Me and my partner Katy represented South Africa in the united nations conference. We found some useful information on the internet about sustainable development in South Africa. I found out that they were doing quite a lot to help towards sustainable development, and this surprised me a little as I thought they would rather spend money on just generally trying to develop as a county, and not bother so much about being sustainable. For example on the website http://www.southafrica.info/about/sustainable/ I found out that they were spending money on replacing street lights bulbs with energy efficient ones. Then listening to the other countries presentations I discovered that almost every country was doing quite a lot towards sustainable development. But during Americas presentation they said they would use the UN’s money to improve there military. I do no agree with this as America already has the best military in the world and it doesn’t need improving. They also said that they would use the money on the war in Iraq and Afghanistan. But I feel that enough money has already been spent on the war and trying to sort out the issues in both of the countries. I think its time they just left the countries alone and let them solve there own problems.
I think our presentation went well, I got straight to the point, and highlighted key point to read out, instead of reading everything out like some other countries did.
I liked doing the exercise as it was something different. I learnt that it isn’t just the MEDC’s that are spending money towards sustainable development, its LEDC’s as well, which is a good thing because we don’t want LEDC’s to develop the same way as we did, because the way we did it was using lots of raw materials and non renewable recourses.
Wednesday, 19 November 2008
Wednesday, 5 November 2008
The recycling rates that are given on the Northamptonshire council website are going vary between each authority due to a number of factors. Firstly the average size the houses in each district will effect the figures. For example an inner city district may have a high number of terrace housing, which only occupy 1-2 people, so therefore their will be less household waste produced compared to a larger house in a district on the suburbs of the Northampton, where up to 4-5 people may live. Also the bigger housing on the suburbs may have bigger gardens, so therefore more garden waste will be produced.
Secondary the rates might also vary due to peoples attitude. Some people may not be bothered about doing there bit for the environment, so they don’t bother to recycle. Also the recycling bins are kept outside, so if the weather is bad, some people might not be bothered to take the waste outside, so they will just simply but it in the bin full of household waste.
Things that could be done to improve the recycling rates are to increase the number collections. Instead of collecting the recyclable waste one every two weeks, collect it once a week because in the space of two weeks, the bins provided might get very full, so people will have no choice but to but the recyclable waste into a household waste bin. However you could also overcome this problem by providing larger bins for the houses that need them.
Also businesses and schools need to do more to recycle. At the moment most schools and businesses don’t recycle due to the costs involved. So to get them to recycle, the government could do incentives to encourage them to do so.
Secondary the rates might also vary due to peoples attitude. Some people may not be bothered about doing there bit for the environment, so they don’t bother to recycle. Also the recycling bins are kept outside, so if the weather is bad, some people might not be bothered to take the waste outside, so they will just simply but it in the bin full of household waste.
Things that could be done to improve the recycling rates are to increase the number collections. Instead of collecting the recyclable waste one every two weeks, collect it once a week because in the space of two weeks, the bins provided might get very full, so people will have no choice but to but the recyclable waste into a household waste bin. However you could also overcome this problem by providing larger bins for the houses that need them.
Also businesses and schools need to do more to recycle. At the moment most schools and businesses don’t recycle due to the costs involved. So to get them to recycle, the government could do incentives to encourage them to do so.
Wednesday, 29 October 2008
Newspapers
Newspapers can be a good way of learning about climate change. They quote many facts and figures, but how reliable and accurate are they? Newspapers have a reputation for over exaggerating and glamorising stories as an attempt to sell more papers. Articles they publish about climate change are often stories to do with the worse case scenario, but make it very believable, so the audience reading it think it’s true. Here is an example of this: http://www.thescottishsun.co.uk/scotsol/homepage/news/article1805794.ece
Most newspapers just concentrate on giving the effects of climate change and don’t consider sustainable development, as proven by the above article from The Sun newspaper.
