Category Archives: Challenges

Challenges, Featured article, Inspiration

Ecotoxicology – and the plastic toxins in our lives No025

2016-07-01 admin Leave a comment

Ecotoxicology is a research area in ascent. Since the beginning humans have survived by finding and making things in nature. Today we use thousands of chemicals that affords us new functionality. Unfortunately the chemicals also bring toxins into our every day lives. Tellus Think Tank contacts Åsa Arrhenius, doctor of Ecotoxicology, to learn more.
Text: Domi, Tellus Think Tank Photo: AnnVixen & Åsa Arrhenius

The Science of Ecotoxicology

There is a lot of research activity how chemicals affect our lives. Tellus Think Tank meets Åsa Arrhenius, PhD in

Åsa Arrhenius, Coordinator of FRAM and PhD in Ecotoxicology at the University of Gothenburg, Sweden.

Ecotoxicology at Gothenburg University. She is also the coordinator of the newly established interdisciplinary “Center for future chemical risk analysis and management at the University of Gothenburg” ( FRAM).

Åsa Arrhenius says that humans are most sensitive to toxic chemicals when still in the womb or in adolescence, during periods of life when the body is growing and developing. As adults, the effect of chemicals is not quite as considerable. However, adults can transfer chemicals to children, for example during pregnancy.

Toxic substances in plastic toys

Åsa Arrhenius tells us that we now use hundreds of thousands of chemicals compared to just a hundred years ago. Some of these new chemicals are found in our homes. One example is Phthalates that are unhealthy and toxic. Phthalates can be found in, among other things, plastic toys.

Plastic toys might hold toxic chemicals. Photo: AnnVixen

According to the Swedish Nature Conservation Society (Naturskyddsföreningen), being overexposed to Phthalates can lead to severe deformities of children when still in the womb. Other risks are fetal death, decreased birth weight, undeveloped testicles, penises and livers leading to permanently damaged performance and tumours.

Fortunately Phthalates of some kinds are banned in the EU since 2015, but they are very likely still to be found in our homes. The Phthalates are used to soften plastics and rubber products, such as baby changing table covers, rubber ducks and plastic toys.

Toxic substances in textiles

Åsa Arrhenius says that even textiles may contain toxic substances. Toxic chemicals may have been added during manufacturing or added to protect the fabric. The functionality sought by use of these chemicals is certain types of colour pigments, flame-retardants, anti-mildew, water and dirt resistant effects.

According to the Swedish Chemicals Agency (Kemikalieinspektionen), textiles can contain toxins. They write about the carcinogenic Formaldehyde, Chromium compounds and Phthalates that also can cause allergies.

Åsa Arrhenius says that clothing with certain features such as antibacterial branded clothing and sweat repellent branded clothing and footwear can contain unhealthy toxic substances. She recommends avoiding these types of goods.

Plastic in our lives

We talk briefly about the admirable plastic ban that was introduced in Rwanda in 2008 (read article) .

Photo: AnnVixen — Read article about the admirable plastic ban in Rwanda…

This leads us to the small soft plastic bags, used daily, for example when buying fruit in the supermarket. These small bags often contain the chemical substance Bisphenol A. Bisphenol chemicals are used to soften plastic.

Studies show that Bisphenol A leads to reduced sperm quality and decreased sperm production. This is one important

reason for the EU banning Bisphenol A in baby bottles. Sweden has its own wider ban of Bisphenol A forbidding the chemical in food packages for children up to three years of age.

The Swedish Chemicals Agency has also proposed that Bisphenol A should be banned in the thermal paper that is used in receipts and tickets.

The Tellus Think Tank editorial team finds it extraordinary that Bisphenol A is allowed in food packaging at all. We would, as an example, prefer not to find Bisfenol A in the plastic coating on the inside of canned food.

EU and hazardous chemicals – a slow development in the right direction

EU controls much of the legislation and use of chemicals. Countries such as Sweden, Germany and Holland are driving forces in introducing stronger regulation on the use of chemicals. Sometimes they have to hold back their ambitions (on the pace) as the EU ‘s legislative work takes longer than wished for. It can be perceived that the EU is hindering efforts to strengthen legislation on toxic substances, however Åsa widens the perspective.

She reasons that chemicals cross country borders with the movement of people and goods but also with rain and wind. She means that a ban in one country therefore only has a limited effect. EU legislation may be cumbersome but when in place the impact across the EU is immediate. Eu legislation reaches way beyond the borders of Europe as imported goods from all corners of our planet have to follow the same legislation.

Regardless Åsa Arrhenius recommends to avoid buy plastic toys or plastic products from countries like China.

How I can reduce toxic substances in my own life

Rather use glass and ceramics... Photo: AnnVixen — Rather use glass and ceramics… Photo: AnnVixen

Åsa gives us solid advice on how to reduce the toxic chemicals in our everyday lives:

When possible cut down on the use of chemicals and plastic in everything from food, clothing, detergents and medicine.

