November, 2015:
Rifiuti zero: a Rossano Ercolini il premio Borsellino
http://www.luccaindiretta.it/dalla-citta/item/57911-rifiuti-zero-a-rossano-ercolini-il-premio-paolo-borsellino.html
Rossano Ercolini, main promoter of the Zero Waste Strategy, received in Pescara on Saturday 7th November the National award dedicated to Paolo Borsellino which celebrated its 20th edition. This prestigious recognition Rossano Ercolini received was created in 1992 by Antonio Caponnetto in the presence of Rita Borsellino, first President of this National award and sister of the magistrate killed during an attempt in 1992.
The award is assigned to Italian personalities whose commitment was dedicated to the promotion of the values of freedom, democracy and legality.
The evaluation Committee recognised to Rossano Ercolini, who also received the Goldman Environmental Prize in 2013, his big commitment to build a possible alternative to the waste management through the implementation of the Zero Waste project. Among the motivations for the award assignment there is the relevant experience of Rossano Ercolini on the ground which is worth to be promoted, defended and implemented, because it raised awareness on the fundamental principles of legality and civilisation. It is a real privilege and a pleasure for me -declared Rossano Ercolini-, that shows how the Zero Waste Strategy doesn’t refer only to the concept of garbage management but even to education, democracy and extraordinary civic commitment.
The World’s Most Toxic Air
http://ecowatch.com/2015/11/10/toxic-air-india/
It’s been unseasonably hot in North India this month; but cooler weather brings not relief but stinging eyes and painful breath.
Air pollution has become headline news here—one of the snippets that flowed from President Obama’s visit was that breathing the air had cut six hours off his life-expectancy. Soot levels are up to 16 times higher than World Health Organization safety levels, double Beijing’s. Corporations routinely try to reassure their staff by providing air purifiers for their offices.
Delhi came to the edge of unlivable air pollution once before, in the 1990’s. Highly polluting two-cycle three wheeler motor rickshaws were a main villain. A campaign led by the Center for Science and the Environment, capped by a Supreme Court ruling, converted the rickshaws to CNG and the air immediately improved. But three decades of vehicle growth, exacerbated by government subsidies for diesel fuel which drove the auto market towards dirtier diesel models, brought the return of choking air. This time there is no single fix like CNG in the wings.
Not all of Delhi’s problem is the result of poorly controlled industry. The early winter problem is significantly exacerbated by the burning rice straw in the fields after the harvest. And cultural practices matter. When three babies sued to prevent the use of firecrackers to celebrate India’s Diwali festival, because the crackers create enormous clouds of smoke, the courts declined to intervene, referring to well established custom.
They did, however, rule that trucks passing through Delhi bound for other destinations were to pay a special toll to encourage the to route around the heavily polluted capital. (Many of the destinations were Delhi suburbs which lie outside its boundaries but are fully economically integrated). When the company which manages the truck check points into Delhi initially refused to collect the tolls, the courts instead ordered such non-local loads turned back, even though in some cases the crops the trucks were carrying would rot on the longer routes around the city.
The result was a nightmare—long lines of trucks waiting at the check-points, belching out pollutants and wasting fuels while inspectors used handkerchiefs as respiratory protection. Eventually the collection of the toll was implemented—but if it accomplishes its purpose and causes truckers to drive around Delhi instead of through it, regional pollution could well increase because the new routes will be longer and more fuel wasting. What is really needed is cleaner trucks and cleaner fuels or better ways of delivering goods than using trucks—but these take time.
New Delhi air pollution hits 27 times the safe limit
This kind of rough and ineffective justice is often a marker of early efforts to cope with the first wave of public concern over air pollution. Typically the effort is made to eliminate or reduce the source of pollution only when air quality is particularly bad. Mexico City experimented with prohibiting vehicles from driving one day a week during bad smog episodes, based on the last digit on the license plate. Families responding by buying an additional car, often a polluting clunker, for the day their regular sedan was banned. China banned factories from operating during the Olympics; factories stepped up production and pollution after the games ended. My own San Francisco sponsors “spare the air days” on which the public is encouraged to make special efforts to use transit to get to work. (Bizarrely, bicycling is also encouraged on these heavily polluted days, at the same time that health authorities warn against such heavy physical exercise.)
