs make beautiful images out of horrible situations, and it is this dissonance, he claimed, that makes them affective and therefore effective:

The earth is bleeding - J Henry Fair - Industrial Scars

Nik Nowak’s presentation, entitled ‘Sound as Weapon’ was not as menacing as it sounds. The title related more to the recent Occupy events where microphone bans were subverted with creative and peaceful innovation in the form of human mics. Nowak then demonstrated his Soundtank during the break before the final session.

If we were becoming fatigued by this deluge of inspiration, Benedikt Foit and Habib Lesevic woke us up with a start. Their game, Energy Streetfight, uses play as a way of engaging people to make real reductions in their CO2 footprint. Passionate critics of the ‘consumerism virus’, the pair advocate the importance of individual action in combatting simplified but currently dominant notions of progress as economic growth. Consumerism affects our perspective and leads to psychological passivity and the logic of taking. While culture spreads the virus, it is also culture that can cure us, one revolutionary mind at a time.

Johnny West is a journalist, transparency activist and proponent of a direct citizen dividend for oil-producing countries to combat the resource curse.

Finally, Daniela Schiffer’s highlighted the need for energy-saving efforts to be visible and tangible. Her company, Changers, is an ingenious scheme that makes combating climate change an individual, measurable, comparable process with results that mean something in the real world. An antidote to the sense of helplessness in the face of this mammoth issue, in a playful format with visibility and economic viability, where the individual feels a sense of worth and community, Changers is, I realised with pleasant surprise, the culmination of today’s discussions.

These ideas have been whirling around for a number of years now, and to see them form into real solutions delivered by remarkable and passionate people gave me hope when I’d almost given up. As John Perry Barlow pointed out in his closing address, via video from California, today was consistently inspiring and in some places depressing. The climate crisis is lacking in hope, and events like TEDx are essential for momentum to gather and positive change to occur. As we teeter on the edge of the tipping point, these aren’t just ideas worth spreading, they are ideas that must spread if we are to overcome man’s greatest challenge yet.

TEDxChange, an initiative of the Gates Foundation, will be in Berlin on 5th April 2012.

An Architectural Renaissance

No Responses » Tagged with: inspiration and resources, responsible travel

Nov 082011

My train bends serpentine into St. Pancras and I am intoxicated by the familiar homecoming cocktail of awe, comfort and ennui. Stepping into the newly refurbished international terminal, that sense of awe is temporarily heightened to the detriment of those other, more mundane emotions. As the gateway to London from the continent, St. Pancras railway station puts the dreary peripheral airports to shame, so arriving here is well worth the extra travelling time.

These days, the notion of a transport portal being anything more than a necessary but insignificant part of our travels seems widespread, yet we’re often told it’s all about the journey. My impending stay at the St. Pancras Renaissance hotel seems all the more magical because I’ll finally get to live the reality of that vague but overused cliché.

Railway stations have historically been “our gates to the glorious and unknown”, as E.M. Forster once wrote. The hotel, first opened in 1873, was surely built in this spirit of adventure. Designed by Sir George Gilbert Scott, the project symbolised with gothic grandeur the sanguinity of the age.

Surrounded by this movingly restored splendour, we ascend one floor from the Eurostar platform in a glass lift and walk straight through the old Booking Office, now a stylish bar and restaurant buzzing with locals and visitors alike. At reception I am distracted by the stunning attention to detail of both the restored, original features and the unique modern touches. The staff are welcoming and friendly, with endless patience for their entranced new arrivals.

Although not in the original Chambers section of the hotel, ours was a club room in the converted Barlow train-sheds. I was not disappointed for long – the room was magnificent. Dominating the space was an original ecclesiastical window overlooking the concourse and providing an odd frame for the futuristically streamlined noses of the Eurostar trains that arrive keenly and protracted, like greyhounds in the traps. No expense has been spared in this restoration, even down to the decor and furnishings, which manage to stay true to their era whilst exuding an unmistakably contemporary extravagance.

The St. Pancras Renaissance is a dream come true for trainspotters and architecture fans alike, but its charm reaches many more than the already converted. Indeed, this hotel will make an impression on anyone looking for luxury and inimitability at the heart of London’s international hub.

As my sense of awe began to subside I was left with another of those feelings with which this adventure started: comfort. This magnificent building is a reassuring homage to a time past, an epoch of optimism about human triumph over environment. Spending time inside brings that optimism to life and I was allowed to temporarily forget the familiar pangs of modern guilt. Here in the centre of London, amid the chaos of King’s Cross, is an unlikely sanctuary that delivers an elusive brand of escapism other hotels can only dream of.

See also my St. Pancras Renaissance photo blog.