Have a headache? Rather that routinely eat painkillers try and slow down for a while, take it easy and have a glass of water.
Discard old plastic toys and send them to recycling instead of to the flea market.
Replace plastic things in your home with more natural materials such as wood, glass and ceramics.
Reduce your direct exposure to harmful chemicals in new textiles by washing before you use them. Unfortunately the chemical residues in waste water might end up in nature.
When microwaving: Don’t use plastic containers, it is better to use glass bowls.
When cooking: Avoid heating plastic utensils and bowls as the heating process can release toxic substances in them.
Be an active consumer. Consumers have an enormous power – remove the plastic packaging in the supermarket and ask if the store might consider packing their food in other ways.
Air your home regularly to rid it of deposited chemicals from plastic things, paint and furniture.
If possible, use eco-labelled products and food such as the EU eco-label and others.
Try to avoid detergents and cosmetics products that may contain plastic in micro formats.

Any hope on less toxic substances in our lives?

Åsa Arrhenius believes that general awareness on toxic chemicals is increasing. Stores around Sweden say that eco-labelled food and products are on demand. One area that FRAM, the centre that Åsa is coordinating, is looking into how to develop economic and legal instruments to bring about faster change. FRAM wants to help get legislation in place that encourages producers to replace harmful substances with more healthy ones.

On the whole, we still have a lot to learn on the effects of the thousands of substances that we are exposed to through different products such as detergents, medicines, plastics and food in our lives. Fortunately, there is progress in both research and legislation in the field of Ecotoxicology.

In Tellus Think Tanks next article we meet Madeleine who performed a “Plastic Diet” in her life and home. Get notified when the article is available!

For a Sustainable Future Tellus Think Tank TellusThinkTank.com — © Tellus Think Tank

Quick facts

Ecotoxicology is the study of the effects of toxic chemicals on biological organisms, especially in the population, community, ecosystem level. Ecotoxicology is a multidisciplinary field, which integrates toxicology and ecology

Åsa Arrhenius, PhD in Ecotoxicologi at the University of Gothenburg. Since 2016 Åsa is also the coordinator of the Center for Future chemical risk analysis and management at the University of Gothenburg”, FRAM.

The University of Gothenburgh, Sweden: 37 000 students, 6000 employees, 282 PhD graduates per year, 2000 research students, founded 125 years ago in 1891, 538 professors in 8 faculties: Natural Sciences, Humanities, Art, Social Sciences, Business Administration, Education, IT faculty, Sahlgrenska Academy (medical).

FRAM – Center for Future Chemical Risk Analysis and Management at the University of Gothenburg. The centre aims, among other things, to find safe limits for chemical contaminants to protect people and the environment and believes that the effect of chemical mixtures are more toxic than single chemicals on their own, something that we should focus on in order to get to a more sustainable use of chemicals.

Challenges, Featured article, Inspiration

Plastic Ban, a new global trend? No024

2016-05-25 admin 1 Comment

Plastic Ban – the beginning of a global trend?

Plastic ban’s seem to be a way to handle the huge amounts of plastic currently available everywhere in societies around the world. It has been known for a while that plastics of different kinds have long corrosion processes and contain toxins that are unhealthy to humans, animals and nature. Some countries have gone so far as to ban plastic’s while other have taken less radical steps. Read more…
Text: Domi, Tellus Think Tank. Photo: AnnVixen

The blessings and curses of plastic

Plastics have in many ways been a blessing for humanity and given many benefits and possibilities when creating figures in any form imaginative and to a very affordable price. We currently use plastics in our homes, workplaces, industries and even within the health care sector!

Unfortunately the corrosiveness of plastic is slow and plastics often contain toxins and unbalancing hormone substances affecting the endocrine (natural hormone) system in humans and other mammals.

Luckily the world is becoming more aware off the side effects of plastics. More are taking action. Tellus Think Tank found an interesting example that we would like to share, hoping that more countries will be inspired and act.

Rwanda’s plastic ban – an unexpectedly and successful good example

Rwanda is known for many as the country that during the 1990’s was subject to civil war and mayor genocide. Maybe that is why it is surprising that Rwanda has a newly found, and more constructive, national drive towards a greener economy. The greener economy was the base for Rwanda’s 2008 banning of lightweight plastic bags.

The underlying reason for Rwanda’s ban off plastic bags was to save lives and improve the national economy. Plastic bags have overtaken both nature and cities in many African countries. They can be found blowing along street of the cities or decorating trees after heavy winds and they are often the cause of clogged sewers and eaten by local wildlife.

Before plastic ban - in Gambia — Before Plastic ban. Photo: AnnVixen

The people of Rwanda found that the harmful effect of plastic bags had become too big. Not only were they causing a growing amount of litter in streets and in nature across the country but cleaning costs where very expensive. Recycling wasn’t working in a satisfying way and a lot of Rwandans burnt their plastics with other garbage causing large emissions of harmful toxins. The plastic bags often made their way into farmlands making land more difficult to farm.

The national effort in the plastic bag ban has in many ways been successful and today politicians in charge in the capitol of Kigali are claiming that Rwanda is the cleanest country in Africa. The plastic ban, according to Global Citizen, has made it increasingly difficult to stumble onto plastic scrap in the streets of Rwanda. The new clean Rwanda has also been advantageous for growing tourism, currently standing for 8% of employment and responsible for a large amount of the country’s income.

Africa CCTV on the plastic ban of Rwanda.

