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NEKTARINA
(S)PACE
Un paso
adelante
In this issue : Eco-Schools; Green Fest; Food
and Pesticides; Drought and Floods in India;
The Tides of Saint Malo; Nova Scotia;
Plastic Pollution; From the Scratch project;
Fantasy creates empathy; and more
SEP
TEM
BER
20
13
ISSN
18
47
-66
94
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In 1987, a 74-year old rickshaw puller by the name of Bai Fangli
came back to his hometown planning to retire from his
backbreaking job. There, he saw children working in the fields,
because they were too poor to afford school fees.
Bai returned to Tianjin and went back to work as a rickshaw
puller, taking a modest accommodation next to the railway
station. He waited for clients 24 hours a day, ate simple food
and wore discarded second-hand clothes he found. He gave all
of his hard-earned earnings to support children who could not
afford education.
In 2001, he drove his rickshaw to Tianjin YaoHua Middle School,
to deliver his last installment of money. Nearly 90 years old, he
told the students that he couldn't work any more. All of the
students and teachers were moved to tears.
In total, Bai had donated a total of 350,000 yuan to help more
than 300 poor students continue with their studies. In 2005, Bai
passed away leaving behind an inspiring legacy.
If a rickshaw-puller who wore used clothes and had no
education can support 300 children to go to school, imagine
what you and I can do with the resources we have to bring
about positive change in our world!
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September
Angles
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September
Angles
NEKTARINA (S)PACE IS A
WEBMAGAZINE
PUBLISHED MONTHLY BY
NEKTARINA NON PROFIT,
A NON PROFIT,
NON GOVERNMENTAL
ORGANIZATION.
WWW.NEKTARINANONPROFIT.COM
ISSN 1847-6691
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"Everything is art.
Everything is politics."
Ai Weiwei
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Nektarina (S)pace, Web Magazine
Year 2, Double Issue # 15 & 16 , September 2013
Published by Nektarina Non Profit
ISSN 1847 - 6694
Under Creative Commons License
ENGLISH IS NOT OUR NATIVE TONGUE, BUT WE ARE DOING OUR BEST.
Working together towards a sustainable future.
www.nektarinanonprofit.com
Nektarina Non Profit is a non governmental, non profit organization,
and most of our projects are based on volunteer work. Our articles are
a compilation of data (where we always provide the source) or
articles / opinion pieces (in which case there is a by-line). We come
from different backgrounds, and English is not the first language for
any of us, so there might be an occasional flop :). If you are using any
of our content, it would be great if you could link it back to us, and if
you are using other people’s content (that you found in this magazine)
please make sure to copy the source links we provided. Thank you!
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Founder;
Creative Director &
Editor-In-Chief:
Sandra Antonovic
Contributing Editors:
Rianna Gonzales
Renata Pumarol
Priti Rajagopalan
Livia Minca
Kelvin Anthony
Jean Paul Brice Affana
Suresh More
Copy Editor:
Jennifer Black
Editor-at-Large:
Bettina Nada Fellov
Design and layout:
Sandra Antonovic
Photographers:
Biljana Ilic
Sandra Antonovic
Thomas Arnbo
Michael Fogh Hansen
Thomas Mygind Christnesen
Bettina Nada Fellov
Frederik Hein Rogren
Camilla Fellov
Cover Photo: Rianna Gonzales
___________________
Email :
______________________
Twitter:
@nektarina
______________________
Facebook:
/nektarinanonprofit
_____________________
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Mirror, mirror on
the wall
By Sandra Antonovic
“Education is the ability to listen
to almost anything without losing
your temper or your self-confidence.“
Robert Frost
Having this quote in mind, how many of us can say we are truly
educated people?
September is the month when different international observances
celebrate education, literacy and democracy, yet, often it seems as if
A letter from the editor
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we couldn’t be further away from the three.
It seems as we are still identifying schooling with education, while,
in fact, the two are very much different. Having a degree might help you
with certain things—getting a job, getting a visa, joining a society group
and so on, but it doesn’t—it shouldn’t—define you as a person. Your
ability to learn, your ability to love, your ability to feel compassion, and
your ability to be happy—these are the things that are defining you as a
person. And that, just as most other things in life, is a choice.
Over 40% of people, once they finish university, never read another
book in their lives. Surely they must be aware that there is more to be
learned, but they choose not to do it. Education was never about the
money. Schooling was always about the money. From the ancient times
it was said that all you need for an education is a library. Library cards are
free in most countries, and in countries where they are not free, their
price is symbolic. If you can read, a library can offer you an education.
Yet, you need to choose to THINK. There are many ways one can read,
and comprehensive reading is just one of those ways. Comprehensive
reading is reading with understanding—or, in other terms, it means that
you are able to analyze what you have read, and learn from it. Most of
the times all it takes is asking yourself simple questions— what
happened, how it happened, why it happened, would I have done it
differently and why, how does it make me feel, how does it relate to my
life etc.
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If you know a person who’s read the same book (or books) you have,
you have a choice of entering a conversation, a discussion about what you
both read. That discussion, too, is how you acquire education, and not just
by learning another point of view on the book. During that discussion you
learn how to express yourself, your thoughts and feelings, in a way that is
easy for people to understand and relate to, regardless whether they
agree with your thoughts or not. You learn how to talk. But most
importantly, you learn how to listen. And here we come back to the quote
from the beginning, a quote by Robert Prost, a Pulitzer Prize winner:
“Education is the ability to listen to almost anything without losing your
temper or your self-confidence“. Here, again, we should choose to think
when understanding this quote. Listening out of politeness is useless.
Listening with comprehension is indispensable. Most people listen with
the urge to respond, while they should be listening with the urge to
understand. Being educated is nothing about the degree, it is everything
about our ability to allow others to think differently, to experience
differently and to deduct differently. It is our ability to allow others to
express their thoughts and feelings. It is our ability to accept, and not
judge, and it is our ability to change, and to adapt. It is our ability to
embrace diversities and learn from them. It is, most of all, our ability to
THINK. To question, to analyze, to reflect, to draw conclusions, to change
opinions—ours and other people’s. Marcus Aurelius, the Roman Emperor
best known for his Meditations on Stoic Philosophy, said: “Everything we
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hear is an opinion, not a fact. Everything we see is a perspective,
not the truth.”
Find your own voice, and let others find theirs. Be bold enough to
think new thoughts, read every day, take long walks and reflect on
things, never stop learning and always, always go back to the basics.
At the end of the day, education, like everything else in life, mirrors our
inner selves.
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Nektarina (S)pace: Eco-Schools was developed over 20 years ago. Could
you talk about the programme? What is its focus? Who is the
programme targeting and how?
Eco-Schools: Today Eco-Schools is the largest sustainable schools
programme in the world. The concept is that schools join the Eco-Schools
programme; they work towards a greener environment in their school
and surroundings; and when they have achieved certain criteria described
in the Seven Steps they can fly the Green Flag. The idea for the Green
Flag is Danish, its design is French, and it is the same flag that is flown all
over the world. In 2013, we have 55 countries running the Eco-Schools
programme. There are over 14 million students and over 1 million
teachers active, from kindergarten to university level. In Ireland, Malta,
Portugal and many other countries the programme has extended to other
areas, such as Eco-Centres, Environmental Clubs and Green Campus.
Our focus is empowering students. We empower them to be the change
our sustainable world needs. And we do so by engaging them in fun,
action-orientated learning.
Eco-Schools is the largest sustainable schools programme in the world and
is operated by the Foundation for Environmental Education (FEE). We
talked with Brid Conneely, International Eco-Schools Programme Director ,
to find out more about the programme and its activities.
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Eco-Schools targets schools of course, and how we do that varies in the
different countries. For instance, when Poland joined FEE in 2005 the
first programme they rolled out was Eco-Schools. The Eco-Schools
National Operator in Poland contacted the Ministry for Education there,
and educational departments in all regions. She attended educational
conferences and held presentations for teachers and heads of schools
about how to run the Eco-Schools programme. Poland now has 210
schools on board and of these 126 have been awarded the prestigious
Green Flag. Poland attained its first Green Flag in 2007. Two years is the
average amount of time it takes for a school to go through the Seven
Steps. The Seven Steps is our change framework for continuous
improvement and is the cornerstone of Eco-Schools. The National
Operator in each country continues to support and advise, and when
schools join up, they are encouraged to contact local authorities and
local media as part of the Inform and Involve Step to work alongside the
school and spread the word. Generally it is the mayor of the city, or
Minister for the Environment who awards the Green Flag. Indeed I was
at an event in Malta at which the President awarded Green Flags to
different institutions on the occasion of Malta’s 10th anniversary running
the Eco-Schoools programme.
Nektarina (S)pace: Eco-Schools has spread to many countries. Could you
explain how that process started and progressed, and how it looks today?
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Eco-Schools: Eco-Schools developed as a response to needs identified at
the 1992 Conference on Environment and Development in Rio de Janeiro.
We launched in 1994 and the first countries to run the programme were:
Denmark, UK, France, Germany, Greece, Netherlands and Spain.
From the beginning it was agreed that the national and international
aspects of the programme are equally important. Each country has a
slightly different educational system, and so the Seven Steps are designed
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so that each nation can integrate each step best into their system, while
at the same time all countries are agreed on the general guidelines of the
Seven Steps which are international. A small country school with 10
classes is very different to a modern city school with 1000 pupils, so the
original concept was to show and highlight the opportunity that
everybody has for improving their immediate environment, and then to
continue to create possibilities and encourage further improvements
constantly. This means that many small concrete solutions can be
introduced to schools immediately and these can be developed and
improved upon. What underpins the Eco-Schools programme and the
Seven Steps is the idea that the Eco-Committee is representative,
democratic and active. The majority are students, and teachers,
technical staff, canteen workers, ground staff etc also take part. Work is
done in Themes and it is all very structured and therefore easy to
implement. It was originally based on EMAS (the EU’s Eco-Management
and Audit System).
By 2000, there were 16 countries registered who were running the
Eco-Schools programme. In that same year, FEEE lost its third E which
stood for Europe and South Africa joined the family. There was of course
great rejoicing, and WESSA, the organisation that runs Eco-Schools and
the other FEE programmes in South Africa, now handles 1,028 schools
and has awarded 701 Green Flags.
