Path to climate change begins at home

As the UN Climate Conference in Copenhagen in December gears-up for a contentious debate on global warming issues, the focus has turned to efforts by people and nations to work towards zero emission goals and changes in lifestyle choices. Sri Lanka observing the Greener Month from October 15 to November 15 has caught the eye of many nations that are seeking to establish individual goals for emissions reduction.

Latest examples of far reaching efforts made in Sweden and USA are discussed here-they are being hawked as models for others to follow. China, India and Japan are also seeking renewable energy sources aggressively. The Swedes just started putting labels on all food items at supermarkets to indicate how much carbon emissions they entail. Americans are striving to reduce their waste output of 4.6 pounds per person per day-the highest in the world.

Fighting for emission free world- Activists holding a banner in front of the statue of Mahatma Gandhi in Pietermaritzburg urging the South African government to take urgent action on climate change by investing in renewable energy and energy efficiency. AFP

All that looked inane a decade ago. Global thinking has changed dramatically as people are motivated to act responsibly in terms of the environment that must bear the brunt of every morsel of food consumed or lumps of waste discarded with their potential to increase emissions. There is a sea-change in global thinking described in those efforts.

If those Swedish food labels were religiously heeded, some experts say, Sweden could cut its emissions from food production by 20 to 50 percent. An estimated 25 percent of the emissions produced by people in industrialized nations can be traced to the food they eat-two metric tons per year. Now behind every blue box of Swedish oatmeal is a label that states 0.87 kg CO2 per kg of product. Labels are appearing on grocery items and restaurant menus in many parts of Sweden.

Holistic approach to climate

The environment is impacted by all major biotic and non-biotic components in the ecosystem. For example, there is concern that organic decay at waste sites releases methane gas that warms the Earth's atmosphere. Polystyrene foam containers or any other packaging material that is not biodegradable is the villain. Sorting trash and delivering it to the local recycling and disposal complex had become a norm for most residents in many parts of the world.

The residuary emissions steam is enormous. Over 5,000 bakeries in Southern California for example, produce ethanol from yeast used for making bread, pastries and other goodies. Bakeries are now required to retrofit fume catching cylinders to capture their release. Similarly, millions of gas-powered lawn-movers used every Saturday morning in the US also caused tons of CO2 emissions. So are the barbecue fires lit by petroleum based lighters in the summer-some barbecue charcoal pits in Senior Homes are over 100 feet long. All these are points of CO2 emission releases. Both barbecues and lighters are now regulated.

The holistic approach is paying dividends in many areas. Swedish supermarket customers are now making decisions as to whether it is environmentally prudent to buy beans or chicken for red meat, in view of the heavy greenhouse gas emissions associated with raising cattle.

It has taken a while for that reasoning to sink in. Today there are thousands of places in many countries where residents can drop off all household waste products, even books, papers and clothing and other reusable items for disposal or recycle. In the US black, green and blue containers are used for household, vegetative and recyclable waste before the collection trucks haul them away to dump sites. The zero-waste philosophy is practised like a war strategy.

Catching on fast

The efforts are catching on in school cafeterias, national parks, restaurants, stadiums and corporations as the list of recyclable materials gets longer: aluminum, glass, paper, tyres, batteries and household appliances stack up by the ton every month-in three 55 gallon-sized containers in every home.

Food waste accounts for about 13 percent of total trash nationally. This is the next big frontier. When stale bread, vegetable matter and last week's leftovers go to landfills, they do not return the nutrients they pulled from the soil while growing. As waste decomposes without oxygen, methane a potent heat-trapping gas is generated. New decomposing methods now break down left-over food waste to produce nonchemical fertilizer with no methane by-product. Compostable product industry had doubled since 2006 in the US and many had moved on to producing items like shopping bags and food packaging.

Household electronics

Another serious hazard to the environment felt in the West and rapidly imitated all over the world are household electronic gadgets with insatiable power consumption estimated at 15 percent of all household power demand and would triple in this decade. Personal plasma TVs, iPods, game consoles, camcorders, home projectors and many other appliances overwhelm living space today-over 25 electronic gadgets and multiplicity of appliances are used by an average family in the West. Most of these gadgets need to be dormant when not in use preventing them from using power while they await a signal from a remote control or wait to record a television program.

National power grid

I will end on a local note: Sri Lankans' dedication to a greener culture brings to light the singularity of purpose required to fight global warming. For starters, Sri Lanka just announced the extension of transmission lines and 31 grid sub-stations will be added to the National Grid to ease the distribution of electricity from the Norochcholai and Trincomalee power plants, and areas affected by war. Work has already commenced costing over Rs. 11,000 million, in line with the development of the North and East of the country.

What exactly would a smart grid look like, many would ask? It is tied to overall conservancy. The grid is vital to power distribution. These upgrades are needed now not light years away because sensors and digital relays installed on power lines for example, help power utilities to operate systems with greater efficiency and reliability. A start to bring innovation is essential to power conservation.

Smart meters are another idea that is popular in many countries. They are tied to power-lines, radio or cellular-network connections so that location of outages can be detected soon. They can determine the location of outages more easily, and staff need not be sent to read meters, or turn the power on or off at a particular property. As the world readies for technologies such as rooftop solar panels or backyard wind-turbines a smart grid could be a major component of power distribution as well as means of charging of electric vehicles of the future.