Job opportunities in the sway of Rwanda’s plastic ban

The plastic ban of Rwanda has also brought new entrepreneurial opportunities and job openings, according to Swedish journalist Mette Carlbom at VI-magazine. The plastic ban covers many areas such as plastic covers at building sites to plastic bags in stores and food markets. Travellers and tourists have been stripped of their plastic bags on entry to the country, at airports or border crossings. Instead of using plastic bags the country has increased the usage of paper bags and waxed paper bags.

All plastics are not forbidden, one example is plastic mosquito nets used in hospitals – they are necessity in countries like the malaria infested Rwanda. When patients leave the hospital their plastic mosquito nets are recycled at one of Rwanda’s plastic recycling stations.

Plastic bags are still in demand, which entices smugglers and illicit trading.
Since Rwanda, according to Aljazeera, introduced prison or fines for selling plastic bags the illegal trade has been reduced. The punishment is too hard to handle and not worth the risk for the former smugglers who often support families.

Is the banning of plastic a global trend?

Rwanda is not the first country to ban plastic bags. The 2002 forerunner was Bangladesh with their ”lightweight plastic bag ban”. Other countries that have banned plastics are China, Taiwan, Macedonia and the latest, in 2015, was The Gambia.

Other methods of handling harmful plastics

EU legislators banned several toxic substances in plastics. EU countries like the United Kingdom and the Netherlands have passed laws that require shops to charge for all single-use plastic carrier bags. Shops now have to charge customers for plastic bags or else they risk receiving a substantial fine.

When the United Kingdom introduced the law in 2015 it was met by a protest storms from angry citizens. The government had not succeeded in communicating the purpose of the new plastic bag fee.

According to The Telegraph the plastic bag fee law has had a positive effect in the United Kingdom. The introduction of the 5 pence fee (equalling about 5 cents of a US dollar) has reduced the usage of plastic bags by almost 80%!

According to Dutch journalist Arjen Vos, the introduction of the plastic bag fee in stores in the Netherlands was very informative and smooth. Dutch citizens understood the need to reduce the use of plastic bags. The Dutch have become exemplary shoppers and now mostly all use canvas bags!

The country of Sweden is not yet taking action on plastic

In Sweden mayor food chains offer customers thick plastic bags for multiple re-use. The Swedish fashion store “Indiska”, on its own account, charges customers for plastic bags. This is a fee that Indiska’s Swedish customers seem to be more than happy to accept. These examples are however the result of entrepreneurial initiatives and unfortunately not the Swedish government.

Sweden is one of the best countries in the world when it comes to recycling. The country stil has problems to handle plastics from source. Swedish government officials have still to take action on handling the unhealthy growth of the use of plastics.

The Swedish government’s passive stance on handling plastic is easy to detect. One need not go as far as the people of Rwanda to find plastic scrap in Swedish streets or nature.

The next step for Your country

Officials in Rwanda say: ”If we can succeed with a plastic banning then so can any other country”.

We wonder if plastics bag fee’s are enough to reduce the harmful effect on humans, animals and nature? Or is a full scale banning like in Rwanda necessary? Perhaps there is an even better middle way or a third road?

What’s going on in Your country? Let us know!

Tellus Think Tank will be keeping our eyes open for further sustainable best practises around the world! We are now aware of sustainable plastic reducing trend. Let’s follow the development of plastic handling – for a sustainable future!

About Tellus Think Tank founder Domi — Tellus Think Tank founder, Domi.

Challenges, Featured article, Inspiration

Australia and its sustainable population No021

2016-04-11 admin 2 Comments

A sustainable population. At the beginning of 2016 Australia reached a population of 24 million and worries where cabled over the Internet on how to handle the large population. It intrigued the team at Tellus Think Tank because the Australian continent, in size, is equal to the USA, Europe and China (with populations of 320 Million, 740 Million and 1,3 Billion). Why worries about the meagre 24 million? Text: Domi. Featuring photo: Hanna Isabelle Sjöberg. Photo’s in article: Annika Hals Molnar & Hanna Isabelle Sjöberg

We where lucky to get in contact with Sandra Kanck, President of Sustainable Population Australia (SPA) for an on-line interview that turned out to be very interesting and enlightening. Tellus Think Tank normally strives to share inspiration on sustainable happenings around our globe, to be able to help people and societies chose a more sustainable path.

Our interview with Sandra showed challenges, some still without solutions – which can be inspiring to problem solvers. So let’s hope this interview shares some enlightenment and helps enhance problem solving in that force of friendly individuals that we know exists around the world!

Read more: The Growing Population of Earth.

Sandra Kanck, President of Sustainable Population Australia, March 2016.

Sandra, where were you brought up and what brought you to where you are today?

I grew up in Broken Hill, a rural city in outback Australia, and was the oldest of seven children. I learnt early on that my school friends who all came from smaller families had more money to go round. In my early 20’s I became involved in the anti-nuclear movement, and from that progressed to the peace movement and wider environment movement. From there it was a matter of joining the dots and finding the right group to join.

Australia has a arid and hot climate. Photo: Hanna Isabelle Sjöberg

How was your connection to nature in an early age? Do you have any specific memory that sticks out?