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On the Eco-Schools tenth anniversary in 2004, the programme had 4.5
million students, over 200,000 teachers, over 12,000 schools and almost
2,000 local authorities.
Nektarina (S)pace: How would you summarize the impact Eco-Schools is
having on both pupils and teachers?
Eco-Schools: I have only been International Director for almost a year,
and the impression I get when I talk to pupils and teachers is that they
have this empowering feeling through Eco-Schools and Green Flag of:
‘We are all in this together,’ and ‘Together we can change the world!’ A
recent survey (July, 2013) carried out by Keep Britain Tidy, concluded that
“the Eco-Schools framework positively supports schools to deliver
effective environmental education, and also indicates that schools that
embrace education for sustainability are also schools that succeed and do
well.” It is not easy to get an overview of all of the effects of Eco-Schools
all over the world, however, below is another figure from part of a survey
that was carried out in Sweden very recently. I think both of these fig-
ures show a very positive impact on pupils and on staff. A school in Ja-
pan has received the Green Flag for the first time, and the principle was
very moved by the whole occasion. The Principle of Toda Elementary
School in Japan wrote: “The whole process of acquiring the Green Flag
has been a fantastic opportunity to experience the children’s motivation
to work and act together.
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I could feel that the whole school became one team working towards
the same goal. We are very proud!”
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Above: Extent to which eco-coordinators felt that the Eco-Schools programme contributes to ten elements of children’s wellbeing.
Nektarina (S)pace: Please explain Eco-School's sister programme - Young
Reporters for the Environment
Eco-Schools: Young Reporters for the Environment (YRE) is a network of
international youth engaged in environmental journalism and Education
for Sustainable Development. The International Director at FEE is Anna
Normann. YRE is being operated in more than 25 countries. Participants
are aged 11 - 21 and they investigate environmental issues and problems
and report on them through written, photographic or video journalism,
wherever possible proposing solutions.
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YRE develops participants' skills and knowledge. Working with the YRE
programme, gives them a deeper understanding of sustainable
development, and enhances their communication and citizenship skills
such as: individual initiative, team work, critical analysis, social
responsibility and leadership abilities.
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Nektarina (S)pace: In 2012 Eco Schools launched its World Days of
Action. Could you please explain them in more detail?
Eco-Schools: The idea behind World Days of Action is to show that
students are leading the way, and to enable students to work more
actively together in all parts of the world. World Days of Action is held
in the northern hemisphere in the first full school week of November so
this year it will be from 4 – 10 November 2013. In the southern
hemisphere is takes place in April and includes Earth Day, so next year it
is 21 – 27 April 2014.
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Jan Eriksen, President of FEE, said: “World Days of Action encourages
young people to be active and gives them the tools they need to collect
results and share their success to inspire others towards positive
behaviour change.”
On Earth Day last, Eco-Schools launched our new Energy/CO2
Calculator. This allows schools who are working with the Energy Theme
to begin to calculate the amount of energy the school uses and also to
begin to calculate the amount of CO2 being used per person. We have
made this available to all, so that schools in poorer countries and
countries with organisations that do not have calculators on their
websites can begin to use ours. Eventually we will have a baseline and
then we will be able to see how much energy and CO2 is being saved.
We were able to build this through generous support from our sponsor
Staples.
Nektarina (S)pace: What is next for Eco-Schools?
Eco-Schools: Eco-Schools has already expanded into Green Campus in
some countries, and Environmental and Activity Clubs in others. These
expansions will continue, and we will develop our websites to give more
details about these so that more institutions can come on board. I
would like to focus more on teacher trainer colleges and institutions, as
well as on design schools. I feel that a green future is also highly
dependent on sustainable design being integrated at the earliest
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Nektarina (S)pace: In 2011 Eco Schools launched "Connect". Please talk
about "Connect", but also about the connection between Eco-Schools and
Earth Charter.
Eco-Schools: Eco-Schools Connect is a website which allows teachers and
schools to connect; learn about how other schools and countries are
dealing with challenges; and work on projects together.
http://eco-schools.org/connect/ The problem we encounter again and
again is that individual students, teachers or schools hear about
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Eco-Schools and want to join. However, in order to run the programme
in a country a nationwide NGO first has to join FEE. It can take a long
time to find the right NGO in each country and FEE does not have the
capacity to actively promote our programmes at the moment. So, we
have to reply to all these individuals telling them these facts and asking
them to approach a suitable NGO and get back to us. Unfortunately,
there is quite a deal of administration involved. Eco-Schools Connect,
YRE-Connect and World Days of Action were introduced to allow these
individual schools, teachers and eventually pupils to connect with us and
interact and learn from what other schools publish and upload on the
websites. We don’t want to leave anybody out in the cold. We hope to
work a lot more closely with Earth Charter also in the future. The only
thing that is holding us back is lack of staff resources and time .
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possible point. I could, and would, like to see us working more in
partnership with Cradle to Cradle initiatives and with institutions like
the Ellen MacArther Foundation which are really looking towards the
future. Singapore and India are the newest countries to come on board
and I am really looking forward to working with these countries. Large
countries like India really make a difference. The youth there are
incredibly aware of the climate change and they are champing at the bit
to get going with the Eco-Schools programme. Two other large
countries, China which joined in 2007, and the USA which joined in
2009 are also beginning to make a difference. These countries now
have respectively 148 and 451 Green Flags flying and greening their
landscape. I am really looking forward to developing more initiatives
with them. We are working on apps, in order to allow students to be
more connected with one another and not having to depend on teach-
ers and schools, however, there are security issues to take into account,
and it is rather slower moving than I would like.
www.eco-schools.org
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Learning
Through
Play
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Artists Speak Up for the Climate
Across New York City
Ten Days of Public
Art Installations Designed to Draw Attention to
Climate Change
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For 10 days, New York will be near bursting with creativity as diverse
artists compete to draw attention to climate change as part of the
Human Impact Institute’s Ten Days of Climate Action.
The events will kick off with a free launch party open to the public on
Friday, September 20.
Ten Days of Climate Action is an initiative of the Human Impacts Insti-
tute designed to bring together creative minds – artists, writers, actors,
filmmakers, musicians and performers – to install climate-inspired
public works throughout New York City. These events are designed to
broaden the climate conversation, to encourage us to think more
critically about our actions and their impacts on our climate, and to
inspire action. Each installation will be evaluated by a panel of judges,
and the winners – rated according to it’s climate change connection,
creativity, and how well the piece inspires climate action – will receive
$1,000 in cash prizes.
“As New Yorkers who lived through Hurricane Sandy, we need to make
the world understand that climate change is real and that it can be
devastating,” said Tara DePorte, founder and director of the Human
Impacts Institute. “I’m awed by these artists who are leading the way
and using their talent to engage us to take action against climate
change.”
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The events include everything from dance performances to a series of
short films to the reading of an eco-themed play. All are free and open
to the public, and many are interactive.
Human Impacts Institute will host a fundraiser on October 8, where the
events’ winners will be revealed alongside the first Climate Action
Audience Choice Award, special VIPs, and more (tickets available at:
ClimateActionAwards.bpt.me/)
The panel of experts judging the competition includes Colin Beavan,
author of No Impact Man, award-winning film maker and photographer
John Fiege, Paul Morris of PEN America’s, and Evan Van Hook, who
teaches environmental law at Columbia University and works as the
Corporate Vice President for Health, Safety, Environment, and
Remediation for Honeywell International. “When our climate changes,
our lives change,” DePorte said. “It’s time to take a stand, and these
artists are doing just that.” Ten Days of Climate Action is an official part
of Climate Week NYC since 2011 and is supported by the Brenner Family
Foundation.
Below is a complete list of events, and a short description, for the Ten
Days of Climate Action.
For more information on the 10 Days of Climate, please visit:
HumanImpactsInstitute.org/10DaysofClimate.php
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Day 1: Friday, September 20
Launch Party
Have fun with the Human Impacts Institute crew at this
year's Ten Days of Climate Action Launch party, half pub-
crawl and half educational carnival, across three of
downtown’s eco-friendly businesses – Freitag, Green
Depot and Little Cupcake Bakeshop. Enjoy free drinks,
dessert, and great, green giveaways.
When: 6-8pm
Where: Begin at Freitag, 1 Prince St (@Bowery), NY, NY.
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Day 2, Event 1: Saturday, September 21
Draw the Line
Join the crew from 350.org to protest the Keystone XL oil
pipeline and draw a line around the parts of Manhattan that
will be underwater in the future.
When: Noon Where: Battery Park, NY, NY.
SYDNEY, AUSTRALIA SATELITE EVENT
Day 2, Event 2: Saturday September 21
The Tree Veneration Society
Pitch in as the Tree Veneration Society of Australia combines
traditional forms of global tree worship and community art to
adorn, decorate and celebrate local trees
When: 5-10pm
Where: Beams Festival, Balfour St, Chippendale, Sydney,
Australia.
For more information: BeamsFestival.com.au/
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Day 3: Sunday, September 22
Re: Spectré
Spend the afternoon on the Queen’s waterfront and experience the
power of Anthony May's sculpture – a pixilated rearrangement of a
tree trunk uprooted by Super-Storm Sandy – connecting technology,
disaster and climate.
When: 2-4pm Where: Socrates Sculpture Park, LIC, Queens.
Day 4: Monday, September 23
Extreme Whether
Get a sneak peak into a family divided by the fossil fuel industry as a
climate scientist struggles to tell the truth about global warming, his
daughter struggles to save the frogs, while his sister wants to frack,
with this live reading of excerpts from the upcoming play from the
award-winning Three Theatre Collaborative.
When: 7:30-9pm with networking reception
Where: Columbia University, Schermerhorn Auditorium, Room 501
(enter building, walk up one flight of stairs and auditorium is directly in
front of you) View Campus Map.
Limited seating is available – first come, first served.
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Day 5: Tuesday, September 24
Pipelines and People
Walk by to see this animated, video installation by Mechthild Schmidt
Feist about dirty energy, fracking, and the Keystone XL pipeline.
When: 7-9pm
Where: East 26 Street
(midblock between Park Avenue + Lexington Avenue), NY, NY.
LONDON, ENGLAND SATELITE EVENT
Day 6, Event 1: Wednesday, September 25
Postcards from the Frontlines
Be a part of the action as the Environmental Justice Foundation (EJF) us-
es imagery to help you communicate what home, in the context of cli-
mate change, means. Your personal message will then be sent to UN
Secretary General Ban Ki Moon.
