Sustainability and “Deep” Ecology

Deep ecology is a contemporary ecological philosophy that claims to recognize the inherent worth of other beings aside from their utility. The philosophy emphasizes the interdependent nature of human and non-human life as well as the importance of the ecosystem and natural processes. It provides a foundation for the environmental, ecology and green movements and has fostered a new system of environmental ethics (source: Wikipedia).

Like humanity, its core principle to the living environment as a whole has the same right to live and flourish. It describes itself as "deep" because it persists in asking deeper questions concerning "why" and "how" and thus is concerned with the fundamental philosophical questions about the impacts of human life as one part of the ecosphere rather than with a narrow view of what ecology is.

As it promotes holistic view of the world live in, it also seeks the practicality and application to life itself and its connection to the ecosystem including its function as a whole.

Deep ecology offers a philosophical basis for environmental advocacy which may, in turn, guide human activity against perceived self-destruction.

A further scientific source for deep ecology adduced by Devall and Sessions is the "new physics." which they describe as shattering Descartes’ and Newton’s vision of the universe as a machine explainable in terms of simple linear cause and effect. They propose that Nature is in a state of constant flux and reject the idea of observers as existing independent of their environment (source: Wikipedia).

The central spiritual tenet of deep ecology is that the human species is a part of the Earth and not separate from it. A process of self-realisation or "re-earthing" is used for an individual to intuitively gain an ecocentric perspective. The notion is based on the idea that the more we expand the self to identify with "others" (people, animals, ecosystems), the more we realize ourselves.

However, there are some issues raised concerning deep ecology. Social ecologists pointed out that deep ecology fails to link environmental crises with hierarchy. They pressed that environmental problems are firmly rooted in the manner of human social interaction, and protest that an ecologically sustainable society could still be socially exploitative.

Deep ecologists reject the argument that ecological behaviour is rooted in the social paradigm (according to their view, that is an anthropocentric fallacy), and they maintain that the converse of the social ecologists' objection is also true in that it is equally possible for a socially egalitarian society to continue to exploit the Earth (source: Wikipedia).

The big deal about is that it has something to do with sustainability as it interfaces with economics through the social and ecological consequences of economic activity.

Sustainability economics involves ecological economics where social, cultural, health-related and monetary/financial aspects are integrated. Moving towards sustainability is also a social challenge that entails international and national law, urban planning and transport, local and individual lifestyles and ethical consumerism.

Rivers and how it flow

The recent phenomenon that has been happening all over the world and has been affecting millions of people around the globe is all about the floods.

Nowadays, as we observe, floods are a bit different from the previous floods we have had experienced.

One factor for this is the overflowing waters from the rivers. Let us have an overview of what rivers are and where do they start and where do they end?

Rivers come in lots of different shapes and sizes, but they all have some things in common. All rivers and streams start at some high point. The high point can be a mountain, hill or other elevated area. Rivers begin in mountains or hills, where rain water or snowmelt collects and forms tiny streams called gullies. Gullies either grow larger when they collect more water and become streams themselves or meet streams and add to the water already in the stream. The merging of one stream to another is known as a tributary. As the water flows down, it may pick up more water from other small streams, springs or from rain or snow melt. These streams may slowly join together to form a larger stream or river.  Small rivers and streams may join together to become larger rivers. Eventually all this water from rivers and streams will run into the ocean or an inland body of water like a lake.

Leaving the high elevations of the mountains and hills and entering the flat plains, the river slows down. Once the river slows down, the pieces of sediment have a chance to fall to the river bottom and be "deposited". These rocks and pebbles are worn smooth and get smaller as the water continues flowing.

Most of the sediment deposition occurs in the plains. The wide and flat valley of the plains takes thousands of years to create. Here, the river flows slowly, making S-shaped curves which are known as meanders. When the river floods, the river will spread out over many miles on either side of its banks. During floods, the valley is smoothed and tiny pieces of sediment are deposited, sculpting the valley and making it even smoother and more flat.

Eventually, a river flows into another large body of water, such as an ocean, bay, or lake. The transition between river and ocean, bay or lake is known as a delta. Most rivers have a delta, an area where the river divides into many channels and river water mixes with sea or lake water as the river water reaches the end of its journey.