Moving Mountains: hunger and waste in an age of austerity

1 Response »

Aug 042011

One grim irony – and there are many – of the international debt crisis, aside from the obvious problems of limitless growth within finite resources, is that despite global attempts at austerity, waste continues to occur at unimaginable levels. Italy, for example, whose debt mountain is the second largest in Europe, wastes over 30 per cent of its food, which works out at about $53 million. Reducing waste certainly won’t be the dynamite that blows a hole through that mountain of debt, which is a mind-boggling €240bn this year alone, but it will make a small dent, and surely save as much as some other individual austerity measures already suggested or implemented. It is not just Italy where this happens. The US wastes the equivalent of 350 million barrels of oil a year in uneaten food. In the UK, half the food produced on farms is thrown away, amounting to an eye-watering £20bn food mountain.

So why does such waste happen? Firstly, consumers are led by omnipotent advertisers to believe that appearance is an indicator of quality. The UN Food & Agriculture Organisation advises people to consider safety, nutrition and taste of food rather than the way it looks. An outrageous amount of perfectly edible produce gets discarded daily because it looks ‘off’, or in other words, not the technicolour stuff we’ve become accustomed to seeing in ads (and on the shelves). That freegans can survive almost solely on the contents of skips outside supermarkets is testament to the senseless waste that occurs in the name of aesthetics. In addition, consumers are urged to buy much more than they need, whether it be larger portion sizes in restaurants or two-for-one offers in shops. Financial efficiency has been so misaligned that it actually became, in many cases, cheaper to waste food than to just buy what was needed.

In the end, of course, just as with homes, loans and everything else, there comes a point when the bubble bursts. The sudden gaping hole, never invisible but until now ignored, between the abstract ‘market’ and concrete reality threatens to swallow us all. We can no longer afford to waste. Food, money, resources, time are all precious and we must use them wisely. This is arguably more important right now than ever before.

Instead of amending or fixing the system that got us into this mess, it seems like those in charge are building it up again identically, brick by brick; taking back their abusive but irresistible lover, hoping this time things’ll be different. The waste that uncapped capitalism encourages continues, as does environmental degradation and widening social inequality. That people in Somalia (and across the developing world, for that matter) starve to death in droves while Italy alone wastes food that could produce 580 million meals a year is nothing short of obscene. “Try asking those people trekking across the Somali wastelands what austerity looks like.” Dan Hodges movingly blogged yesterday, asking why, in 2011, people can still starve to death. It’s certainly not for moral or logistical reasons, he points out, and if we can fund humanitarian intervention in Libya and other Middle Eastern countries, then why not Africa?

Sadly, I’d argue that it’s because we’re rebuilding a broken machine, one that is self-interested and self-governing. There is undoubtedly aid ready to go into Somalia, but without governments providing security in this volatile region, there is no way to safely get it to those who need it. The bottomless pockets of cash that were available for Iraq and Afghanistan have mysteriously dried up. Is it too cynical to assume that this is because Somalia, unlike the Middle East, has few natural resources worth exploiting?

The Meaning of Clean

3 Responses » Tagged with: oil independence, practical sustainability

Apr 212011

I’ve just read that in a drive to boost sales, a bottled water company called Real Water have labelled tap water ‘damaged’ and are claiming that it is harmful to health. It’s either overwhelmingly stupid or –having made the Guardian and probably a number of other blogs – a brilliant PR trick. Whether it’s garbage or genius is not the point, because above all it is another example of the irresponsible and irrational capitalist propensity for putting profit before principle, and as usual it’s the environment that bears the brunt of this habitual lack of integrity.

During my MA at King’s we studied a module called Water Resources & Policy. My professor, John Allen, is a respected expert and Water Prize Laureate; what he doesn’t know about water isn’t worth knowing. He taught us that access to clean water is a miracle of engineering and human ingenuity (I always remember his grimace at our bottled water until we assured him that, of course, they were merely refills from the tap). Professor Allen hates bottled water because it is superfluous and pointless. Our tap water is clean and perfectly safe. It is so good and so cheap, yet we pay about TEN THOUSAND times more for a bottle of the same stuff.

Did you know that the water you flush your toilet with is the same water that comes out of the kitchen tap? It is totally unnecessary to waste good, clean drinking water on flushing, but we still do it. Why? It might be costly to update the infrastructure but the savings would be seen immediately in the decreased cost of water processing. The reason is that people feel – rightly of course – that cleanliness and safety go hand in hand. To start a system that has two different water supplies (drinking and flushing etc.) might be accepted as the logical solution, but we’re not starting from scratch. Today we have a long-standing system in place, so to ask people to accept the changes is to ask them to switch to a ‘dirtier’ water supply. Although it is rational, it is rejected because the idea that cleanliness equals health is so important to us that we lose sight of the meaning of clean.