Broken Hill was a town of 30,000 people surrounded by arid lands, where kangaroos and emus were common outside the city limits. The dry climate meant I occasionally experienced fierce dust storms, and I was brought up to understand the importance of conserving water.

You are the national president of Sustainable Population Australia (SPA).
What kind of an organisation is SPA and what does SPA stand for / aim for?

SPA was formed almost 30 years ago. We are not a political party, although a significant number of our members belong to at least seven different political parties to my knowledge. We are registered with the Australian Federal Government as a Registered Environment Organisation, which allows people who donate to us to claim tax deductibility for their donations. Our specific aims are set out in our constitution as follows:

SPA visions a relationship between humans and the natural environment which ensures the integrity and sustainability of the Earth’s life support systems, the on-going evolution of natural living systems and the well-being of every person in a sustainable population.

One of SPA's objectives is to promote urban and rural life-styles and practices that are in harmony with the realities of the Australian environment, its resource base and its biodiversity. Photo: Annika Hals Molnar — One of SPA’s objectives is to promote urban and rural life-styles and practices that are in harmony with the realities of the Australian environment, its resource base and its biodiversity. Photo: Annika Hals Molnar

The mission of SPA is to establish Australia as a global model of, and to assist other nations toward, a sustainable ecological life-support system, retention of species diversity and human wellbeing, by influencing public debate and policy with particular emphasis on population size.

How did you get engaged in SPA?

Sandra tellus us: Senator John Coulter employed me. We had worked together in the Conservation Council of South Australia prior to his being elected to parliament. He gave me a membership application form.

The country of Australia is equally as big as the USA (population 320 Million) and China (population 1.3 Billion) and Europe (population 740 million). The population of Australia has just reached a population of 24 Million. SPA and others in Australia are wording worries about the 24 million population of the Australia being to big.
Why is the, in comparison to demographics of other regions on Earth, small population of Australia something to be concerned about? Australia is still very sparsely populated in comparison?

Kangarou in Walpole with Artur Kurancinski 12662678_10153497494344220_5775926924040925267_n — The human footprint wreaks havoc on the natural Australian wildlife. Photo: Hanna Isabelle Sjöberg

Sandra Kanck:
While Australia’s land mass is relatively large, so too are the environmental constraints:

Only six per cent of Australia’s land mass is capable of producing food, and that small amount is being trespassed on by urban sprawl as a consequence of population growth.
The climate is overall arid to semi-arid and impending climate change will exacerbate that.
The average altitude for the whole country is 330 metres, meaning that there are only a few areas where snow falls with subsequent spring melts.
Deserts predominate in central Australia where drought is the norm
Drought is the norm in many parts of Australia. Photo: Annika Hals Molnar

with no potable water sources.
Geologically, there has been no major uplifting, land building or glaciation for millennia, and the consequence is highly infertile soils with a very low soil profile of no more than 7cm in arid areas.
The poor soil has been extensively over-grazed. Introduced species such as cats, rabbits, foxes and cane-toads wreak havoc on the natural wildlife.

So Australia is a very arid country, has it not always been dry?

Yes, and to give an idea of the water problems facing Australia, it’s important

Lake Menindee in 2016, the grey-brown areas used to be the lake. Photo: Sandra Kanck

to understand that drought is the norm in most of the country. Droughts used to occur once in twenty years, but they now occur in six out of ten years. Major flooding used to occur once every 5-7 years, but now occur every 14 years.

Australia’s major river is actually a cluster of 23 rivers in what is known as the Murray-Darling Basin. By European standards it is little more than a stream. Although the basin and its tributaries spread over one-seventh of the continent, the annual flow is equivalent to less than a day’s flow of the Amazon. Of the rain falling on the basin 94% evaporates. The basin still produces 40% of Australia’s agricultural produce.

But while Australians are so very dependent on that river system, a 2014 study from Australia’s major science organisation, the CSIRO, predicted a worsening of this situation with a reduction of rainfall in this region of up to 70% by 2070 because of climate change.

Meanwhile, at the present time in Australia, a 400 km stretch of the Murray River has been subject to an algal bloom due to slow-moving water and high temperatures, making that water toxic for human and animal consumption. The algal bloom normally resolves with cooler weather but each year the algal bloom outbreaks are more frequent, more extensive and last longer.

At the same time the southern-most state of Tasmania, which has long prided itself on being energy self-sufficient by using hydro-electricity, has found itself in a crisis situation where the dams that feed the water to produce electricity are at less than 17% of their capacity.

What is the root cause of the sustainability problems in Australia – is it only the growing population?

Melbourne 12321246_10153613879719220_6622038748227765337_n — Australia has a fragile environement…. Photo: Hanna Isabelle Sjöberg

Sandra gives us some facts: Basically the problem is a fragile environment, which can sustain no more than 23 million people according to The Australian Academy of Science. Some estimates set the sustainable level at a much lower figure of 7 million. Whichever of the two figures is correct, at a population of 24 million we have gone beyond Australia’s environmental limits.

What is the main reason for growth of the population?