When: 11am-6pm
Where: Big Trees, Little Bees Pop-up Shop, 20 Fouberts Place W1F 7PL,
London, England.
For more information: EJFoundation.org
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Day 6, Event 2: Wednesday, September 25
Human Impacts Climate Action Film and Theatre Festival
Explore as the evening opens with six short, climate-focused
films that take on topics like native salmon fisheries, the myth
of "clean coal", locavores and communities organizing against
fracking. Then stay for the global premier of the short play
from Superhero Clubhouse, Don't Be Sad, Flying Ace, which
explores how people react to extreme events. End the night
with drinks and eco-action networking with a Human Impacts
Institute and Organizing for Action networking social hour.
When: 6:30-9:30 with networking reception.
Where: Grace Church High School Campus, 46 Cooper Square
(between East 6th and Astor Place), NY, NY.
Limited seating is available –first come, first served.
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Day 7: Thursday, September 26
Zeitegeiber
German for “time giver,” Zeitgeber, by Sara Roer, is an
improvisational – and interactive – dance piece that explores
urbanites’ connection to the natural world.
When: 5-7pm
Where: Times Square, 46th Street
(Between Broadway and 7th Avenue), NY, NY.
Day 8, Event 1: Friday, September 27
Adapting to Change Cycling Tour
Jump on your clean transportation machine (aka bicycle) and
join Green Map's ride through Manhattan’s Lower East Side
to explore both the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy and local
solutions to the devastation.
When: 6-8:30pm
Where: Will Start in Tompkins Sq. Park center circle, East of
Ave. A and North of East 7th Street, NY, NY.
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Day 8, Event 2: September 27
Fashion Forward
Even climate can be cool! The NAC Fashion Committee presents a
runway fashion show that will showcase the couture collection of
Gregor Marvel with a Berlin Cabaret theme. Showing how fashion can
help reduce the wastestream and compliment your waistline, Marvel
uses vintage fabrics (think old curtains, sourcing old dresses and fab-
rics through word-of-mouth) in his designs.
Limited seating is available – first come, first served.
When: 9-9:30pm
Where: National Arts Club, 15 Gramercy Park South, NY, NY 10003
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Day 9: Saturday, Sept. 28
Tidemarks
Interact with an outdoor "living room" installation informed by the
memories of displaced personal belongings scattered throughout NYC
post-Sandy. Discover "hidden" videos and art through interactive QR
codes with Sue Allbert’s latest work.
When: 12-6pm Where: Southside Connex Street Festival, Havemeyer
Street between South 4th and Grand Street, Williamsburg, Brooklyn, NY.
Day 10: Sunday, Sept. 29
Lexicon of Sustainability
Have a drink on us when you enjoy this inspirational photo exhibit by
the Lexicon of Sustainability of sustainable food producers from across
the United States.
When: 2-4pm Where: Environment Furniture, 352 Bowery, New York,
NY (between Great Jones and East 4th Street), NY, NY.
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The mission of the Human Impacts Institute is to foster sustainable
human impacts on ecosystems through inspired engagement,
leadership, collaboration, knowledge-building and creative
expression. We promote healthy community development by
connecting communities through a shared awareness of, and
accountability for, the natural environment.
Using NYC as a laboratory, the Human Impacts Institute connects global
communities in resource sharing and environmental awareness. Our
program participants commit to conscious environmental decision-
making, take responsibility for their environmental impacts and are
dedicated to long-term solutions .
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Green Fest Film Festival
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Green Fest Film Festival
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Belgrade GREEN FEST is a unique event in the region of South East Europe that
binds environmental and cultural activities through film screenings, workshops, lectures,
debates, exhibitions and innovations which are shaping this festival into the form that
connects and brings together people of all professions and ages.
Film program of International Green Culture Festival called GREEN SCREEN FEST
attracts large audience and it is divided in two main segments: Amateur and short film
competition program and revue program. Video activism has always been important part
of the festival and Call for proposal every year gathers hundreds of films from around the
globe. Taking part in the festival is easy, just visit www.greenfest.rs and find out!
Scientific and educational segment GREEN FIELD explores new knowledge and
tendencies in the environmental and creative education through the use of pear to pear
and expert approach and new technologies. Activities within this programme encompass
workshops, lectures and debates tailor made for the primary, secondary and university
students. Of course, more than 1000 participants are a guarantee for learning, socializing
and new friendships.
Festival space and halls form the GREEN SQUARE, welcoming point and open space
dedicated for exhibitions, art installations, innovations and various green products and
initiatives. Complex, yet simple space, invites you to explore new ideas that will build new
green future for all.
This year, 4th edition of the festival will be held from November 13th to 15th in
Dom omladine Beograd under the slogan - Four colors of green. Become the part of the
global green community.
Share your vision of sustainable future! Participate!
facebook.com/GSF01 twitter.com/GreenScreenFest
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The
Horror
Of
Plastic
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The
Horror
Of
Plastic
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What is
plastic pollution?
Plastic pollution, the accumulation in the environment of
man-made plastic products to the point where they create problems for
wildlife and their habitats as well as for human populations. In 1907 the
invention of Bakelite brought about a revolution in materials by
introducing truly synthetic plastic resins into world commerce. By the
end of the 20th century, however, plastics were found to be persistent
polluters of many environmental niches, from Mount Everest to the
bottom of the sea. Whether being mistaken for food by animals, flooding
low-lying areas by clogging drainage systems, or simply causing
significant aesthetic blight, plastics have attracted increasing attention as
a large-scale pollutant.
Plastic is a polymeric material—that is, a material whose molecules are
very large, often resembling long chains made up of a seemingly endless
series of interconnected links. Natural polymers such as rubber and silk
exist in abundance, but nature’s “plastics” have not been implicated in
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environmental pollution, because they do not persist in the
environment. Today, however, the average consumer comes into daily
contact with all kinds of man-made plastic materials that have been
developed specifically to defeat natural decay processes—materials
derived mainly from petroleum that can be molded, cast, spun, or
applied as a coating. Since synthetic plastics are largely
nonbiodegradable, they tend to persist in natural environments.
Moreover, many lightweight, single-use plastic products and packaging
materials, which account for approximately 50 percent of all plastics
produced, are not deposited in containers for subsequent removal to
landfills, recycling centres, or incinerators.
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Instead, they are improperly disposed of at or near the location where
they end their usefulness to the consumer. Dropped on the ground,
thrown out of a car window, heaped onto an already full rubbish bin, or
inadvertently carried off by a gust of wind, they immediately begin to
pollute the environment. Indeed, landscapes littered by plastic packaging
have become common in many parts of the world. (Illegal dumping of
plastic and overflowing of containment structures also play a role.)
Studies from around the world have not shown any particular country or
demographic group to be most responsible, though population centres
generate the most litter. The causes and effects of plastic pollution are
truly worldwide.
According to the trade association PlasticsEurope, world plastic
production grew from some 1.5 million tons in 1950 to an estimated 260
million tons in 2007. Compared with materials in common use in the first
half of the 20th century, such as glass, paper, iron, and aluminum,
plastics have a low recovery rate. That is, they are relatively inefficient to
reuse as recycled scrap in the manufacturing process, due to significant
processing difficulties such as a low melting point, which prevents
contaminants from being driven off during heating and reprocessing.
Most recycled plastics are subsidized below the cost of raw materials by
various deposit schemes, or their recycling is simply mandated by
government regulations. Recycling rates vary dramatically from country
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to country, with only northern European countries obtaining rates
greater than 50 percent. In any case, recycling does not really address
plastic pollution, since recycled plastic is “properly” disposed of,
whereas plastic pollution comes from improper disposal.
Plastic pollution in oceans and on land
Since the ocean is downstream from nearly every terrestrial location, it
is the receiving body for much of the plastic waste generated on land. It
has been estimated that 6.4 million tons of debris end up in the world’s
oceans every year and that some 60 to 80 percent of that debris, or 3.8
to 5 million tons, is improperly discarded plastic litter. Plastic pollution
was first noticed in the ocean by scientists carrying out plankton studies
in the late 1960s and early 1970s, and oceans and beaches still receive
most of the attention of those studying and working to abate plastic
pollution. Floating plastic waste has been shown to accumulate in five
subtropical gyres that cover 40 percent of the world’s oceans. Located at
Earth’s midlatitudes, these gyres include the North and South Pacific
Subtropical Gyres, whose eastern “garbage patches” (zones with high
concentrations of plastic waste circulating near the ocean surface) have
garnered the attention of scientists and the media. The other gyres are
the North and South Atlantic Subtropical Gyres and the Indian Ocean
Subtropical Gyre.
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In the ocean, plastic pollution can kill marine mammals directly through
entanglement in objects such as fishing gear, but it can also kill through
ingestion, by being mistaken for food. Studies have found that all kinds of
species, including small zooplankton, large cetaceans, most seabirds, and
all marine turtles, readily ingest plastic bits and trash items such as
cigarette lighters, plastic bags, and bottle caps. Sunlight and seawater
embrittle plastic, and the eventual breakdown of larger objects makes it
available to zooplankton and other small marine animals. In addition to
being nonnutritive and indigestible, plastics have been shown to
concentrate pollutants up to a million times their level in the surrounding
seawater and then deliver them to the species that ingest them. In one
study, levels of polychlorinated biphenyl (PCB), a lubricant and insulating
material that is now widely banned, were shown to have increased
significantly in the preen gland oil of streaked shearwaters (Calonectris
leucomelas) after these seabirds had been fed plastic pellets culled from
Tokyo Bay for only one week.
There are also terrestrial aspects to plastic pollution. Drainage systems
become clogged with plastic bags, films, and other items, causing flood-
ing. Land birds, such as the reintroduced California condor, have been
found with plastic in their stomachs, and animals that normally feed in
waste dumps—for instance, the sacred cows of India—have had intestinal
blockages from plastic packaging.
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The mass of plastic is not greater than that of other major components
of waste, but it takes up a disproportionately large volume. As waste
dumps expand in residential areas, the scavenging poor are often found
living near or even on piles of residual plastics.