From the mountains to the delta, a river does not just flow - it changes the surface of the earth. It cuts rocks, moves boulders, and deposits sediments, constantly attempting to carve away all of the mountains in its path. The goal of the river is to create a wide, flat valley where it can flow smoothly towards the ocean (source: Basic Geography of Oceans and Rivers).

Taking good care of our rivers as well as our creeks and allowing passage could somehow prevent too much flooding to happen in the near future.

Waste Management and Eco-Living

Waste (also known as rubbish, trash, refuse, garbage, junk) is unwanted or useless materials. Litter is waste which has been disposed of improperly. In living organisms, waste is the unwanted substances or toxins that are expelled from them (source: Wikipedia).

All over the nation, we are aware that wastes nowadays are seemed to be one of the factors why we are suffering from climate change, floods which leads to destruction of properties, businesses and loss of lives.

As early as 1980s, there have been various studies and suggestions on proper management of waste but as we enter into the new millennium, it became worse. Volume of waste has gone up- over 50% of resources are returned to environment as waste material (streams to roaring rivers). Chemically active wastes create more problems for regulators. Ability of natural system to absorb and assimilate is threatened. Add to that the differing perspective of management.

These factors continuously threaten us and putting us more in danger.

Solution:

·         Low Waste Strategy – this strategy defines continued capability and capacity for the safe, secure and environmentally responsible management and disposal of waste materials.

·         Scrap and Spot – this means we cannot use an old method and apply it to today’s present situation particularly in waste management and flood control systems. Spot some new ways and develop some new strategies that we can apply for today and in the next 15 years.

·         Lean on Nature – when everything turns bad, lean on and adopt our mother nature as a guide. Go back to basics and carefully plan and apply some new trends.

What does nature do? 

·         Processing and recycling the materials in closed loops, evolved over billions of years.

·         Integrated and linked energy and material cycles.

·         Hierarchal arranged in form a web.

This time around, the mantra that everybody is applying to their homes is:

·         Reduce at the start of the process.

·         Reuse during the product development.

·         Recycle at the end of the product life.

·         Final disposal.

Economic efficiency also plays a greater role in reminding us the relationship between monetary values of ends and means. With this in mind, better housekeeping and plant management can be considered as one big factor in solid waste management.

Industrial ecology factors - cradle to grave replaced by cradle to birth, process and product design to be regenerative rather than depletive, follow the transport of energy and material all through industrial, economic, social and environmental system.

All of these along with tons of suggestions and studies around the world would be nothing if we will not try to practice it in our own home. Waste management and eco-living works hand in hand. Together, we will achieve the greater goal of a clean and green future if we know how to manage our own waste and embrace nature’s thousand changing ways.

Citation: Waste Management – An Ecology Way, RN Singh

Green Loans and Its Benefits

It is all about getting green and being supported by the government – Green Loans Household sustainability report is promoted and subsidized by Australian government to help each Australian living more efficiently, reducing carbon footprint and saving money in a long-term way.
A household sustainability assessment program is available to renters and home owners and provides you the house holder with a free report that provides insights into the ecological impacts of existing homes, identifies cost effective ways to reduce those impacts and empowers you to actively reduce them by changing your lifestyle and living behaviours and retrofitting or upgrading household appliances.
The goal is simple - to reduce environmental emissions and depletions from housing to deliver sustainable outcomes for future generations.
The report focuses on the way you live, interact and how you use your appliances as well as water and energy usage at home. These include subsequent emission and proper waste recycling. The 3 Rs are involved, reduce, reuse and recycle.


As with our previous articles, a simple change of practice on how we use our appliances like refrigerators, air conditioning, heaters, and television, could give us a big impact in saving energy costs with as much as 10-20% and automatic subsequent reduction in green house emissions.
Many other simple changes can be made that provide equal benefits to users and the environment such as with a solar hot water system. By converting or upgrading to a solar hot water system, you could get up to 70% of your hot water for free.
A simple change to boiling water with an electric kettle or gas cooker generates about half as much greenhouse gas as a microwave oven or an electric stove.
Carbon footprint can be reduced if you have the knowledge or seek knowledge of an expert on this field through installing insulation in your ceiling and of course government is there to help you with the grants they offer.
It is a fact that an un-insulated ceiling could waste up to 35% of winter heating and un-insulated walls waste another 10 to 20%. In summer, you could be gaining the same amount of heat when you want to keep cool.
If you buy appliances with more stars on the energy rating label, the more stars means the more efficient the appliance is.
How to get involved with Green Loans program? It’s so easy:
First, book your free household sustainability assessment.
Then get your home sustainability report.
The last step is for you discern.