Over more than a century, successive Australian governments have actively campaigned to increase Australia’s population, and particularly to increase immigration. Until very recently, 60% of the population growth has come from immigration and 40% from natural increase. In the last two years that has altered to a 55%/45% ratio, due in part to a pro-natalist policy introduced a decade ago called the ‘Baby Bonus’.

What would happen if the population of Australia grows, according to some forecasts, to 33 million by 2050? What problems would be directly visible due to the population growth? And indirectly?

Sandra tells it as she sees it:
Directly attributable to population growth:

If global warming continues saline waters might make its way into estuaries and fresh water rivers of Australia. Photo: Hanna Sjöberg.

Increased demands for water. Lowering of water tables. Reduced water flow in major rivers including an increase in algal blooms. Increased demands for food production. Declining fish stocks. An increase in the infrastructure deficit. Shortage of affordable housing. Enormous waste management problems. Ingress of saline waters into estuaries and rivers. Increased urban traffic congestion with associated reduction in air quality and an increased demand for fuel. Loss of open space and biodiversity habitat. Urban pressures on agricultural land.

Indirectly: the backlog of infrastructure maintenance will further increase; social dysfunction and political instability related to economic inequalities; possible racial tensions

How will Australia have to do cope with problems arising from a growing population…

The business lobby has convinced the two major political parties that growth

is good, and so they do not see problems arising, and therefore have no solutions.

What would SPA prefer to be the current (year 2016) action?

Acknowledgement from government that there will be big problems in the future has to be first step. Until that happens a conversation about what we need to do is all but impossible.

According to some people – SPA is a racist organisation – what would be your response to this?

I would tell them they are speaking nonsense. SPA has consistently called for a significant increase in our humanitarian (refugee) intake, cutting our immigration intake to allow this to happen. The source of refugees is generally from politically unstable areas in the Middle East and Africa. If we were racist we would set out to exclude them rather than encourage an increase in their numbers.

If the global warming continues it has been predicted that large movement of people over the globe would become a reality, as many will be in search of better living conditions with fresh water etc. If the climate warming continues would people be moving to or from Australia do you think?

Sandra shares insights from the region:
Leaders of some Pacific nations have already indicated that they will want to

The Pacific Nations of Micronesia according to truepacificdotcom. Hold about 40 million inhabitants incl Australia and NZ and Papua New Guinea. — The Pacific Nations of Micronesia according to truepacificdotcom. Hold about 40 million inhabitants incl Australia and New Zealand and Papua New Guinea.

move to Australia. The Australian Government announced at the COP-21 climate change talks that is has allocated $1bn to Pacific nations for adaptive purposes. I believe they think by doing this it will stop them from emigrating. One other choice, in the region, would be New Zealand, as I do not expect they would want to move to another developing nation such as Papua-New Guinea.

Examples of Pacific Nations in trouble because of Global Warming are the Pacific Nation of Tuvalu, with a shrinking population. Inhabitants are emigrating to avoid effects such rising sea-levels, cyclones and high waves. The highest ground on the islands is 4 meters (12 feet) above sea level.

Do you have a view on how the world in general should be handling
The Global increase in population and the increase in migration between regions on earth – due to Global Warming making living regions useless to live in due to the climate change?

In the BBC documentary How Many People Can Live on Planet Earth? Sir

Read more about vertical greenhouses... — Read more about vertical greenhouses…a technology for a sustainable future.

David Attenborough commented: “humanity needs to reduce its impact on planet Earth urgently. And there are three ways to achieve this. We can stop consuming so many resources and we can change our technology. We can also reduce the growth of our population. We probably need to do all three.”

I think that says it all, the question is how to make governments recognise this and act accordingly.

3 Articles on tech and lifestyles that can enhance sustainable living:
Greenhouse Skyscrapers Cars and traffic of the Future About alternative ways of living.

SPA is lobbying the Australian Government to redirect more funds to family

planning and contraception in its foreign aid budget. We believe there is nothing more crucial than directly intervening to provide this particular form of assistance to the millions of women in developing nations who seek it.

While we agree with aid organisations giving priority to the education of women and girls, we keep working to get these groups to understand that this method will take a generation to bring about the necessary changes, whereas contraception and family planning almost immediately empower women.

Environmental refugees are not recognised in the Refugee Convention, and the UN should be looking at this. Without that recognition, no signatory countries would have any obligation to take in environmental refugees.

Do you see any light in the tunnel?

Is there hope in the tunnel? Photo: Hanna Isabelle Sjöberg — Is there light in the tunnel? Photo: Hanna Isabelle Sjöberg

What hope do you see for the world? What can globally be done to increase the possibility of living in better harmony with nature?

SPA members are very pessimistic about what the future holds. We see a

A Malthusian future ahead... Photo: Hanna Isabelle Sjöberg — A Malthusian future ahead… Photo: Hanna Isabelle Sjöberg

Malthusian future ahead of us given that so many indicators of collapse are coming together at the same time such as population increase, climate change, peak oil (and other resources) and economic instability and with no forward planning by governments.

US environmentalist Ernest Callenbach’s four laws of ecology state: “All things are interconnected. Everything goes somewhere. There is no such thing as a free lunch. Nature bats last.”

Nature will assert itself, we will be given little say, and it will not be kind.