Industries resist real modernization. When governments accede to these pressures to avoid genuine solutions, they resort to “squeeze the driver” strategies like the Delhi truck tax. But public demand eventually requires solutions—requiring cleaner fuels as Delhi did with 3-wheelers and CNG, imposing tougher emission standards on new cars as Mexico eventually was forced to do, installing pollution controls of power plants as the Obama Administration is finally requiring in the U.S.
The costs are enormous. Delaying modernization once air pollution hits the public concern threshold is invariably penny-wise and pound foolish. This is true even if you ignore the economic and health costs of the pollution itself. First, squeeze the driver solutions typically generate a lot of ancillary expenses, like raising the costs of shipping goods to Delhi suburbs or the increased driving in Mexico by clunkers. But more important, delaying action means that another generation of poorly engineered vehicles or poorly controlled power plants and factories, get built. When the public finally demands clean air, not band aids, governments are left with two economically unattractive options. Either impose truly draconian limits on new vehicles and facilities, to make up for the failure to control those just built; or insist on retrofitting (power plants) or junking (cars, as in the U.S. cash-to-clunkers program) vehicles and industrial facilities goods that should have been properly designed and pollution optimized in the first place.
Retrofitting is astonishingly more expensive than doing it right in the first place. One of the major reasons for the shut-down of more than 200 U.S. coal power plants is that for decades power companies lobbied, successfully, to avoid installing mercury and sulfur pollution controls on them, choosing instead to purchase slightly cheaper coal and install high stacks to spread the pollution around. Now that the Obama Administration is insisting on cleaning up pollution, instead of dispersing it, pollution controls that might have been affordable as original equipment for plants built in the 1970’s and 1980’s are prohibitive.
So delay is typical, whether we are looking at the U.S. or India. (Or London, where Mayor Boris Johnson has proposed to wait until 2020 to take any further action over London’s resurgent pollution, saying its air is not as bad as that in Beijing or even Paris. Instead, he urged Londoners to spend less time outdoors to improve their health). Delay is expensive, as India is likely to find out when it proceeds with current government plants to clean up public health pollutants from the huge cadre of recent coal plants it has built without scrubbers and other state of the art pollution equipment.
And delay kills. Delhi’s air may or may not be worse than Beijing’s. It is quite lethal enough to represent a real threat to the city’s residents. The saddest part of all—another generation all around the world is subjected to truly dangerous levels of pollution in the name of “economics” when delay only makes the final bill higher, not cheaper. No economist would recommend borrowing money from a money lender to pay routine costs of living—delaying real clean-up once pollution reached critical levels is no different.
Smog soars in Chinese city to over 40 times safe limits as winter central heating turned on
Air quality reached extremely hazardous levels in the northeastern Chinese city of Shenyang as northern China began to burn coal to heat homes for winter.
Real-time data released by the Shenyang Environmental Protection Agency on Sunday showed the density of the poisonous tiny airborne matters known as PM2.5 was more than 1,000 micrograms per cubic metre. Nearby cities also reported very high levels of the harmful particulates.
The World Health Organisation considers the safe level of PM 2.5 to be 25 micrograms per cubic meter on a 24-hour average basis.
The readings from Shenyang are possibly the highest pollution levels ever recorded in China since the country began to monitor air quality and release real-time data in 2013.
The local authorities said the density of PM 2.5, considered extremely harmful to human health, peaked on Sunday afternoon at more than 1,200 micrograms per cubic metre.
The state-run Xinhua News Agency reported that the reading had reached as high as 1,400 micrograms per cubic meter at some monitoring sites.
The local authorities issued the highest alert, warning residents to stay indoors and demanding that factories cut output to reduce pollution.
Photographs posted on social media showed grey skies and members of the public complained of sore throats.
Northern China typically burns coal to heat homes in the winter, a practice believed to have fouled the air.
Emissions from industrial plants and the increasing use of cars also are major causes of air pollution in China.