It is your freewill to choose which recommendations you are going to do or take to have a sustainable home.

You may also apply for an interest-free Green Loan up to four years of up to $10,000 to make the bigger changes or visit Green Loans office by the government to inquire about this.

Simple yet it will bring a big impact in your life. So, better plan wisely and enjoy the luxury of an efficient home.

Energy Crisis Underway

People keep talking about the effects of global warming all over the world, the changes of nature’s pattern, and its international impact of so-called “domino effect.”

One thing that we are missing in the picture, the energy crisis that has been continuously posing a threat all over the world and alternative ways are being developed by first and second world countries.

An energy crisis is any great bottleneck (or price rise) in the supply of energy resources to an economy. In popular literature though, it often refers to one of the energy sources used at a certain time and place. Energy runs machinery in factories, lights our cities and powers our vehicles. There has been an enormous increase in the demand for energy as a result of industrial development and population growth. Supply of energy is, therefore, far less than the actual demand (source: Wikipedia).

When monopoly of manipulation of markets occurs, market failure is possible. A crisis then can develop due to industrial actions like demonstrations and government embargoes. The cause may be excessive usage, aging and obsolete infrastructures, choke point disruption or bottlenecks at oil refineries and port facilities that restrict fuel supply. This could lead to serious emergency problems.

Pipeline failures and other accidents may cause minor interruptions to energy supplies. A crisis could possibly emerge after infrastructure damage from severe weather. Attacks by terrorists to important infrastructures are possible problem for energy consumers, with a successful strike on a Middle East facility potentially causing global shortages.

Political events could also lead to this as it will create shortages and may disrupt oil importation and production. Energy crises are rampant all over the world especially on third world countries where everything is dependent on some other countries that produces oil and petroleum products.

There was also an incident where the 2008 Central Asia energy crisis caused by abnormally cold temperatures and low water levels in an area dependent on hydroelectric power which also demanded high prices for food and fuel.

The macroeconomic implications of a supply shocked-induced energy crisis are large, because energy is the resource used to exploit all other resources. When energy markets fail, an energy shortage develops. Electricity consumers may experience intentionally engineered rolling blackouts which are released during periods of insufficient supply or unexpected power outages, regardless of the cause (source: Wikipedia).

With the way things are going, the past histories of energy crises that has happened all over the world, the effects and causes of those to consumers, and its impact economically; energy crises continuously threatens each and everyone from different  industries.

First class nations are dependent on oil, and efforts to restrict the supply of oil would have an adverse effect on the economies of oil producers. Some experts including Howard Odum and David Holmgren have used the term energy descent to describe a post-peak oil period of transition (source: Wikipedia).With the trauma and different issues nations are addressing regarding climate to us, it is about time energy sources should be constructed, re-established, and maintained and research for more alternative ways.

Floods – What We Should Know

Last week, the whole Queensland area particularly Toowoomba and Brisbane – the third largest city in Australia experienced the wrath of nature through an inland tsunamis and floods everywhere. Unimaginable, terrifying and devastating – that is how they described it. It has been months of non-stop rains that led to this. It killed almost 100 people, damaged houses, crippled coal industry and crops, caused extensive destructions, and left most Australians a trauma that they would bear in a much longer time.

The reason – floods. Flood is an overflow of the huge amount of water onto the normally dry land. Flood occurs when the overflowing water submerges land and causes deluge.

Constant rains are one of the major causes of floods. The level of water in rivers or lakes rises due to heavy rainfalls. When the level of water rises above the rive banks or dams, the water starts overflowing, which causes floods. The water overflows to the areas adjoining to the rivers, lakes or dams, causing floods or deluge. The flood water causes havoc and great destruction in the areas where it flows. Floods occur more in the regions that get heavy rainfalls.

