G4 - Sustainability

WATER
1. Europe, Asia and Africa have a greater % of the worlds population than they do fresh water supply.
2. Case Study - Katse Dam, Lesotho. Lesotho has no direct access to the sea as it's 'landlocked'. It has a fairly cool climate and is generally quite overcast and has high rainfall. On the other hand, Johannesburg has a much drier climate, only one local river and a limited groundwater supply. Therefore Lesotho trades its surplus of water to Johannesburg.
3. Case Study - Colorado Basin. With the population of the sunrise states' population growing hugely, there is a rising price for water. Agriculture around the area uses 80% of the water and is unsustainable.
4. Grey water - water from sinks and showers can be re-used in the home to curb fresh water use. It would often be used again for hosepipe use for irrigating gardens and washing cars etc. A number of other techniques can be used to be more sustainable with water in the home. This includes tap aerators and low flow rate shower heads. These all help to reduce water consumption.
5. Leakage of groundwater in Australia where evaporation is high has led to pipes being capped to reduce water wastage and increase the useable pressure.
6. Desalination (Sydney, Australia) gives the population more useable drinking water and it can be pumped short distances to be used in other towns and cities. However, the water that is replaced in the sea is 2 degrees warmer and double the salt concentration. Another disadvantage is that this technique can only be used in coastal areas.
7. Lots of people can save water in the home by, for example, only using the dishwasher when full or using a more energy and water efficient washing machine. A water meter also alerts people to their usage and often people reduce their water usage when they realise how much it costs.
FOOD
1. The majority of Sub-Saharan Africa generally eats less than 2400 calories per day, wheras North Amercica and most of Europe consume 3000+ calories per day. India has 231 million people that are undernourished.
2. Often excessive calorie consumption can lead to obesity in developed countries.
3. Can food production be increased sustainably? Farm machinery such as tractors and combine harvesters have significantly reduced labour hours on farms in developed countries. Chemical fertilisers and pesticides and antibiotircs all increase the yield of crops and animals alike.
4. Hydroponics - Growing plants with nutrients and water in a medium other than soil. Thanet Earth has 7 huge greenhouses that cost £135 million. It focuses on growing salad crops such as tomatoes etc. and grows over 750,000 peppers every week.
5. Aeroponics - where plants are suspended in the air and watered directly with fine mists of water. Because it's under controlled conditions, the growth of a particular plant is not determined by the season and therefore this technique, although initially expensive, is useful for developing farming countries.
6. GM Crops - Replacing genes in crops with other genes that lead to desrirable characteristics such as enhanced Vitamin A production in GoldenRice.
7. Case Study - Canada's Fish Farms
ENERGY
1. Peak oil is the peak usage of oil that has been used and may have occured from 2005-2010. The price of a barrel of oil today is around $60.
2. Often the issue many people are concerned of is the danger of nuclear power, as was highlighted in the Fukushima plant in Japan aftert the Tsunami in 2011.
3. Electric cars don't produce any carbon emissions, but still have to be recharged and they're often more expensive than the petrol alternative. Until more resarch is carried out into better battery systems, they're simply not a viable alternative to conventionally fuelled engines.
4. Alternative Energy supplies such as Wind Power, Solar power, geothermal power, wave and tidal power are all being used throughout the world.
5. Oil consumption can cause problems, as was shown in the Gulf of Mexico with the Deep water Horizon oil spill in April 2010. Lots of wildlife was harmed including large percentages of populations of particular bird species. BP were fined $43 billion.
6. Wind Power is often regarded as the most common renewable energy as it's fairly cheap to set up when compared with other renewables and also produces a relatively large amount of energy if they are built in 'farms'. However, there are high maintenance costs associated with the turbines.
CITIES
1. Cities are classified in 4 broad categories:
  1. Old Established MEDC Cities - e.g. the redevlopement of the La Defense area of Paris.
  2. Edge Cities - e.g. Tyson's Corner, Virginia, WA.
  3. Modern NIC Cities - e.g. Singapore's 'One North Biomedical Park'.
  4. Rapidly Expanding LEDC Cities - e.g. Lagos and its housing challenge.
2. Cities are attempting to be sustainable in a number of ways: For example, Londons Congestion Charge deals with the issues of transport and pollution within the city and charges users of the inner city £10 per day. The only disadvantage is that 79% of shops reported a fall in takings when the congestion charging scheme was first introduced.
3. A programme called 'Favela Bairro' was launched in Rio de Janeiro in 1994 and was a slum upgrading programme that attempted to alleviate the disparities of wealth within the city. It tackled the issue through an integrated approach and has improved standards of living and lowered crime rates.
4. Curitiba has attempted to make public transport more efficient and has launched an integrated rapid transit system throughout the city. This has cut commuting times for those without personal vehicles and also reduced the pollution as more residents are encouraged to use public transport.

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G4 - Sustainability

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