Pollution by plastics additives
Plastic also pollutes without being littered—specifically, through the
release of compounds used in its manufacture. Indeed, pollution of the
environment by chemicals leached from plastics into air and water is an
emerging area of concern. As a result, some compounds used in plastics,
such as phthalates, bisphenol A (BPA), and polybrominated diphenyl
ether (PBDE), have come under close scrutiny and regulation. Phthalates
are plasticizers—softeners used to make plastic products less brittle.
They are found in medical devices, food packaging, automobile
upholstery, flooring materials, and computers as well as in
pharmaceuticals, perfumes, and cosmetics. BPA, used in the
manufacture of clear, hard polycarbonate plastics and strong epoxy
coatings and adhesives, is present in packaging, bottles, compact discs,
medical devices, and the linings of food cans. PBDE is added to plastics
as a flame retardant. All these compounds have been detected in
humans and are known to disrupt the endocrine system.
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Phthalates act against male hormones and are therefore known as
anti-androgens; BPA mimics the natural female hormone estrogen; and
PBDE has been shown to disrupt thyroid hormones in addition to being
an anti-androgen. The people most vulnerable to such hormone-
disrupting chemicals are children and women of reproductive age.
These compounds have also been implicated in hormone disruption of
animals in terrestrial, aquatic, and marine habitats. Effects are seen in
laboratory animals at blood levels lower than those found in the
average resident of a developed country. Amphibians, mollusks, worms,
insects, crustaceans, and fish show effects on their reproduction and
development, including alterations in the number of offspring
produced, disruption of larval development, and (in insects) delayed
emergence—though studies investigating resulting declines in those
populations have not been reported. Studies are needed to fill this
knowledge gap, as are studies of the effects of exposure to mixtures of
those compounds on animals and humans.
Solving the problem
Given the global scale of plastic pollution, the cost of removing plastics
from the environment would be prohibitive. Most solutions to the
problem of plastic pollution, therefore, focus on preventing improper
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disposal or even on limiting the use of certain plastic items in the first
place.
Fines for littering have proved difficult to enforce, but various fees or
outright bans on foamed food containers and plastic shopping bags
are now common, as are deposits redeemed by taking beverage
bottles to recycling centres. So-called extended producer
responsibility, or EPR, schemes make the manufacturers of some items
responsible for creating an infrastructure to take back and recycle the
products that they produce. Awareness of the serious consequences
of plastic pollution is increasing, and new solutions, including the
increasing use of biodegradable plastics and a “zero waste”
philosophy, are being embraced by governments and the public.
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How are single-use plastic carryout bags harmful to the environment?
1- They are consumed in extremely high volumes (approximately 22 million per year
in Bellingham).
2- They are made from non-renewable resources.
3- They are designed to be disposable (rather than reusable) average time used is 12
minutes.
4- Most are down cycled; not recycled.
5- They are a significant and visible component of litter.
6- They remain in the environment as marine, storm drain, and beach pollution.
7- Plastic does not biodegrade it photo-degrades and while smaller; it remains forever.
8- Plastic bags are a significant hazard to marine animals and birds, which often
mistake them for food.
9- Beach and ocean clean up is of no use, unless the migration of plastic bags and
other plastic pollution which ultimately migrates to our oceans is stopped at the
source. The demise of the oceans and its mammals and birds will continue to get
worse.
Why are reusable bags better for the environment?
The environmental degradation that is caused by the continued use of single-use car-
ryout plastic bags and paper bags is a very compelling reason to use reusable bags.
Reusable bags do not pollute the environment, and help reduce landfill waste because
they are used again and again. Therefore, Bellingham residents and taxpayers do not
have to pay the clean-up costs and landfill fees related to disposable of single-use car-
ryout bags.
Visit www.facebook.com/bagitbellingham and find out
how a community is making a positive change.
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Projects we like:
Outdoor
Libraries Slovenia
www.knjiznicapodkrosnjami.si
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Being part of the sustainable food chain
By Priti Rajagopalan
On my way to the supermarket yesterday, following my habit, I
carefully jotted down things needed for my pantry. It was the usual:
fruits, vegetables, pulses, milk, yoghurt, protein bread, sunflower seed
butter, vegetarian cheese, nuts. This was the typical Indian vegetarian
diet that I inherited from my parents. My formative years were in a
household where eggs were forbidden and bringing meat in would cause
disownment. Most of our vegetables and pulses came from farms and
gardens nearby where no big agro corporations had yet set foot. As I
grew up and went into professional sports, my diet included a bit of eggs
now and then but consuming meat was something I could not
psychologically get myself to do. So, I grew up with no worry of E.Coli or
many other pathogens making their way to my stomach. And my mother
carefully cooked the egg so she it would not risk my health in any way.
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There was one major difference between my list today and couple of
months or years back. I had insisted on buying organic and had phased
myself out of all packaged and frozen food. I even jokingly told my
brother “95% of the supermarket does not belong to us”. There was
another small difference; my food bill had shot up by almost 60%. It is
almost like unhealthy, pesticide laced, additive filled food had been
incentivized.
During one of my grassroots work in food security I happened to
travel to northern India where I heard about the “cancer express” that
ran from Bhatinda in Punjab to Bikaner in Rajasthan.
For the uninitiated, Bhatinda is a grain and cotton hub in north India,
which benefited by the Green revolution that swooped the nation in the
1960s. The health department has estimated the number of patients in
the region at 120-125 per lakh against 71 in the rest of India. The last
year alone has seen an increase in patients to a staggering 80%. The
surface water has found to be contaminated with arsenic, cadmium,
chromium, selenium and mercury. In a country where healthcare is
expensive and often limited, prevention is definitely better than cure.
But, how can a farmer prevent this and most importantly how can I
contribute? These thoughts passed my mind while I silently watched the
documentaries “Cancer train” and “Pesticide Boom”.
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I did a quick analysis of the pesticides Indian farmers used as opposed to
the farmers in the west. Many of the chemical fertilizers like Endosulfan
are still being used as a miracle-agrochemical in India and China but are
banned in EU, US, New Zealand and Australia. Since, agriculture is one of
the most important sectors of an economy, the corporations are
interested in profiting but the lack of public education has lead to us not
knowing what reaches our plate.
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The government has a very important role to play here and does the
health research committee. Increasing number of statistics are pointing
towards the risks and hazards associated with pesticides and fertilizers.
The foremost step in this regards would have to be the Right to
information – right to know what substances constitute the chemicals
that go into our food and in our environment. The second would have to
be upgrading of our testing standards that must resonate with the
health issues being faced by citizens over a period of time. The third and
the most important would be educating the masses, because once the
audience is aware of the problem it would definitely lead to increased
government action.
Priti is a Environmental and Sustainability researcher
interested in food and energy security.
She prides in having worked on the ground in waste
management, climate adaptation and sustainable education.
She can be reached on [email protected]
and found on her twitter handle pritiriyer
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India’s drought and heavy
rainfall :
A natural
calamity or a man-made one?
By Suresh More
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In India, dry months before the onset of the monsoons result in
frequent blackouts due to empty hydropower dams, water shortages in
posh colonies in cities, and even riots over water when back-up water
tankers are called in to residential areas. Poor approach to conserving
and managing water resources is the crux of the problem.
In India rivers, streams and lakes are polluted beyond belief, and
illegal, unregulated over-extraction of groundwater has left a serious
water crisis in many parts of the country. Maharashtra is the worst
example of poor water management and its impact on water
management. Basic water conservation through projects such as
rainwater harvesting has been lacking.
An analysis by the South Asian Network for Dams, Rivers and
People (SANDRP) disputes rainfall in Maharashtra in 2012 is lower than
in 1972, when the region faced it worst ever drought. “From a
meteorological and agricultural point of view, this year’s drought cannot
be called worse than that in 1972. It is possible that hydrologically, this
year’s drought may prove to be worse than 1972 for some districts,” said
the March report. “The blame for this lies entirely on wrong decisions
about building unviable and undesirable large dams, wrong cropping
patterns, diversion of water for non priority uses, neglect of local water
systems and unaccountable water management.”
Maharashtra has the largest number of dams in the country – more than
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3,000 – built to not only generate power, but also to provide water for
millions of farmers and service the state’s burgeoning industries.
However, reports suggest that despite billions of dollars invested,
irrigation coverage has only increased by 0.1 percent over the last dec-
ade. “If non-sustainable land and water use continue, the drought will
spread even when rainfall is normal. The most vulnerable immediately
are the poor who will be forced to migrate as environmental refugees.
Agrarian distress and farmers` suicides will increase because farmers
have spent huge amounts on costly seeds and chemicals, and crop
failure will make the debt trap a death trap.
Floods
From 14 to 17 June 2013, the Indian state of Uttarakhand and adjoining
area received heavy rainfall, which was about 400 percent more than
the benchmark rainfall during a normal monsoon. This caused the
melting of Chorabari Glacier at the height of 3800 metres, and eruption
of the Mandakini River which led to heavy floods in Uttarakhand,
Himachal Pradesh and Western Nepal, and acute rainfall in other near-
by regions of Delhi, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh and some parts of Tibet.
Heavy rainfall for four consecutive days as well as melting snow aggra-
vated the floods.
Unprecedented destruction by the rainfall witnessed in Uttarakhand
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state was attributed, by environmentalists, to unscientific
developmental activities undertaken in recent decades contributing to
high level of loss of property and lives. Roads constructed in haphazard
style, new resorts and hotels built on fragile river banks and more than
70 hydroelectric projects in the watersheds of the state led to a "disaster
waiting to happen".
The environmental experts reported that the tunnels built and blasts
undertaken for the 70 hydro electric projects contributed to the
ecological imbalance in the state, with flows of river water restricted and
the streamside development activity contributing to a higher number of
landslides and more flooding. It is believed that a combination of events
caused the devastation in Kedarnath town. A massive landslide curred
upstream in the north-east region of the Kedar valley. At the same time
heavy rainfall formed a small lake in the north-west of the valley. The
debris from the landslide and water from the lake travelled down the
slope, channelled into the glacier, and came down to Kedarnath town.