Generally, floods occur more in the low-lying areas or the areas below the sea level. One of the main reasons is that rivers flow slowly in these areas. The volume of water increases in the low-lying areas. When the level of water rises in these regions, it causes floods.

Floods also occur more in the coastal regions. Floods, in the coastal regions, are caused due to high tides, storms, cyclones, hurricanes, or tsunamis. When the level of water rises above the sea level, it causes floods in coastal areas or coastal lowlands.

There are also several human causes of floods. Deforestation is one of the major causes of floods. Trees are being cleared fast from large areas. As result, soil is easily eroded, and the eroded soil gets settled at the bottom of rivers and seas, which raises the level of water in rivers and seas, which consequently causes floods. Too much abuse of our natural resources is another reason. Improper waste management is also considered one of the causes of floods.

In this case, like elsewhere, floods have been making noise since year 2000 to different parts of the world. Oftentimes, we are not aware of this. With nature changing dramatically on its course, we should also plan and make some abrupt changes to how we deal with it.

A 20-year ago flood control plan and dam management might not work with the way nature changes it course especially the rain patterns. Perhaps some new findings and new process should be implemented. Along with us being aware of global warming, government should find ways to help prevent major flooding in the future.

In addition to this, can we check our motives in bringing in progress to the next level? If it is at our nature’s or land’s expense, at the risks of lives of our fellowmen, at the expense of losing thousands of dollars worth of business…then think again. Find alternative ways before it is too late. Human lives and the trauma that it will bring are priceless. Although this saying has been used so many times, I will say it again - prevention is better than cure. It’s about time we double check everything that has been happening around us. Check our motives. Give high respect to nature and what it can bring to us – disasters just waiting to happen.

Think Wise – Sustainable Energy

Ever wonder and ask questions like “what if I don’t have to use more electricity at home?”, “I could save more if only...I were self-sufficient.”  The truth is, you can be, by using sustainable energy at home.

If you are looking for alternative ways about using sustainable energy at home, but you cannot see how it would work, think about this way, every exposed surface of your home, the walls, floors, windows and the roof, absorbs and stores or reflects away the sun's free heat, which is energy. They are designed not to make use of it. This 'tradition' comes from the days when they did not have the technology to use the sun's heat to create sustainable energy at home.

We use blinds, tinted glass and big curtains to block out the sun's energy while we enjoy the artificial air from an electric fan running off the electricity grid which is probably being powered by fuels from hundreds or even thousands of miles away.

How about those sun's rays that are beating down on your house to run the fan free?

These concepts of using sustainable energy at home are not new by any means, in fact, this sustainable energy term is something that is being used lately by so many solar companies, but the technology is there now and builders and architects are beginning to incorporate it into new houses. However, if you live in an older one, it does not mean that you have to do without sustainable energy at home. Some of these systems come in kit form for self assembly and are neither expensive nor difficult to install yourself.

We have overwhelming energy advantages only if we knew all of its abilities. It would take a huge shift in the way mankind operated, especially in the West, in order to realize them. We over-rely on fossil fuels to the extent that we spend billions of dollars to find the stuff, then extract it from the Earth and process it or clean it. Then we have to transport it and finally convert it into a fuel we can consume and distribute it. Then we have to charge for it and process payments. One of the renewable energy advantage is that the energy comes to you.

The types of renewable energy are everywhere. The types of renewable energy include wind, water, sun, biomass and the Earth's natural heat. Some of these types of renewable energy are more suited to some locations than others, but at least two or three of the above types of renewable energy sources are available to everyone – no matter where we are located. 

Because 'energy consumption' has come to mean consumption of energy created from fossil fuels', alternative power sources are everything that is not based on fossil fuels and, believe me, the number of optional resources is impressive. There are: solar power; wind power; biomass and bio fuel; hydrogen and electricity; nuclear power; tidal and geothermal power.

If you are trying to shift to these kinds of energy sources, try researching on solar companies near you and inquire about the kits, DIY, or any alternative suggestion they can give you. It is worth it and a wise move. Perhaps, the best way to start the year right.