Source URL: http://www.scmp.com/news/china/society/article/1876952/smog-soars-chinese-city-over-40-times-safe-limits-winter-central
Rising sea levels set to displace 45 million people
Rising sea levels set to displace 45 million people in Hong Kong, Shanghai and Tianjin if earth warms 4 degrees from climate change
Rising sea levels will swallow up land if nothing is done to stop it, study by US-based group says
Some 45 million people in Hong Kong, Shanghai and Tianjin will be displaced as the cities slip under the waves when global temperatures rise 4 degrees Celsius if nothing is done to curb climate change, according to a study released on Monday.
The displaced population could be cut to 23.4 million if an upcoming climate summit limited global warming to 2 degrees, scientists at the US-based group Climate Central said.
Under the 4-degree scenario, China would be the country most affected, with Hong Kong, Shanghai and Tianjin among its cities hardest hit. Globally, land occupied by more than 600 million people would be submerged.
A 2-degree rise in temperatures would affect areas with some 280 million people globally.
“Warming of 2 degrees Celsius will pose a long-term existential danger to many great coastal cities and regions,” said lead author Ben Strauss, vice-president for sea level and climate impacts at Climate Central.
Sea level rises corresponding to the 2-degrees and 4-degrees scenarios – at 4.7 metres and 8.9 metres respectively – could unfold in 200 years, but would more likely occur over many centuries, perhaps as long as 2,000 years, according to the research.
While the 2-degree scenario was also grim, limiting warming to that extent would spare China and other nations of more misery, said Strauss. “There is a world of difference between 2 degrees and 4 degrees, which threatens more than double the damage. We have a very large choice ahead of us,” he said.
Capping the temperature rise to 2 degrees above pre-industrial levels by cutting greenhouse gas emissions is the core goal of the upcoming, 195-nation UN climate summit. The talks will be held in Paris from November 30 to December 11.
There is a world of difference between 2 degrees and 4 degrees, which threatens more than double the damage. We have a very large choice ahead of us
Ben Strauss, vice-president for sea level and climate impacts at Climate Central
More than 140 countries have filed their national plans to tackle climate change, and their collective efforts could limit the global temperature increase to 2.7 degrees by 2100, according to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change.
The Climate Central study found that 145 million people were living in Chinese cities and coastal areas that would become submerged if global temperatures rose by 4 degrees.
Limiting the warming at 2 degrees would spare some 81 million people across China, according to the report.
Asia is home to 75 per cent of populations that today reside within zones that would no longer be classified as land in a climate-altered future.
Some 34 million people in Japan, 25 million in the US, 20 million in the Philippines, 19 million in Egypt and 16 million in Brazil also presently live on land that will become sea if the earth warms by 4 degrees.
Source URL: http://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/health-environment/article/1877284/rising-sea-levels-set-displace-45-million-people
An increase in noise from Hong Kong International Airport is an inevitable price that must be paid
Noise pollution is inevitable for anyone living near an airport. It has always been a sensitive issue for Hong Kong, where limited land area and high-density housing have long meant tight restrictions on flight movements at night. But with Hong Kong International Airport’s two runways fast approaching capacity and the earliest likely completion date of a third eight years away, it is unavoidable that for a time, more flights will have to be scheduled for later and earlier each day. Nearby residents and those living under flight paths have to understand the strains and be accepting of any proposed changes.
Saturation point for the runways is 68 flights an hour, which is expected to be reached next year. There is a possibility that with use of technology, this can be raised to 70, but that, too, will likely be only a short-term measure. The world’s busiest single-runway airport, Gatwick in Britain, can handle up to 55 flights an hour, but it does not face the same challenges. Use of mainland air space is heavily restricted and the inability to operate around-the-clock means some traffic is turned away.
Those limits have made a third runway essential to meet the projected rise in air traffic that will accompany continued growth on the mainland and in the region. Last year, the airport handled 63.3 million passengers and 100 million are forecast for 2030. No airport in the world handles as much cargo traffic and amounts of freight are also predicted to balloon.
A two-year study will be carried out by the Airport Authority to look into the feasibility and impact of more night flights. Technology may lead to quieter aircraft and better sound-proofing techniques for housing, and there is always the possibility of an opening up of mainland air space. But the most likely scenario is more night flights, which are bound to face a measure of opposition. To reject this option will mean lost business and development opportunities for Hong Kong. There is every need for those living in Tung Chung, Ma Wan and elsewhere to see developments rationally.