The National Institute of Disaster Management (NIDM), in its reports on
the Uttarakhand floods, has blamed “climatic conditions combined with
haphazard human intervention” in the hills for the disaster. Besides the
rain water, a huge quantity of water was probably released from melting
of ice and glaciers due to high temperatures during the month of May
and June. The water not only filled up the lakes and rivers that
overflowed but also may have caused breaching of moraine dammed
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lakes in the upper reaches of the valley, particularly during the late
evening on June 16 and on June 17, killing about several hundred
persons; thousands went missing and about 100,000 pilgrims were
trapped. The NIDM report says that the Alaknanda and the Mandakini
caused much destruction because they returned to their old course
where buildings were constructed over period of time. “The hazard
turned into a major disaster when people along with their properties
and infrastructure occupied such areas without adequate information,
knowledge, awareness and preparedness against the potential disaster,”
he added.
Sustainable development’s only possible with ecological balance—
Magsaysay awardee Chandi Prasad Bhatt is a noted environmentalist
and a pioneer of the tree-saving Chipko Andolan in Uttarakhand.
World Bank report:
Global warming could lead to more extreme droughts in large parts of
India, resulting in widespread food shortages and hardship in the
country, in the next few decades. The impact of a possible global
temperature rise of 2 degrees Celsius in the next few decades threatens
to trap millions of people in poverty, according to the report. "Events
like the devastating Pakistan floods of 2010, which affected more than
20 million people, could become common place.
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More extreme droughts in large parts of India could lead to widespread
food shortages and hardship," the report said.
Another impact of climate change could be degradation and loss of reefs
in South East Asia possibly resulting in reduced fish stocks and coastal
communities, while cities could be more vulnerable to increasingly
violent storms, it said. The new report builds on a World Bank report
released late last year, which concluded the world would warm by 4
degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels by the end of this century if
we did not take concerted action now.
This new report looks at the likely impacts of present day, 2 degrees
Celsius and 4 degrees Celsius warming on agricultural production, water
resources, coastal ecosystems and cities across Sub-Saharan Africa,
South Asia and South East Asia. The soaring temperatures will also drive
regular food shortages in Sub-Saharan Africa.
Shifting rain patterns in South Asia due to warming could leave some
parts under water and others without enough water for power
generation, irrigation, or drinking, the report said.
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Beyond the Brink is a young filmmaker's take on the climate
change debate. 18-year-old Ross Harrison spent a year chasing
up experts, studying the news and filming to create a short
documentary that answers the persistent questions, 'Are we
really causing climate change?' and 'Who cares?'
The result is a 40 minute film about the knowns and the
unknowns of the science, about the risks, and about being
hopeful for the future too. It gives fresh perspectives on a
subject that saturates the media, divides the public, but is still
meaningless to many.
At a time when people feel overloaded by hype and put off by
scandals, Beyond the Brink seeks to lay out how things really
stand now.
Interviews with Sir David Attenborough, Mark Lynas, David
Shukman, Prof Dieter Helm, the UK Youth Climate Coalition, and
Ross' grandparents among others.
You can watch the whole thing at www.beyondthebrink.org
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Red Cross Asylum Centers
and the Challenge to
Work with Sustainability
By Bettina Fellov
Refugee camps and refugee centers for people applying for asylum
must be some of the world´s most diverse areas housing people of
different races, from different countries, with different cultures, religions
and brought up with different basic formation. Add on the linguistic
diversity. Visiting refugee centers the huge diversity of people is striking.
Besides the intercultural diversity the diversity amongst citizens with the
same nationality is obvious depending of, amongst other things, social
strata.
In Denmark, Red Cross Asylum Department has 12 refugee centers and
those centers are housing around 3-4,000 foreign citizens coming from
more than 100 different countries.
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Housing people from so many countries it is obvious that those people
have different basic formation according to approaching issues as
climate change, consumption of resources, CO2 emission, housekeeping
etc.
Some people being refugees in a foreign country will struggle with
traumas and/or injuries. All will struggle with their own case and
situation, attorneys, The Danish Immigration Service and the process
applying for asylum. Add to that sorrows and loss.
In a small community of an asylum center the diversity is huge amongst
staff too, as they range the whole spectrum from hands-on staff, kitchen
staff, technical staff, educators, nurses, doctor, support/contact persons,
school teachers, admin staff and managers. Within staff the challenge is
that asylum centers are kept open 24 hours a day. The staff works in
shifts. Gathering all staff at the same time is quite difficult. And then
there is still the climate change challenge that needs solving and there is
the need to work towards sustainability and environmental balance.
Danish Red Cross Asylum Department has been working to reduce
consumption of energy and has, during many years, addressed environ-
mental issues with regards to operating the asylum centers. In 2011 the
department made a program to be implemented in all Red Cross´ asylum
centers in Denmark.
Having a common program makes it easier to obtain reductions in
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energy consumption and to implement environmental friendly solutions
and as people applying for asylum move around in between the centers
the campaigns and methods will be recognizable.
In Denmark the asylum centers have different functions, one is a
reception center, one receives unaccompanied children and another
one receives people having physical or psychological injuries etc.
The Red Cross Asylum Department is independent according to
organization and economy and is not connected to Red Cross
Humanitarian Organization which means the department does not
benefit from collections or sponsors. The economical basis in the
Department is influenced by politics and decided by the government. It
is administrated by The Danish Immigration Service.
Red Cross Asylum Department is operating for The Danish Immigration
Service and is an emergency organization which means that the
organization has to be ready to receive an unknown amount of refugees
at any time. Not knowing what tomorrow will bring, the organization
has to be adaptable, on a daily basis, to any changes impacted by the
number of refugees and people applying for asylum.
Working as consultant for Red Cross Asylum Department in 2011 I
shared my methods to teach and my methods to make behavioral
changes within energy consumption and environmental friendly
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operation of buildings. Having taught these topics before, to people
applying for asylum, it was interesting to come back this month to do a
repetition course and to ask how the implementation of the energy and
environment program has been developing.
At this point the Red Cross Centers are on the same level in their
campaign, and campaign materials are shared across the asylum
centers. In some centers the refugees are actively working, planning
and processing the efforts and campaigns that will result in reduction of
energy consumption. In Jelling Asylum Center they have a mentor
program where refugees which have been in the center for a while
serve as mentors for newcomers. The mentors in this asylum center
work on energy consumption and have been very active in composing
the campaigns that are available for all centers. These mentors are in
contact with Vejle Municipality, Green Forum, where they are taught
how to make campaign photos and texts.
One of the mentors is Mousthapha Elimane Diop. He has been very
engaged in developing campaign materials and in starting up a system
to sort out glasses and metal from waste. During environment week at
Red Cross Asylum Center Jelling, Mousthapha won a drawing
competition for campaign drawings to be used in all asylum centers.
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There is a good will in Red Cross to work on energy issues, though there
are some limitations. In normal houses and flats it is possible to adjust
energy consumption, for example by lowering the heat during the night,
switching off , so on. That might not be possible in an asylum center as
people might be traumatized and have difficulties sleeping and therefore
need to be up at night time without feeling cold. I other areas lights
might be kept on at all times, people in order to make people feel safe.
At this point, one and a half year after starting the implementation of
the energy program, it looks promising, as electricity consumption has
been reduced in almost all centers. Working within the program in the
centers is a challenge as there as there are no incentives (linked to the
energy savings) for the refugees, meaning that reductions in energy
consumption are based on good will. This effort is quite important and it
needs to be looked at from both a climate change perspective and a
socio-economic perspective - people achieving asylum will move from
the center to their own flats where they will have to cover their own
expenses for the consumption of energy and water. Having worked in non
profitable housing associations my experience is that some refugee
families would be very surprised with their bills for energy and water
consumption.
As a staffer in Red Cross Asylum centers, working to reduce energy
consumption and protect the environment you have to be very patient,
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as the asylum seekers you work with one week might leave your center
the next week, hence you will need the patience to restart the process
over and over again, with new people. It might be difficult to see
progress in such circumstances but you have to keep on working on en-
ergy reduction, believing that refugees leaving your center will apply
what they learned as they move into a flat in Denmark or as they are
sent back to their origin country if they are not granted asylum.
In order to keep anonymity of people applying asylum in Denmark it is not possible to
show photos of people applying for asylum participating in courses or any programs to
reduce energy consumption. Photo of Mousthapha Elimane Diop is allowed by
Mousthapha Elimane Diop himself. In photos you see staff attending seminars and
Asylum Center Kongelunden.
Overview of the energy program at
The Danish Red Cross Asylum Department:
→ Common energy policy
→ Common understanding and values
→ Common flyer about energy savings in 8 languages besides Danish
and English
→ Common posters in all centers about energy consumption
→ Common film material
→ Common knowledge and education of staff
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Can Learning to
Install Your Own
Solar System
Save You Money?
By Liz Nelson
As technology and innovative methods have decreased the manufacturing
costs of photovoltaic equipment, many are installing solar power devices en
mass across the globe. However, paying for the installation of this form of
renewable energy could cost you quite a bit of money as a homeowner. If
you are technically inclined, could learning how to install the system
yourself save you money? If you are comfortable with working on power
lines, then the answer would be, "Yes."
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1. Need it All - Depending on your area, you could benefit from incentive
programs from the power companies and/or tax credits from local and
Federal governments. However, the entire amount is still needed in order
to pay the installation company to equip your home with this method of
power generation. Although you could finance the installation, are you
prepared for a continuous bill that could be up to 20 years before you
actually break even from the investment?
2. The Inverter - One of the most expensive pieces of the entire solar
system is that of the power inverter. This allows you to change the DC
current of photovoltaic equipment to the AC standard that most devices
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need to utilize. These inverters can make up 75-percent of the entire
amount of setting up your own solar array. However, this is also
dependent on the supported power of the unit. A 1500 kilowatt inverter
will cost less than one that supports up to 5000 kilowatts.
3. Panels are Cheap - The panels themselves are inexpensive compared
to the other equipment that you'll need for efficient power generation.
These photovoltaic cells can be purchased from sites like eBay from
respectable companies providing quality panels. A lot of five panels to
produce 1.25 kilowatts can be bought for one-third of what you'll spend
on the inverter. If you're not a fan of eBay, there are plenty other online
sellers of photovoltaic panels that are comparative in price.
4. Batteries - Deep cycle batteries can be equally as expensive as the
inverter if your looking for one that can provide 32 kilowatt-hours of
power per charge. As many homes don't require such an output, many of
the batteries you may be looking at will be around a third of what the
inverter sells for. Keep in mind that the larger battery you have, the less
chance your system will suffer loss of power at night or during inefficient
solar supply such as during storms or overcast days.