Tellus Think Tank thanks Sandra Kanck for helping us understand

Help Tellus Think Tank share sustainable ways to the future. Photo: Hanna Isabelle Sjöberg

the challenges of Australia and how they are interconnected with the challenges of the Pacific Nations and the rest of the world. Tellus Think Tank, being for a sustainable future, is hoping solutions will be found that will help handle the growing population on Earth. Do you have any ideas or sustainable happenings that you would like to share, send us a message!

Next article: We meet a Swedish animal breeder and farmer – with 50 years experience of building an “eco-dynamic” practise. Click here to be notified…

Challenges

Challenge: The Growing Population of Earth

2016-02-01 admin Leave a comment

The human population of Earth has expanded at a staggering rate and is continuing to grow, providing challenges that need to be solved in the very near future. By Domi, Tellus Think Tank 2016-02-01

Earth’s population reached 7.3 billion in 2015 and 100’s of millions of people go to bed hungry due to, currently not the lack of food on Earth but, higher food prices than can be afforded.

The population of Earth continues to grow and the United Nations forecasts that by the year 2050 the population of Earth will be 10 billion.

Earth Population in Chart from populationeducation.com

A combination of several challenges will make it harder to grow the crops necessary to boost food production to feed the growing population. To mention some of the challenges we are facing:

Global Warming and climate change bringing extreme weather, read more…
An increasing fresh water scarcity around the planet
The continued erosion of farmland soil
Growing human population of Earth

The UN expects several consequences of strains in food and water supply such famine, a continued increase in the number of refugees and the risk for even more conflict and civil war around the world.

It all raises questions about the future of humanity and life on our planet and the importance of feeding our population, will we be able to feed 10 billion people?

Will we be able to feed the population of Earth? Photo: AnnVixen

There IS hope! One development is the Plantagon Vertical Skyscraper, aiming to feed cities of the future, read more here. Tellus Think Tank will be adding even more hope and inspiration soon!

More on the growth of the human population on Earth

Tariq Khokhar and Haruna Kashiwase, both working for the World Bank, gathered four trends from the UN’s update on population projections:

Tariq and Haruna discuss how accurate the 2015 UN projections might become and show that looking back at UN projections from 1958 they turned out to be “pretty good”, differing from what actually happened with only less than 5%.

Here is a description of the trends, identified by Haruna and Tariq, based on the UN predictions for world population growth of 2015.

The world’s population is estimated to reach 11.2 billion inhabitants in year 2100.
The population of Earth is currently, January 2016, about 7.3 billion.
UN projections show that growth will slow down a bit but still predict to reach 9.7 billion inhabitants by 2050 and 11.2 billion inhabitants by the year of 2100.
In the year 2100 more than 80% of Earth’s inhabitants will live in Africa or Asia.
Currently about 66% of the world’s population lives in Asia but in 2100 forecasts show that Africa and Asia will be the home of 83% of the world’s population.

The United Nations predict of 2015 show that the populations of Africa and Asia are growing faster than other continents.
Africa will be the fastest growing region between 2015 and 2050.
In number of inhabitants Africa will be the largest contributor to the increase of the world population. Europe was projected to have a shrinking population.
Half of the world’s population growth will occur in just 9 countries during 2015 and 2050.
The nine countries are:
India with 16.6% of the total growth – 394 million people
Nigeria with 9.11% of the total growth – 216 million people
Pakistan with 5.08% of the total growth – 121 million people
Democratic Republic of the Congo with 4.97% of the total growth – 118 million people
Ethiopia with 3.75% of the total growth – 89 million people
United States of America with 2.82% of the total growth – 67 million people
Indonesia with 2.72% of the total growth – 65 million people
Uganda with 2.65% of the total growth – 63 million people

According to the UN projections show that by 2022 India will have more inhabitants than China. The United States sticks out as the only high-income country on the list due to projections of continued migration, all other countries on the list are to be found either in Africa or Asia.

There are a lot of good things happening to mitigate the rising challenges of the population growth.
It is the aim of Tellus Think Tank to share ideas and solutions for improving sustainability in lives and communities.

Get inspired and learn more about how the challenges of Earth can be tackled.

Challenges, Featured article, Inspiration

Is Earth doing alright? No002

2015-11-26 admin Leave a comment

How is Earth doing? Many contrary impressions are given both from people in our surroundings and through different media channels. Let’s find out what is correct.
Domi, TellusThinkTank 2015-11-12

Stockholm November 2015. Outside the window a few leaves can still be spotted in the trees, soon about to join the thousands of fallen maple stars on the black tar sky. People are walking over them on their way to work, just as usual. There is however an important difference this year: the average temperature is 5℃ / 12 °F warmer than normal.

November 1-11, 2015. Sweden is 3 to 5 degrees celsius warmer than normal, according to www.SMHI.se — *November 1-11, 2015.*
*Sweden is 3 to 5 degrees celsius warmer than normal, according to www.SMHI.se*

Tellus Think Tank has spoken to many different persons about sustainability and about the environment, a wide array of people from environmental specialists to urban farmers and to people like ourselves, that is people who don’t normally work with the environment.

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It was in the conversations with the latter group, normal people in several different European countries, that we heard the same type of phrase:

-I don’t believe in Global Warming. The natural processes of Earth would have heated the climate anyhow, they said.