Source URL: http://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/article/1876438/increase-noise-hong-kong-international-airport-inevitable
Trans-Pacific Partnership Ignores Climate, Asks Countries to Volunteer to Protect the Environment
http://www.desmogblog.com/2015/11/05/breaking-trans-pacific-partnership-ignores-climate-asks-countries-volunteer-protect-environment
In March, the White House was touting the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) on its blog stating:
“Through TPP, the Obama administration is doubling down on its commitment to use every tool possible to address the most pressing environmental challenges.”
Reviewing the environment section of the just-released TPP, one thing becomes quite clear. Climate change is not considered one of the “most pressing environmental challenges.”
In the summary of the environmental section posted by the US government it doesn’t mention the climate but does mention the “energy revolution” under the heading of “Transition to a Low-Emissions Economy”.
TPP countries recognize that the world is in the midst of an energy revolution. The agreement includes commitments to cooperate to address issues such as energy efficiency; the development of cost-effective, green technologies; and alternative, clean and renewable energy sources.
And when it comes to Multilateral Environmental Agreements (MEAs) the language promises “reinforcements” to these commitments even though they “may lack binding enforcement regimes.”
TPP countries are signatories to many MEAs covering a wide range of environmental issues. However, these agreements may lack binding enforcement regimes. By requiring MEA implementation, TPP provides valuable reinforcements to these commitments.
And, of course, there is the part about encouraging companies to volunteer to protect the environment.
The Environment chapter includes commitments to encourage companies to voluntarily adopt corporate social responsibility policies, and to use mechanisms, such as public-private partnerships, to help to protect the environment and natural resources.
So, it appears that the TPP doesn’t consider climate change an important issue but as the world continues its “energy revolution” that countries can volunteer to protect the environment.
As reported by the Sydney Morning Herald, Matthew Rimmer, Professor of Intellectual Property and Innovation Law at the Queensland University of Technology, told Fairfax Media it looks like US trade officials have been “green-washing” the agreement.
“The environment chapter confirms some of the worst nightmares of environmental groups and climate activists,” Dr Rimmer said.
Jake Schmidt, International Program director at the Natural Resources Defense Council, concurred in a statement:
“This trade agreement would allow foreign corporations to challenge our health, safety and environmental protections in a foreign tribunal outside our legal system, and it would weaken those bedrock safeguards in the United States. While there are some positive conservation measures, the agreement’s substantial shortcomings should lead Congress to reject it.”
Climate change missing from full Trans-Pacific Partnership text
http://www.smh.com.au/federal-politics/political-news/details-of-transpacific-partnership-finally-released-20151105-gkrivo.html
The final text of a huge 12-country trade agreement has confirmed the “worst nightmares” of environmental groups, with no mention of climate change in its lone environment chapter and weak enforcement mechanisms, Australian academics say.
The text of the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) agreement was finally released on Thursday, with Trade Minister Andrew Robb saying the deal will deliver “substantial benefits for Australia” in the rapidly growing Asia Pacific.
The TPP is the biggest global trade deal in 20 years, involving 12 countries in the Pacific region which collectively represent over 40 per cent of world GDP.
Last month, Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull called the deal “a gigantic foundation stone” for the economy which will deliver jobs and growth while avoiding aspects that would have seen increased costs to the taxpayer for medicines.
But this is the first time Australians have had a chance to see what the federal government has been negotiating on their behalf for over five years.
Matthew Rimmer, Professor of Intellectual Property and Innovation Law at the Queensland University of Technology, told Fairfax Media it looks like US trade officials have been “green-washing” the agreement.
“The environment chapter confirms some of the worst nightmares of environmental groups and climate activists,” Dr Rimmer said.
“The agreement has poor coverage of environmental issues, and weak enforcement mechanisms. There is only limited coverage of biodiversity, conservation, marine capture fisheries, and trade in environmental services. The final text of the chapter does not even mention ‘climate change’ – the most pressing global environmental issue in the world.”
