Green solutions: NO TIME FOR CYNICS ALEX HETHERINGTON - Benefits Beyond Compliance PRESENTATION TO 110% Green August 16 2016 Cape Town
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Green solutions:NO TIME FOR CYNICS
ALEX HETHERINGTON - Benefits Beyond Compliance
PRESENTATION TO
110% Green
August 16 2016Cape Town
ALEX HETHERINGTON - Benefits Beyond Compliance
ALEX HETHERINGTON - Benefits Beyond Compliance
The environmental cost of powering up
Every kilowatt-hour of Eskom electricity (1kWh):• 0.55Kg of coal• 1.35l of water
• 1kg of CO2
ALEX HETHERINGTON - Benefits Beyond Compliance
The environmental cost of powering up
Ave. SA med-high income residential house - 12000kWh• 6.6 tonnes of coal• 16.2 kilolitres of water• 12 tonnes of CO2
ALEX HETHERINGTON - Benefits Beyond Compliance
QUESTIONABLE PREDICTION
RESOURCES:
CLAIM:
Harrison Brown, Nat. Academy of Sciences
(Scientific American, 1970)
- lead, zinc, tin, gold and silver gone
by 1990
- copper by 2000
ALEX HETHERINGTON - Benefits Beyond Compliance
QUESTIONABLE PREDICTION
REALITY:
US Geological Survey (2004) estimates at present rate of mining, known reserves of copper to last another 33 years.
• Zinc, 25 years•Silver, 14 years•Tin, 23 years•Gold, 16 years•Lead, 23 years
ALEX HETHERINGTON - Benefits Beyond Compliance
Population
CLAIM: 1. Paul Erhlich (The Population Bomb, 1968)
- World population, 2000 = 7 billion.
QUESTIONABLE PREDICTION
REALITY:
1. World Pop, 2000 = 6.1 billion
ALEX HETHERINGTON - Benefits Beyond Compliance
THE REALITY?
Hometruths
Concept of the Ecological FootprintEcological Footprint
represents the area of biologically productive land, air and water a population requires to provide the resources it consumes.
ALEX HETHERINGTON - Benefits Beyond Compliance
ALEX HETHERINGTON - Benefits Beyond Compliance
ECOLOGICAL FOOTPRINT
The globe is in “ecological overshoot”.
-1.7 global hectares to sustain one person.
(WWF, UN, OECD, Stockholm Environment Institute, Sustainable Europe Research Institute, SustainAbility,
Global Footprint Network, Wuperthal Institute for Climate, Environment and Energy)
We are consuming 2.6ha per person (2014).
ALEX HETHERINGTON - Benefits Beyond Compliance
ECOLOGICAL OVERSHOOT
ALEX HETHERINGTON - Benefits Beyond Compliance
REGIONAL FOOTPRINT
ALEX HETHERINGTON - Benefits Beyond Compliance
MEANING OF ECOLOGICAL OVERSHOOT
“Overshoot” leads to, among others:
1. Depleted groundwater
I.e. the very assets on which our economy is dependent.
2. Collapsing fisheries 3. CO2 accumulation in atmosphere4. Deforestation
ALEX HETHERINGTON - Benefits Beyond Compliance
MEANING OF ECOLOGICAL OVERSHOOT
Business cannot function if ecosystems and the services they deliver - like water, biodiversity, fibre, food and climate - are degraded or out of balance.
“
”- WORLD BUSINESS COUNCIL FOR SUSTAINABLE
DEVELOPMENT
ALEX HETHERINGTON - Benefits Beyond Compliance
QUESTION
Where did the message go wrong?
Doomsdayers Vs. Ecological footprint realists
Persistent problems
ALEX HETHERINGTON - Benefits Beyond Compliance
CLIMATE CHANGE
I am convinced that this challenge, and what we do with it, will define us, our era, and, ultimately, our global legacy. It is time for new thinking.
- Ban-Ki-Moon, United Nations Secretary-General.
“
”
ALEX HETHERINGTON - Benefits Beyond Compliance
CLIMATE CHANGE
Fact:
Without GHGs, ave. surface temp of the earth would be 33°C colder.
Fact:
GHGs at levels unprecedented in last 650 000 years.
Fact: CO2 @ 280 ppm in pre-industrial times, now 400 ppm.
Fact:Methane (CH4) levels increased 150% since pre-industrial times. N2O increased 18%.
(IPCC, 2001)
ALEX HETHERINGTON - Benefits Beyond Compliance
CLIMATE CHANGE
ALEX HETHERINGTON - Benefits Beyond Compliance
Thank you
Alex HetheringtonTel: 021-789-0448
[email protected]/alexhetheringtonwww.alexhetheringtonsustainabilityblog.com
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