I am surfing the internet to try and find explanations and graphs for the warm weather of November. Even on the internet I find many different groups with contrary messages:

Human emissions of carbon dioxide and methane are the cause of Global Warming.
Global Warming is a part of Earth’s natural processes.
Earth is not warmer that usual.

What is really true about Global Warming?
To get an answer to this question we turn to Niclas Köhler, expert on sustainable development, working as a communicator at the Swedish construction company NCC. With a background in journalism and biology he has been working as an environmental reporter for over 20 years. He lays it out for us:

-The Earth’s natural processes can be the cause of a certain variation in the climate but Global Warming that we are experiencing now is indisputably created by humankind, Niclas Köhler says.

Niclas Köhler continues to tell me that scientists were in disagreement/at odds during a period but today 99% of the scientists are in agreement. More than 800 scientists have written a report for the United Nations climate panel (IPCC – International Panel On Climate Change) about how the heated climate is a direct effect of the emissions from human activity. They are calling the phenomenon “Global Warming”.

What have humans done to cause Global Warming?

So, I summarise, Earth is in the beginning of a period of unusually high average temperatures and these temperatures are caused by human emissions. What kind of emissions are we talking about here?

Niclas Köhler tells me that scientists first believed carbon dioxide emissions were the main cause of the climate heating, but that they have now also understood the vastness of the methane gas emissions.

When people increase the amount of carbon dioxide and methane, the so-called greenhouse gases, they retain the heat radiated from Earth itself and keeps it in the atmosphere of Earth. With more molecules like these in the atmosphere of Earth the climate becomes warmer.

The sun heats Earth. Earth then radiates heat into the Earth atmosphere. If the atmosphere contains more carbon dioxide- and methane molecules more heat will stay within the atmosphere. With less greenhouse gases in the atmosphere more of the heat easily bounces out into space. Illustration: AnnVixen

Carbon dioxide has always existed and is created when biological material is disintegrated / decomposed, for example when a tree falls down and starts rotting. When a new tree grows it instead binds carbon dioxide in its wooden fibers. De unhealthy carbon dioxides are created when we burn the so-called fossil fuels: diesel, oil, petrol and coal.

Niclas Köhler tells me that fossil fuels were created millions of years ago when biological material such as dead animals, brackens and micro algae sunk to the bottom of a lake, where covered up but not decomposed fully but instead were formed into a layer of, for instance, coal.

Methane emissions are created when organic material, that is everything that grows in nature, is decomposed in a environment with a low level of oxygen. According to Wikipedia (2015-11-12) humans are responsible for 60 percent of the methane emissions, when allowing leakages extracting oil or gas or coal. About 17 % of the methane emissions come from the human livestock production of cows and sheep – the methane comes mainly from the animal’s digestion and faeces.

Since the start of the Industrial Revolution, in the beginning of the 1800s, the methane content in our atmosphere has doubled and the carbon dioxide content is not far behind.

What happens when the climate of earth becomes warmer as an effect of the emissions?

As an answer to this question Niclas Köhler quotes Sten Bergström, former Head of Research at SMHI, Sweden’s Expert Authority on Meteorologi, Hydrology, Oceanografi och Klimatologi:

-There will be more action in the system, he quotes.

Niclas Köhler explains that heat is energy and that more action in the system means:

More forceful storms.
More water when it rains.
Higher peaks and lower valleys on the temperature curve.

Niclas Köhler calls this “Extreme Weather”. Global Warming will bring more Extreme Weather.

What signs can we see that Global Warming and its extreme weather is already taking place?

Many parts of the world have already been hit by the climate change extreme weather in form of heavy storms and rainfall causing major damage. Gothenburg is one city that experienced this.

*A Cityplanner scenario that puts Gothenburg under water.*

Just recently the city presented a “skyfall model” to simulate different scenarios with heavy rain, with the urge to be able to plan for coming storms and soften the consequences. The scenario model tool is open for the public on the city internet, and when trying a couple of different scenarios one can see that the City of Gothenburg might be standing before some really major challenges.

I recently visited my English cousins and they showed me a picture from a helicopter tour over the Hoover dam in the US state of Arizona. The photo pictures a white layer above the water all around the mountains around the dam, showing where the normal water level used to be. The water reserves, meant for drinking and farming, are considerably lower than earlier.

Niclas Köhler also mentions similar problems in the neighbouring state of California. The inhabitants there are living in a permanent state of drought, causing problems with farming and drinking water resources.

NIclas Köhler also says that many European countries have felt the effect of the Global Warming.

The United Kingdom, for example, has been hit by heavy rainfalls. One spectacular example is “The Toon Monsoon” in the metropolitan area of Newcastle on Tyne, a city that has not earlier been hit by floods.

In Lonely Planet’s book “Morocco” by Paul Clammer a description can be found of how the Northern parts of Africa are slowly drying out. I remember a documentary in Swedish SVT’s show “Vetenskapens Värld” (World of Science) that showed how ten of twelve rivers had dried out in the Southern parts of Morocco and it had forced the inhabitants to move to the Moroccan cities.