Controversially, the deal includes a clause giving foreign companies the right to sue Australian governments if they introduce laws they say have harmed their investments.
Dr Patricia Ranald from the Australian Fair Trade and Investment Network said the “safeguards” Mr Robb claimed he had won to prevent foreign tobacco companies suing Australian governments for pursuing anti-smoking policies do not appear strong enough.
“The general ‘safeguards’ in the text are similar to those in other recent agreements which have not prevented cases against health and environmental laws,” Dr Ranald said.
“Public health groups have influenced governments to include in the text the option of more clearly excluding future tobacco control laws from ISDS cases, which is important and has angered the tobacco lobby. But this also begs the question of how effective are the general ‘safeguards’ for other public health and environmental laws.”
Dr Rimmer also criticised the investment chapter, saying it was one of the most “labyrinthine” in the agreement.
But he also said the general exceptions chapter provided the opportunity for countries to carve out tobacco from the ISDS regime for tobacco control measures.
“That will be significant given Australia’s pioneering plain packaging of tobacco products,” he said.
Mr Robb has issued a statement heralding the deal, saying Australians now have a chance to examine the text for themselves.
“Along with the landmark North Asian bilateral trade agreements we have concluded with China, Japan and South Korea, the TPP forms a transformational series of agreements that will contribute substantially to the diversification of our economy in this critical post-mining boom phase,” Mr Robb said.
However, the text is still missing some important documents. Many of the side letters with details of last-minute bilateral deals between particular governments have not been released.
Dr Ranald said these side letters are likely to favour the largest economies with greater bargaining power, “and should have been released for public scrutiny with the main text.”
Mr Robb said as these side letters are finalised they will be made available to the public.
Bryan Clark, the Director of Trade and International Affairs at the Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry, said he was “very pleased” the text had finally been released because industry will have a chance to review it.
“Now we can scrutinise it, and engage in the public discussion over its content,” he said.
The text shows 98 per cent of all tariffs will be eliminated across everything from beef, dairy, wine, sugar, rice, horticulture and seafood through to manufactured goods, resources and energy.
It has also removed barriers to Australian goods exports, services and investment abroad in the region.
Global trade officials hope the deal will establish a ‘model’ for future trade agreements, by setting commonly-agreed rules and promoting transparency of laws and regulations.
Its open architecture allows for other members – such as China – to join in the future.
`Perfect storm’ coming in 85 years
http://www.thestandard.com.hk/news_detail.asp?we_cat=4&art_id=162898&sid=45508430&con_type=1&d_str=20151105&fc=7
A “perfect storm” could see sea levels surge by six meters and flood the Cross-Harbour Tunnel by the end of the century.
Hong Kong-based World Green Organisation made the claim yesterday and said this situation would cripple the SAR’s infrastructure.
While Hong Kong has been able to dodge most super typhoons in recent years, rising sea levels, high tides with heavy rain and storm surges make for a perfect storm.
“We have constructed a perfect storm scenario, which is possible by the end of the century,” said WGO chief executive William Yu Yuen-ping.
Their prediction is based on the fifth assessment report from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, a United Nations-backed international organization for climate change assessment.
“As the concentration of carbon dioxide in the air has almost reached a level that makes the temperature increase by two degrees, this climate change may lead to extreme weather around the world,” Yu said.
Using Tai Po Kau as an example, if a storm similar to 2013’s Typhoon Usagi hit Hong Kong at the end of the century, the sea level will rise six meters, flooding the Cross-Harbour Tunnel.
If there is a storm similar to Typhoon Haiyan which killed 6,000 people in the Philippines in 2013 sea levels could rise by eight meters.
This would exceed the drainage capacity of infrastructure such as gasworks and power plants. Fifteen percent of Hong Kong is considered lowland area. This includes Sheung Wan, Tai O and Sai Kung. These places will be more prone to flooding in the future, Yu said.
He said according to Hong Kong Observatory data, Typhoon Hagupit in 2008 caused sea levels to rise 3.53 meters at Victoria Harbour a situation that occurs once in 50 years.
However, this may drop to once in five years during the middle of this century and even every year at the end of the century.