5. Grid-tied or Not - Before you decide to build your own solar power
system, you should decide on whether or not you are going to develop a
system that is grid-tied or not. A system that is tied to the power grid
sends excess power to the community as well as supplies your own home
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with power from the grid if your system doesn't generate enough at any
given time. Off grid systems rely specifically on the solar array for power.
This will impact how much money you are going to spend in hardware for
your solar system.
As there are many tutorials and videos on the Internet detailing how one
can install a solar power system, the question should be, "Are you
comfortable enough to install a power system yourself?" Some areas may
require the expertise of a licensed electrician or you could be fined for
developing a grid-tied system. Regardless of this area specific
requirement, the actual development of the solar array can be far less
expensive than you may realize. If you are interested in developing your
own system, take a few hours and calculate what kind of a system you'd
need and compare it to how much you'd have to pay an installation
company. You may be shocked to see how much of a difference it makes.
This is a guest post by Liz Nelson from WhiteFence.com.
She is a freelance writer and blogger from Houston.
Questions and comments can be sent to: liznelson17 @ gmail.com.
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Education
For Sustainable Development (ESD) in Japan
“Integrated Studies” and “sustainability” in curriculum
Prepared by Livia Minca
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“Integrated Studies” was introduced in the Japanese school
curriculum from primary to upper secondary school levels in 2000
before the resolution on the Decade for Education for Sustainable
Development (DESD) was adopted in 2003. This is not an independent
subject but integrated lessons across subjects. It covers topics across
traditional subjects and allows for implementation of instruction and
learning activities related to education for the sake of international
understanding, information education, environmental education, health
and welfare education, and other educations. The knowledge and skills
are developed by integrated learning activities whose content is based
on students’ personal interests. Teaching hours decreased from 105, 70
and 105 to 70, 50, and 35 for primary, lower secondary and upper
secondary respectively after 2011.
This topic of Integrated Studies serves as a foundation for ESD. In order
to advance ESD activities effectively, the programs in Integrated Studies
should be linked comprehensively and promoted continuously to
learning activities. To assure this, the Japanese Ministry of Education,
Culture, Sports, Science and Technology supports: 1) the formulation of
the Basic Plan for the Promotion of Education, which identifies ESD as a
critical component; 2) the revision of Courses of Study to allow for ESD
topics to enter various subject areas; and 3) the expansion of the
UNESCO Associated School Network (ASPnet).
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Although the Integrated Studies hours declined in the recent curriculum
reform, ESD practice survives in various other subjects because the new
Course of Study mentions sustainability, which provides the foundation of
ESD in school. Asia-Pacific Cultural Centre for UNESCO (ACCU) introduced
good examples of the practices in a Guide to Developing and Using ESD
Materials. It collects 13 good ESD practice, explains a common approach
to ESD and justifies with competency what students and adults would ob-
tain through the practice. The National Federation of UNESCO Association
in Japan also assists the fund for school ESD programs.
Course of Study, the national curriculum standard, mentions a
“sustainable society” in some subjects such as social studies, science and
moral education. Course of Study sets the content and goals of
instruction so that school teachers can design their lessons based on the
aforementioned “sustainable society.” In addition, foreign language
activity is a compulsory lesson for primary school since April 2011, and
therefore, some teachers and scholars may find good opportunities to
blend ESD practice with English lessons.
Organizations out of School
The ESD concepts are so wide that its practices are not always limited to
school campuses. UNESCO introduced strong initiatives for ESD practice
taken by private and/or nongovernmental stakeholders.
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UNESCO’s report revealed that there was little content in typical informal
and non-formal education practices from the whole world survey. Active
collaboration and cooperation between schools and non-official
providers are sometimes very important for significant learning in ESD.
Although Japan has not accumulated the experiences enough yet
either, academic societies promote activities and research on ESD. For
example, the Japan Association for International Education leads the
interactions between researchers and social science teachers, and the
Japanese Society of Environmental Education has a good relationship
with science teachers. Both academic societies actively publish articles
on ESD in their journals.
There are more movements for research and development at the private
sector. Development Education is quite a common concept for both local
actors and school teachers who deal with international education: The
teachers, students and civil organizations constantly hold joint projects
and workshops for better practice. One of the most active organizations
is the Development Education Association and Resource Centre in Japan.
For ESD-domain activities, ESD-J is one of the largest NGOs, and takes
initiative for cooperation among civil organizations, officials such as the
Ministry of Education and Ministry of Environment, and practitioners.
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Education
For
Sustainability
Nova Scotia
Canada
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Nova Scotia
Friendly Beauty Photography by Sandra Antonovic
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Nova Scotia
Friendly Beauty Photography by Sandra Antonovic
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One Hundred Thousand
Welcomes
Nova Scotia is one of the Atlantic Provinces of Canada. Nova Scotia
consists of a very large peninsula (known as the "mainland"), connected
to the province of New Brunswick by a narrow strip of land, and includes
Cape Breton Island, which is now joined to the mainland by the Canso
Causeway.
Nova Scotia was one of the original four provinces that became part of
Canada in 1867, and as of 2011 had a population of 922,000 people, of
whom 44% live in the capital city, Halifax. "Nova Scotia" is Latin for "New
Scotland", and Scottish settlers brought culture and traditions that con-
tinue to this day, albeit now mixed with the cultures of native Mi'kmaq
and settlers from numerous other places.
For a population just under a million Nova Scotia is remarkably diverse,
Mi'kmaq, Scots descendants, black Nova Scotians, French Acadians,
Annapolis Valley farmers, Cape Bretoners and Haligonians all forming
distinct groups with their own unique quirks, culture and language.
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The novel "Rockbound" is written entirely in the South Shore dialect of
the fishermen of that region, a fusion of Shakespearean English,
German and unique local idioms. Champlain named Nova Scotia
"Acadie" and claimed it for France in 1604. French immigrants settled
the area and became prosperous farmers and fisherman until officially
expelled by the British in the mid 18th century - their lands especially
on the South Shore to be repopulated with "foreign Protestants"
meaning mostly Dutch and German. Many areas still retain a strong
Acadian French culture, including the largest francophone municipality,
Clare in Digby County and Argyle, in Yarmouth County.
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Nova Scotia hosted the World Acadian Congress in 2005. The Louisiana
"cajun" is a slang adaptation of "Acadien" in the French. Longfellow's
poem "Evangeline" celebrates the victims of the Expulsion, as does
Zachary Richard's drum and voice song "Reveille". Because of the
expulsion, French is far more commonly heard in New Brunswick.
Halifax, the capital, is one of the oldest cities in North America and was a
critical sea link during World Wars I and II. The infamous "Halifax
explosion" caused by collision of two ships in Halifax Harbour in 1917
was the worst man-made explosion on Earth until Hiroshima in 1945.
Halifax today is an education and high technology center with over a
dozen post-secondary institutions including Dalhousie University and
substantial operations by major high-technology firms. Academics have
unusual influence in Nova Scotia perhaps because of the concentration
of them in the capital. Many have even written legislation.
Unless you are a winter surfer, or like to snowshoe, then it is probably
best to visit Nova Scotia sometime June-Oct when the weather is warm,
the skies are blue and the water may be less frigid. The main byways are
along the coast, and a lot of small shops and restaurants are open
around the coast during the summer months. Watch out for mosquitoes
and horseflies in the summer, however, especially after a storm.
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"I have travelled around the globe.
I have seen the Canadian Rockies, the American Rockies,
the Andes and the Alps and the Highlands of Scotland;
but for simple beauty, Cape Breton outrivals them all."
Alexander Graham Bell
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The Tides of
Saint Malo By Camilla Lærke Lærkesen
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The Tides of
Saint Malo By Camilla Lærke Lærkesen
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Saint Malo is both an old
city and a large area
located in Brittany,
France on the coast of
the English Channel.
Although it is a tourist
destination it is easy to
find a quiet spot to
watch the water
disappear and the live
sea bed emerge. Brittany
is the French region with
the longest coastline,
known for its impressive
tides, history of pirates,
the seafood and their
legends of supernatural
creatures. I visited Saint
Malo with the eyes of a
tourist and the
recommendations and
tales of the locals.
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Behind the walls
For most people Saint Malo refers to the old city surrounded by
stone walls. Located on the coast of the English Channel, Saint Malo
used to be a city of what we today call corsairs, privateers or even
pirates. The privateers or corsairs were private people authorized to
attack foreign ships in the channel during wartime. Some claimed and
sold the vessels and values and some just received a tribute to let them
pass. It brought wealth and magnificence to the city. Perhaps that is
why Saint Malo, through times, has fought for independence. They
have an old saying about how first of all they are Malouins, then they
are Bretons and if anything is left, then they are French. Nowadays it
might still be true and though the people of Saint Malo are proud of
their city, their cuisine, their history and their very own flag, they do not
seem to feel as if they are above the rest of us. They are welcoming and
they love telling stories from the area. It does not go unnoticed that it
was the Malouin, Jacques Cartier, who is credited for the discovery of
Canada and naming of Montréal. Jacques Cartier was a sailor and
explorer chosen by the French king to lead expeditions to North.
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La cuisine
The kitchen of Saint Malo is reflected in the location of the city with the
sea all around. Seafood is not only on every menu in town it is also some
of the cheapest food you can order. Les moules frites is a classic and is
served in all kinds of variations.
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Besides seafood, the French gallettes are very famous. Gallettes are
pancakes with different kind of stuffing. The quality and stuffing varies
from the regular with ham and cheese on the go to the fancy gallette
restaurant with the best fresh ingredients and stuffing like chorizo or
salmon.
Creperie Margaux is the last of its kind. The focus is on the quality and
the ingredients. They have taken gallettes up to a higher gastronomical
level. Less is more when the ingredients are wisely chosen and here you
can find scallops, chanterelle and green asparagus. That is also why the
restaurant does not serve any other kind of food – except of course
crépes for dessert. The owners are experienced in the restaurant
industry. Pascal works part time as a food critic and his wife grew up with
her father who ran a Michelin restaurant in East France. The name of the
restaurant shows their dedication to their colleagues in the business -
Margaux is the name of the previous owners’ daughter. She was born
with an autoimmune disease and when she was 15 her father heard
about an American method that might help. All his friends in the food in-
dustry in the area helped collecting money to pay for the therapy. When
he opened the creperie he named it after his daughter and when Pascal
and his wife bought it they thought the name had more meaning than
any name they could make up and decided to keep it.