Each different newspaper has a different point of view about each story; this might be down to the individual editor or owner of the newspaper. The stories may vary from paper to paper due to there political views. For example, The Telegraph favours the Tory side of things, as 61% of Telegraph readers support the Conservative party, whereas The Guardian favours Labour. 80% of Guardian readers are Labour party voters.
So this affects what is actually written about certain climate change issues, so you can never get a true reflection on the proper facts. So in conclusion if you want a broader and well informed understanding of a certain issue/story to do with climate change, you might need to read several newspapers, watch the news on TV and read articles on the internet.
Most newspapers just concentrate on giving the effects of climate change and don’t consider sustainable development, as proven by the above article from The Sun newspaper.
Each different newspaper has a different point of view about each story; this might be down to the individual editor or owner of the newspaper. The stories may vary from paper to paper due to there political views. For example, The Telegraph favours the Tory side of things, as 61% of Telegraph readers support the Conservative party, whereas The Guardian favours Labour. 80% of Guardian readers are Labour party voters.
So this affects what is actually written about certain climate change issues, so you can never get a true reflection on the proper facts. So in conclusion if you want a broader and well informed understanding of a certain issue/story to do with climate change, you might need to read several newspapers, watch the news on TV and read articles on the internet.
Wednesday, 15 October 2008
private cars
Cars are one of the most, if not the most covenient way of getting around. People need cars for thier everyday life. Only 25% of all households in the uk do not own a car.
Most people use thier car to commute to and from work everyday. This convenience of having a car has led to 80% of males and 63% of females having a driving licence.
But having this high percentage of people using cars is unstustainable. CO2 emmisions form cars having increased by 4% from 1990 and 2006, and road traffic volume has increased by 20%
so if private cars are so unsustainable, why dont we use puplic transport?
Well, only 28% of the population use a the bus once once or more times a week. This is due to busses not being as convenient as cars, as they are quite often late, and u have to wait for them in cold and wet weather, they take a lot more time to get to your destination, and it can be a long walk to and from the bus stop.
so if not buses, how about trains?
Well tains are just to expensive during peak times, you might not be able to get a seat, and journey times are very long as you might have to catch a bus to get to and from the train station.
so instead of finding alternative wasys of comuting we should stick to driving private cars but look at ways in which we can reduce the CO2 emmisions.
Thier are changes we can do now, instead of doing nothing whilst we wait around for electric or hyprid cars to take over.
Simple ways in which we can reduce are CO2 emmisons from our car are basically driving effeciently by sticking to the speed limit, not rev the car up, keep tires pumped up to the correct level, get rid of any unnessary weight in the car. Also driving in this way will save you money as you use less petrol. I comute to uni and driving in this effiecent way i have reduced the CO2 emions from my car, and saved myself money by not using as much petrol.
Most people use thier car to commute to and from work everyday. This convenience of having a car has led to 80% of males and 63% of females having a driving licence.
But having this high percentage of people using cars is unstustainable. CO2 emmisions form cars having increased by 4% from 1990 and 2006, and road traffic volume has increased by 20%
so if private cars are so unsustainable, why dont we use puplic transport?
Well, only 28% of the population use a the bus once once or more times a week. This is due to busses not being as convenient as cars, as they are quite often late, and u have to wait for them in cold and wet weather, they take a lot more time to get to your destination, and it can be a long walk to and from the bus stop.
so if not buses, how about trains?
Well tains are just to expensive during peak times, you might not be able to get a seat, and journey times are very long as you might have to catch a bus to get to and from the train station.
so instead of finding alternative wasys of comuting we should stick to driving private cars but look at ways in which we can reduce the CO2 emmisions.
Thier are changes we can do now, instead of doing nothing whilst we wait around for electric or hyprid cars to take over.
Simple ways in which we can reduce are CO2 emmisons from our car are basically driving effeciently by sticking to the speed limit, not rev the car up, keep tires pumped up to the correct level, get rid of any unnessary weight in the car. Also driving in this way will save you money as you use less petrol. I comute to uni and driving in this effiecent way i have reduced the CO2 emions from my car, and saved myself money by not using as much petrol.
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