This principle also applies to our attitude towards bottled water, and it is one that the bottled water companies love to exploit. The notion of fresh spring water straight from the belly of nature and imbued with its goodness is the main selling point of bottled water, yet the irony is that the oil used in making and transporting the bottles is ravaging said nature to breaking point. The problems with bottled water are well documented, but it is a booming, billion dollar industry. Consumers can change this by simply choosing to drink tap instead of bottled water. In doing so we’ll be ten thousand times better off, and not just financially.

The Big Picture

No Responses » Tagged with: sustainable development

Apr 152011

The divisive and emotive nature of the current nuclear debate has caused fissions throughout society, from political infighting to awkward moments between friends over dinner. Despite this, some German citizens have expressed satisfaction (if not pride) in their leaders’ definitive response: a U-turn on nuclear and a move towards renewable energy.

A €5 billion scheme to expand wind parks in the North and Baltic seas will launch in autumn, and in order to improve efficiency of process the planning restrictions have been slackened. Speeding up the switch to renewables seems like a breath of fresh air in a country known for an atmosphere thick with bureaucracy. Unfortunately, many people do not see it that way. Perhaps the lack of restrictions is construed as insufficient process, negating the procedural transparency that Germany has worked so hard – and with exemplary success – to achieve.

Nevertheless, resistance to the wind-energy drive, in Germany as elsewhere, manifests itself in the NIMBY (not in my back yard!) response (not only to the turbines themselves but also the bulky infrastructure required to transport the electricity). Der Spiegel Online, for example, has taken a particularly conservative stance on the matter. The Age of Stupid film highlights a British example of this, where local hero Piers develops a groundbreaking turbine-based energy solution, only to be stopped in his tracks by local residents worried about the effect of the view on their property prices. Similarly, in the Netherlands a case is about to be heard by the nation’s highest court. If the residents win, plans for the country’s largest wind farm, which would meet the energy needs of 900,000 people will be unable to proceed.

I find resistance like this incomprehensible because it represents such a closed-minded outlook. The same people who are supposedly empathetic with the people of Japan are also denying those much closer to home the opportunity to harness safe, clean energy; encouraging those dangerous contemporary alternatives (coal and nuclear) they’d just been fretting about.

A degree of short-sightedness and self-interest is to be expected, we are only human after all. But as humans we are uniquely able to contemplate the consequences of our actions and look at the big picture, ironically an image many are blind to when trying to protect their own precious view.

A Little Less Conversation

No Responses » Tagged with: environmental justice, oil independence, sustainable development

Apr 072011

It seems that these days there is always something going on. Of course, there always has been, it’s just that now information exchange happens so efficiently we all know about it instantly. Even given this daily data deluge, we are currently seeing a global glut of particularly significant events. From Japan to Libya, the Ivory Coast to austerity cuts, you could say it’s kicking off.

Maybe this is why other important affairs are slipping under the radar. Today is the penultimate day of the UN climate change conference in Bangkok where 1,500 participants from 173 countries are trying to improve an agreement made at Cancun last year and working towards a post-Kyoto protocol.

Perhaps predictably, negotiations are painfully slow. By yesterday, delegates had hardly penetrated the nitty-gritty and were still trying to agree on the agenda itself. When so many parties – representing even more interests – are involved, deciding what to talk about is potentially as difficult as tackling the issues themselves. For all voices to be heard, all interests considered and all agendas addressed, much time is required; it’s a painstaking process.

Time, of course, is one resource we don’t have when it comes to climate change mitigation. Another big revelation that has gone largely unreported is the result of a recent scientific study, which concludes that it is already too late to limit the temperature increase to two degrees. To achieve anything like this, the study claims, we would have to have an immediate drop in emissions to practically zero. The chances of successfully combating a dangerous rise in global temperatures diminishes with every day of fruitless negotiations.

There is no easy solution to the difficulties of such weighty diplomacy and this is understandable, given the task at hand. We shouldn’t feel hopeless, however, despite the temptation to react with exasperation to our querulous leaders. As individuals we are far from powerless; in fact, we are far more powerful in many ways, because when we make a decision to change something we don’t need to consult the rest of the world about it. The cumulative effect of individual action should not be underestimated.

Addressing the big issues of industrial and national carbon emissions is, of course, imperative; but large things move slowly. Using this lack of governmental progress as an excuse for individual inaction is counter-intuitive. Instead, we should be leading by example and making the most of our strengths. Any personal lifestyle adjustment that contributes to lowering emissions is important and worthwhile, because no matter how small, it has great significance in its immediacy.

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