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If you are in a mood for a dessert, just look for the square with the giant
line through it. At the beginning of that line there is a huge counter full of
ice cream , artisan both in taste and in the way it’s presented, as only the
homemade kind can be. It is well known as the best ice cream in town—
the Sanchez’s homemade ice cream. If you do not have the patience to
wait in line – walk down the street to your right and you will find a café
with the biggest ice cream desserts and biggest pieces of cake and
biggest fruity drinks you have ever seen.
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Excursions from Saint Malo
The main attraction in Brittany are the tides that rise up to 10 meters.
Sometimes the beaches are wide and endless – and just a few hours
later they are gone, as the tide comes in. You can walk for hours in the
sand along the coast of Saint Malo. But beware of the time and bring
time tables. The tides are not the same every day and beaches have
parts that do not have the stairs leading up and away from the beach.
Rumor has it that when the water comes in it is as fast as a horse
galloping and the horror stories of those who forgot spreads through
the history of Brittany. Still, you should definitely visit the coasts, find a
nice spot and watch as the water rises or falls. You can actually see it
moving towards or away from you. Walk around and look at the shells,
the crabs, the small fish and all the sea life. It is alive right under your
feet.
On hot days a lot of people are spending time on the beaches
surrounding Saint Malo. When the tide is low you will see a swimming
pool containing sea water emerge right outside the city walls. Three
walls are built to keep the deep water right on the beach when the rest
disappears several kilometers away. You can walk on the walls all around
it and jump from the tall diving board. When the tide is high all you can
see is the top of the diving board which looks like a ladder in the middle
of the sea.
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If you prefer a safer distance to the waves there are long tracks with a
great view along the coast around the city, Cancale. It is the track of the
old custom officers. The title sounds very formal but back then it has
most likely been a look-out track for the privateers. The trip can be
combined with the famous Sunday markets in Cancale.
Dinan is known as one of the most well-preserved cities in Brittany. It is
beautiful with its small, curvy, stone paved streets, with the river and
stone bridges. You will notice that the buildings get wider as they get
higher. Once upon a time, you only paid taxes based on your ground
floor and in order to pay less and still have some space the upper floors
were build larger than the ground floors. Everywhere you look first
floors are leaning out above the streets.
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ART
Copenhagen
By Bettina Fellov
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Art Copenhagen is being held for the 17th time and exhibits art from
galleries from 15 different countries. Art Copenhagen presents up-and-
coming galleries , but also established ones. Those galleries bring
contemporary art from all over the world. You can read more here:
www.artcopenhagen.dk
Being at ART Copenhagen was really an eye opener for us, seeing
beautiful art and so many top professional galleries. We saw acrylic
paintings, oil paintings, sculptures, ceramics, photo, plastics and many
other arts. The visit gave us a lesson in pricing the art too.
We spent three hours at ART Copenhagen and we were totally saturated
with art and could not be more content once we left.
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From Iceland we saw beautiful paintings by Soffia Saemundsdottir and
Hrafnhildur Inga Sigurdardottir.
Both artists illustrate landscape using really profound colors and leav-
ing the viewer with a deep wish to go to Iceland to experience the na-
ture as it is in their paintings: harsh, deep, restful and with a touch of
sweetness and kindness.
Soffía Saemundsdottir studied at the Icelandic College of Arts and
Crafts 1987-1991. She later graduated with a MFA degree from Mills
College in Oakland, California. Soffia has exhibited around the world
both in solo and group exhibitions. She was a prizewinner in the
International Winsor & Newton Millenium Painting Competitions and
she got the Joan Mitchell Foundation Painting and Sculpture award in
2003.
Soffia Saemundsdottir's works contains “landscape, nature, language
and a feeling of belonging somewhere or to someone”. You can read
more about her artist statements here: http://www.soffias.is/
sample5_2_english.html
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Hrafnhildur Inga Sigurdardottir paints the most beautiful paintings
illustrating landscape in her surroundings. It is Iceland, water, water
vapor and the moods of being right in the rough nature. She challenges
you to like dark colors and the expression of nature.
Soffia and Hrafnhildurs pieces of arts are at Galleri Fold in Iceland.
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June Jin was born in Korea in 1977 and was adopted in Denmark where
she grew up. Nowadays June Jin lives and works in Copenhagen. June Jin
has artistically traveled far and wide, before she found her métier as a
painter. After her graduation from College of visual art & design in 2000,
she has been around in decoration for museum exhibits, set decoration
for television, TV commercials and also assisted other artist in their
art-production. In 2007 she chose to jump out as a full time artist.
Her expression form is oil-painting on canvas and plexiglass and she
combines both materials as well. Her paintings are fusions between the
old masters like Rembrandt van Rijn and modern design. This is her way
to update the great old masters technique to the modern world.
June Jin’s main mission is to get you to reflect. To get you out of your ha-
bitual thinking – to get you to think out of the box. She is trying to
seduce your brain with her underplayed aesthetic paintings.
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Photographer Ádám Magyar we met at the stand of Faur Zsófi Gallery, a
Hungarian gallery. Seeing the photos of Ádám Magyar you could spend
loads of time looking for details and wondering how and why. Amongst
many photos the photo I liked mostly is the photo of people in a square.
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I am still wondering about the expression of every person. Why do they
transport different things in different trolley – where are they going and
with what purpose?
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Mikael Olrik
Mikael Orlik is a Danish artist, educated architect from The Royal Danish
Academy of Fine Arts in Copenhagen. Mikael has been working as
architect for many years and in recent years he paints.
Mikael wanted to write a book about walks in the countryside and
moved to Provence to work with book. The book was never written as
Mikael started painting watercolors of the landscape in Provence.
In 2008 Mikael went to New York to visit his brother and already
knowing New York well he got totally passionate about the city motifs
and started his production of paintings of New York.
Mikael was granted with a scholarship residence by Bikubefonden which
gave him the opportunity to go to New York in 2010 and paint. Mikael
Olrik has published a book with his paintings and descriptions of New
York. The title of the book is “Walks in My New York - An Artist´s view”.
The book will be launched in spring of 2014 in the USA.
Mikael Olrik´s book is beautiful and from each page you can feel that
Mikael really feels at home in New York. The book guides you through
many areas in New York. The watercolor paintings in the book invite
your imagination to see what is besides the paintings as all paintings are
done out of the paper, leaving you with the sense that something more
is going on in the location.
The book shows you New York, and the description of the areas in the
book is contemporary knowledge about the areas and at the same
relevant historical knowledge.
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At ART Copenhagen I met Mikael and his wife Lone and he told me
several times that Lone is his source of inspiration, his muse. Seeing
his huge paintings at his exhibition in ART Copenhagen I can tell
that Lone is doing a really good job as a muse. Walking around
Mikael´s paintings you get the feeling of wanting to go to New York.
They are so beautiful in the colors from bright happy colors to pitch
black skyline with light shining from the many windows in the
skyscrapers. You get the feeling of wanting to be a part of the
painting. Mikaels paintings was brought to ART Copenhagen by
Gallery Knud Grothe.
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The Shipping News
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The Shipping News
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Open your mind -
Fantasy creates empathy
By Bettina Fellov
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Unannounced, a woman appeared one Thursday afternoon looking for
Gallery ART Fellov´s address and she met us on the street. Having a
leaflet in her hands the woman invited us to participate in an event on
the bottom of an abandoned swimming pool. Her name was Susanne
Gargiulo, one of five people who planned this event.
The event is about collecting money for an orphanage in Katmandu, the
title of the event is “Open Your Mind” and the subtitle is “Fantasy
Creates Empathy”.
Susanne Gargiulo asked us if we would be interested in taking some of
our paintings from the gallery and bringing them to the empty
swimming pool. We said “why not”, it was a good cause.
Imagine being in an empty swimming pool, listening to guitar playing
by Martin Aaes Pedersen, with an underlying soundtrack of neighing
horses, running water, a bottle being opened and wine poured in a glass
etc. Imagine an opera singer, Pernille Madsen, dressed in a red evening
dress, pushing a cleaning trolley while she is singing , sometimes
wearing golden shoes and sometimes wearing green flippers.
Having that in mind you get challenged on your fantasy and imagination
as you are served a drink while you have no idea what the drink is. You
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are eating a fried egg on a piece of black bread which is actually a cake
and the egg yolk is the pastry crème. The mussels prove to be steamed
cod and the coffee proves to be lobster soup. The kitchen at Bella Sky
Comwell was behind the food fantasy.
Challenging evening for your senses and all to support an orphanage in
Katmandu and it is happening miles and miles away from the orphanage
in a small village in Dragør and I really wonder how did that happened.
Actually Henriette Bergmann Hansen, one of the people behind the
event, has been a travel guide in Nepal and India for many years and
being on duty she met another traveler guide in Katmandu, Ramesh
Khatiwada, and as they met frequently working , they often drank tea
together during their breaks. At those tea breaks Ramesh Khatiwada
often spoke about doing something that would influence the life of street
children. Henriette told him “If you really are going to do something I
promise I will support you.”
And one day an orphanage was a reality and Henriette stuck to her word
and supported Ramesh Khatiwada by trying to raise money to keep the
orphanage running.
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The orphanage actually started with only three children in 2003 and has
expanded to 26 children, though sometimes there are more kids at “My
Home” . The capacity of the orphanage is 30 kids.
All children in the orphanage are sent to a private school in order to get
an education and all the children are doing fine, 24 of them are amongst
top 10 in their classes. Besides offering a home and education “My
Home” helps out the local community for example, arranging the
campaign “Clean up in Your Neighborhood” to draw attention about how
important hygiene is. “
In 2013 “My Home” reintegrated six of the children with their biological
families and “My Home” keeps following those children and supports
them so they can continue with their education. The costs of the or-
phanage is around 21.000 US dollars per year and while Ramesh Khati-
wada, the president of “My Home”, works raising money in Kathmandu,
Henriette Hansen and a group of Danish women volunteer raising money
in Denmark. Ramesh Khatiwada is working to establish a new project
educating women and mothers from the slum to become housekeepers
and waiters in hotels in Kathmandu.