I might be coming to some very fast conclusions, it is possibly drought in the middle east that is forcing its inhabitants to flee north to land areas with a cooler climate. Europe, is as it seems, very close at hand. The people of the middle east would not seek refugee in the south with even higher temperatures, would they? Thermometers in the Arabian peninsular show summer temperatures of almost 50℃ / 122 °F.

Summarizing: Humankind emits too much carbon dioxide and methane which leads to the heating of the atmosphere around Earth and is the cause of Extreme Weather – drought, storms and rain that cause problems for farming, damage to infrastructure and the major movement of people.

And according to the scientists we are only at the beginning of this unnaturally warm period.

What can we expect from the future? Is there hope or is Global Warming the end of humankind as a species?

Currently Earth holds 7,3 billion people, according to the United Nations. This number of inhabitants can be compared to the one billion people that lived on earth at the beginning of the Industrial Revolution, only about 200 years ago. I ask Niclas Köhler if he sees any possibility of having so many people on Earth and at the same time living sustainably?

-Yes, we can [loooong pause] but we need to reconsider our life styles. We have a lot of technique and knowledge to our help but we really need to put it into practise.

He ascertains that humanity has had a fantastic development and economic growth built on access to cheap coal and oil but that we have used more of nature’s resources than nature has had time to re-create.

What hands-on arrangements do we need adopt, now that we need to reconsider our lifestyles?

Niclas Köhler talks about two groups of activities needed simultaneously. The first is to mitigate the risks and soften the damages of the climate change and the second is to decrease emissions.

*Two roads forward. Illustration: Ann Vixen*

Decreasing risks and damages caused by climate change can for instance be activities such as handling the larger amounts of water expected in some parts of the world.

Niclas Köhler has some examples of what the building company NCC are working with and mentions a tunnel that is soon to be built under the Danish City of Copenhagen for Hofor, with the purpose of leading away excessive amounts of water and leading it out to the harbour.

In this context The Tellus Think Tank-team also brings the Emisor Oriente-tunnel to mind. The tunnel was built under Mexico City for the same reasons.

NCC has also developed a special asphalt that lets through water much faster than traditional asphalt. The company is also looking into how their residential building projects shall handle the expected increase in water, so that damage by dampness can be avoided.

*Tunnel under Copenhagen. Illustration: Hofor*

We can do a lot of work with mitigating the damages but is is much cheaper and considerably less risky to work proactively to avoid the problems, Niclas Köhler says.

That is why it is more important to reduce emission. By reducing emissions the effects of Global Warming can reach a problematic stage, instead of the catastrophic level that we are heading towards now.

Use renewable energy sources and reduce beef in your daily diet, is the short advice that Niclas Köhler offers. He soon continues with an array of activities that could help us reduce the effects of the Global Warming:

Phase out the coal plants! Consumers can help by choosing an electrical company that offers green, environmentally friendly electricity.
Heat your house with district warming, pellets or a heat pump.
Kiruna. Swedens most northern lowenergy Passive house, built by NCC. Photographer: Joanna Redman/NCC

Build low energy houses – that is buildings that do not leak heat through walls or windows and that contain all heat brought into the house. Old houses can become energy effective by renovation. NCC works with both low energy houses and sustainable renovations.
Don’t knock down old concrete structures but re-use them, as the process of making new concrete emits large amounts of carbon dioxid.
Decrease your rides with the car as far as possible, at least until you can afford to buy a car that runs totally without fossil petrol and diesel. Electrical Vehicles, driven by batteries or fuel cells, will probably soon take over the market.
Car production is also has large emissions of greenhouse gases and every family might not need a car of their own, most cars stand parked most of the time. Instead a family could take a cab, use public transport, walk, take the bike or join a car pool.
Eat less beef and lamb and replace it with chicken or vegetarian food if possible.
Decrease the number of journeys with aeroplane, until the renewable fuels that researchers are working on are taken in use.
In regions where biogas is an alternative these should be exploited as much as possible. It is not practically possible to transport biogas so far, so it has to be considered as a local propellant.
In countries where the sun is an asset, investments should be made so that solar cells can replace fossil fuels. The energy from the sun is also good for countries closer to the poles, such as Sweden, but the sun produces more energy than average in the summer and less than average in the winter.
Even industrial processes need to save heat by insulating and taking advantage of waste heat.

So it is not too late to turn the Global Warming process around?

No, not yet but we really need to rethink how we live and decrease the use of fossil fuels and eating less beef. Change our lives and introduce hands-on activities as a way forward.

There are examples of other environmental problems where we have been very successful and changed a destructive trend. Niclas Köhler mentions the replacing of freons in our refrigerators letting the ozone layer around Earth regenerate. Another example is when Sweden successfully reduced sulphur emissions when burning fossil oil, which was causing acidification of Swedish woods and waters.

I thank Niclas Köhler for his pedagogical description of the present situation of Earth, and for sharing hope for the future!

Now that the Tellus Think Tank team understands a bit more about Global Warming we are wondering how this information is being spread in societies and we are also wondering what young people are being taught about it in schools today. Next we investigate how a Swedish school handles environmental questions and meet with with Lars Benon, who has worked as headmaster at several schools in the Stockholm region. Check it out!

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