You can read more about “My Home” following the link: http://
www.myhomekathmandu.org/index.php?page=home
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September Events
Galleri ART Fellov
September 19th ǀ 7-9 pm ǀ Holistic Childhood and Education by Ingelise
Hallengren
Holistic Childhood and Education is the title of a book though it is also a
definition of a happy child life according to Ingelise Hallengren. Ingelise
Hallengrenen does not grab this perception out of the blue as she has
been working professionally as teacher and as alternative practitioner.
Her perception is based on knowledge and experience meeting all as-
pects of a child´s development.
At this event Ingelise Hallengren will talk about the diverse impacts a
child meets from conception until it becomes a young human being able
to take care of herself or himself and able to be responsible for his/her
life and meet the world with a good self-esteem.
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September 22nd ǀ 2-3 pm ǀ Oscar and Olivia by Thomas Mygind Chris-
tensen
Oscar and Olivia are siblings and are the main characters in two books
for children. The books are written by Thomas Mygind Christensen and
he also illustrated the book. The content of the books are about
children´s imagination and their exciting experiences. Thomas Mygind
Christensen will visit the gallery and read his books for children. The
books are available in Danish though apps for IPad and Iphone are in
Danish and English. The books are reviewed in this magazine.
September 26th ǀ 7-8 pm ǀ Children in grief by Lise Helborn
Do you dare being responsible and break the silence when children are
in grief?
It is a responsibility of adults to exceed the invisible border according to
children in grief, to break the ice and dare more than silence. It is about
talking with the children and daring to ask them what happened and
asking them what they are thinking about the incident and how their
feelings are. Remember to exceed just a small invisible border can be a
huge step for a child in grief. It will help the child to move away from
silence and isolation – to children the experience of silence feels like a
curse. Lise Helborn is educator and grief pilot.
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Thomas
and the
book
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Oscar and Olivia
Oscar and Olivia are siblings and main characters in a new book series
for children. At this point two books in a coming row of four have been
published. The titles of the books are “Oscar and Olivia´s Space
Adventure” and “Oscar and Olivia and the snot draw”.
Thomas Mygind Christensen, the author and illustrator of both books
wanted to write good and nice illustrated books that could be converted
to an app where the impression of reading a book or having a book read
to you should be book like, though adding music and soft movements in
the app, experience scales up the book. The app for “Oscar and Olivia´s
adventure in Space” is available in English for iPhone and iPad from the
App store.
In the two published books about Oscar and Olivia their adventures
begins in the children´s room and are based on the fantastic fantasy of
children. Having red both books they took me back to childhood to have
a glance of my own fantasy adventures. The books reminded me of my
own children and their adventures when being small kids.
The books can be read to the children aged 3-7 while children
between 7-9 years old will be able to read them with support from an
adult.
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The illustrations in the books Thomas Mygind Christensen made himself
and the flamboyance is noticeable. The coherence between the books is
obvious as elements from the fantasy adventure in space in the book
“Oscar and Olivia´s Space Adventure” such as a spaceship with space
monsters and a truck with bank rubbers in book two are exposed as toys
either in a shell or hanging from the ceiling. It seems judiciously and
with intension that children by learning the characters to know will
question the border between fantasy and “real life in the books” giving a
platform for a good talk reading the book for children.
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Electric
Dreams
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GO By Bettina Fellov
Stumbling over GO — the first magazine about electric vehicles in
Denmark, I was wondering what was going on with electric vehicles in
Denmark and how the future electric vehicles will look like.
Ebbe Sommerlund is journalist and co-owner at the magazine GO. Ebbe
has become an expert in cars through his lifelong interest in cars.
Formerly Ebbe has, amongst other things been editor of the magazine
Vmax and Streetfire Magazine. Ebbe also has a website
www.motorjournalisten.dk, which is an advanced blog that he edits as
his hobby.
Electric cars in Denmark do not deliver the success story everybody was
dreaming about. The current status is that electric cars are growing in
the car market, though not as fast as the industry hoped. Norway is the
leader — there, the electric cars are in top five of all sold cars. Denmark
is behind, as people in Denmark do things out of habit, and as car
expense is a huge post in family budget, people are more careful.
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Electric cars have been marketed in Denmark as a revolution and as a
car for everybody though as the scope of driving is limited the electric
cars are for few persons. The first marketed car was Renault Fluence
Z.E (Zero emission), the car was a modified Fluence and the battery
was placed in the trunk giving very little space in the trunk.
The electric car marked internationally has a sunshine story and that is
according to Ebbe Sommerlund the car Tesla, it is produced in
California and can drive 4-500 kilometers in one charge and it costs
600.000-900.000 DKK. It is a car that drives fast having 416 hp,
stepping on the speeder you feel being pushed back in the seats. Tesla
Model S has been launched this year.
Tesla Model X is a SUV and is launched in 2014 and Tesla is working to
produce a mainstream model which is very exciting as it could change
the electric car marked.
Nissan and Renault are some of the biggest actors in the electric mar-
ket and their cars get better and better. Renault ZOE can drive between
100-170 kilometers in a charge. And in Denmark the price makes it
competitive to normal cars, which is heavily taxed compared to electric
cars which is excempted from taxes.
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The German carmaker BMW is launching a new electric car in Norway
this year, the BMW i3 and the car will arrive in Denmark in spring 2014.
BMW i3 has 170hp and a part of the chassis is built of carbon fibers
which normally is quite expensive though the BMW i3 is in the same
price level as Nissan´s electric car - LEAF. BMW i3 is also available in a
version with a range extender, a small gasoline motor, which can charge
the battery, though in Denmark it means that buyers have to pay high
taxes as a gasoline car , which more than triples the price.
In the future we can expect more hybrid cars, electric cars also driven by
fossil fuels. The reason is that carmakers cannot meet emission
regulations in the future with combustion engines alone.
Ethanol can be produced from many things, though the tax structure in
Denmark means that ethanol is not worthwhile at the moment. If
ethanol is produced from waste products straw it can make sense.
Nothing can match electricity in cars. Electricity is the most efficient way
for driving as in a gasoline motor a lot of the fuel will transform to heat
through combustion and be a waste according to propelling the car. In a
combustion engine friction will swallow energy too. In electric cars there
is very little energy loss due to heat or friction.
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Alternative fuels for transportation could be hydrogen though at this
point private cars are not available in Denmark. The Municipality of
Copenhagen has bought several hydrogen cars, Hyundai IX35, in order to
test them in a large scale test. The combustion product from hydrogen
cars is water vapor but the energy loss converting hydrogen to electricity
is in the same scale as fossil fuel combustion engines.
On top of all the insight Ebbe Sommerlund gave me on cars and mostly
electric cars, I asked Ebbe how he would predict the future for electric
vehicles in Denmark. Even being journalist for the new magazine GO,
Ebbe Sommerlund predicts that it will take decades and maybe even
four decades before electric cars are widespread in Denmark.
The last words Ebbe Sommerlund told me when speaking with him was:
”You owe yourself to drive an electric car as there is no noise and it
drives fantastic. Noise from the wind and from tires is not gone and you
might hear a little noise accelerating and when braking though it sounds
as a diminished noise a bit like driving in the tube”.
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Notes, sources and acknowledgments for September issue of Nektarina (S)pace
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http://greenplanetethics.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2012/06/pesticide-food-2.jpg
http://www.hoorayforplay.ca/_img/Hooray_For_Play_Quotes%20Location.jpg
http://alwaysquestionauthority.files.wordpress.com/2013/03/531639_10151489118945155_660277782_n-1.jpg
http://degreesearch.org/blog/wp-content/uploads/2012/03/replace-empty-mind-620x900.jpg
http://wikitravel.org/en/Nova_Scotia
http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-e-pZOvJSaXs/ToNyqsA21qI/AAAAAAAAC4k/MfqKyg4LHIg/s320/432+Nova+Scotia.JPG
www.nier.go.jp/English/EducationInJapan/Education_in_Japan/Education_in_Japan_files/201103ESD.pdf
http://www.cosminnasui.com/wp-content/uploads/et_temp/Banner-Art-Copenhagen-96657_630x210.jpg
http://onemoregeneration.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/07/plastic-trash-image.jpeg
http://gecko.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2012/11/BagItLogo-1.jpg
https://umdsustain.wp.d.umn.edu/wp-content/uploads/2013/01/Bag_It.jpg
http://www.foodasmedicine.ca/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/plastic_pollution.jpg
http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/1589019/plastic-pollution/285879/Pollution-by-plastics-additives
http://www.no-sea-and-earth-pollution.org/CALL-BY-ALBATROSS-MANFRED_files/Bird.jpg
http://www.plasticfreejuly.org/uploads/1/3/4/9/13493602/plastics_mindmap_1.jpg
247
Notes, sources and acknowledgments for September issue of Nektarina (S)pace
https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=559712914077314&set=a.164680623580547.33007.113033735411903&type=1&relevant_count=1&ref=nf
http://mw2.google.com/mw-panoramio/photos/medium/19805017.jpg
http://greenplanetethics.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2012/06/pesticide-food-2.jpg
http://www.hoorayforplay.ca/_img/Hooray_For_Play_Quotes%20Location.jpg
http://alwaysquestionauthority.files.wordpress.com/2013/03/531639_10151489118945155_660277782_n-1.jpg
http://degreesearch.org/blog/wp-content/uploads/2012/03/replace-empty-mind-620x900.jpg
http://wikitravel.org/en/Nova_Scotia
http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-e-pZOvJSaXs/ToNyqsA21qI/AAAAAAAAC4k/MfqKyg4LHIg/s320/432+Nova+Scotia.JPG
www.nier.go.jp/English/EducationInJapan/Education_in_Japan/Education_in_Japan_files/201103ESD.pdf
http://www.cosminnasui.com/wp-content/uploads/et_temp/Banner-Art-Copenhagen-96657_630x210.jpg
http://onemoregeneration.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/07/plastic-trash-image.jpeg
http://gecko.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2012/11/BagItLogo-1.jpg
https://umdsustain.wp.d.umn.edu/wp-content/uploads/2013/01/Bag_It.jpg
http://www.foodasmedicine.ca/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/plastic_pollution.jpg
http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/1589019/plastic-pollution/285879/Pollution-by-plastics-additives
http://www.no-sea-and-earth-pollution.org/CALL-BY-ALBATROSS-MANFRED_files/Bird.jpg
http://www.plasticfreejuly.org/uploads/1/3/4/9/13493602/plastics_mindmap_1.jpg
248
249
