Threads to sustainability

Firstly I will admit that sustainability is rather difficult to define as there are so many areas to think about and consider.

I prefer the standard quote from the World Commission on Environment and Development (WCED) in that sustainability is 'meeting the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.' However Hall (2006 p156) states that this definition is “idealistic and somewhat impractical definition of sustainable development”.

I also think that there are threats to how we can secure sustainability in the future and in particular this country

1) Education- Several areas including that of the school curriculum does not really address what sustainability and how people can try to be sustainable. Also it has taken too long to get the issue onto the school curriculum and in my case not learning about it until in higher education.

2) Cost- Trying to be sustainable can cost considerable amounts of money, such as new recycling schemes or trying to combat climate change with the aid of wind farms and solar panels. This can put off a lot of people such as small companies that may not think the benefits outweigh the costs.

3) Ignorance- Some people may choose to ignore the need to be sustainable in that they may only be thinking of the present and not what the future entails for future generations. We know for instance about how we should import goods locally cutting down on greenhouse emissions but instead we want the latest electronic goods from Japan or a different variety of tomato.

4) Culture- We are a country that wants everything and wants it now, with no regard for the environment new car ownership being one. Hall (2006) states that as a nation our government tries to ensure economic growth, this in turn increases living standards and therefore increases personal consumption.

5) Financial worries- We are officially in a recession so everyone is tightening their belts. With these times people are less concerned about being sustainable and are more concerned about where the next pound is coming from. Also with the added worry of the recession this can affect people’s health in the long and short term affecting employment levels.

6) Lack of government action- The Prime Minister admits there is a threat to the long term issues of sustainability however states that these long term problems occur over several political time scales so may be on different agendas of different political parties. This can be a threat in that issue’s can be left behind in favour of other issues unrelated to sustainable development.

There will always be threats to how we can secure sustainability for the present and for future generation, however these threats can be overcome with a bit of planning and forward thinking.

http://www.number10.gov.uk/Page3073

Hall, T. (2006) Urban Geography. 3rd ed. Routledge: Oxon

Sustainable Communities

For the purpose of this week’s blog I intend to look at how sustainable my home town is and to what extend if any is it not sustainable.

At home I live between two places however for the purpose of this blog I intend to look at the town of Redditch in North Worcestershire. Although I have mentioned this town in a previous blog I will just outline it again. The town is classed as a new town the same as Milton Keynes. The town lies roughly in the middle of three motorways networks those being the M5, M42 and the M40 making commuting from the town relatively easy. Looking at the super output area (SOA) of where I live there is a population of nearly 79,000 with 32,000 dwellings according to the census of 2001 with the population density being 15 people per a hectare.

The Sustainable communities: Building for the future (a national plan of action) wants to change the approach to where people want to live and creating sustainable communities that are:

♦ are economically prosperous;
♦ have decent homes at a price people can afford;
♦ safeguard the countryside;
♦ enjoy a well-designed, accessible and pleasant living and
working environment;
♦ are effectively and fairly represented and governed, with a
strong sense of community.

In terms of looking at the above criteria when compared to information that has been collected by census and other methods the estimated social grade for this area of Redditch puts its majority of residents in the C1 category: Supervisory, clerical, junior managerial / administrative / professional (17,000). So does that mean Redditch is economically prosperous? I think it depends which way you look at it. This area of Redditch is near to the town centre where a lot of retail premises and office complexes are. If this was compared to another area of Redditch then the figures could be completely different for example the north nearer the M42 motorway network.

Another criteria of above to consider is that of safeguarding the countryside, Redditch although a large town and is obviously urban it is surrounded by quite a considerable amount of countryside, This countryside is well protected and several areas of it are owned in part by the national trust. Also with Redditch being an industrial town there are plenty of brownfield sites and these tend to be used over the surrounding countryside.

Other aspects to which can be considered in terms of sustainability is that of deprivation levels. For this area the number of young people not staying in higher education is 48%. Another deprivation statistic is that 33% of working adults have no or little qualifications.

Redditch always has always had dwellings and in 1964 became a new town and its population shot from 30,000 to 80,000. The town centre and main infrastructure to the town was knocked down and rebuilt also with numerous industrial and trading estates being built. Due to this 40 years on some of the main buildings within the town are starting to fall into disrepair and look very outdated.

In terms of being sustainable I do think Redditch is partly sustainable however there are room for plenty of improvements. The infrastructure to get in and around the town is excellent with barely any traffic during busy rush hour periods. I personally believe that there isn’t that much of a community in the town, due to there being different areas split off by main dual carriageways. Also from 2004 Redditch was one of the main areas in the West Midlands that had a large influx of East European workers which segmented the town even further. Also the average age of someone living in this area is 45, this means that unless in the future there are more young people moving into the area then the area will become more unsustainable as there will be more people of retirement age than of working age.

http://www.neighbourhood.statistics.gov.uk/dissemination/LeadAreaSearch.do?a=3&r=1&i=1001&m=0&s=1236082578436&enc=1&areaSearchText=b98+8rn&areaSearchType=141&extendedList=false&searchAreas=Search

Blog 8

I think education for sustainable development is extremely valuable. The threat of problems such as climate change, running out of renewable sources and over consumption are modern problems and this needs to be addressed. By teaching people it makes them more informed and therefore enabling them to make informed decisions and help us to become sustainable.

A United Nations Decade of Education for Sustainable Development was developed for the years 2005-2014. This was created to start getting people to have respect for their planet and the environment around them. Also for us to be challenged in respect of the way we behave and how to change our behaviour for the future. This is by doing things such as thinking ‘holistically’ or looking at the whole picture and not just certain elements. Also to begin to be critical and not just memorise information all the time.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xk7u0fZpqzU

I will be the first to admit I had never heard the terminology sustainable development till I started studying geography and maybe that is the problem. We have been slow to get off the mark in teaching others just look at the fact that our university didn’t even have a sustainability officer until a few years ago.

I am kind of down the middle of whether geography is the best subject to deliver the curriculum. I think it should not be focused in only one subject but across several such as the sciences. When I was at school I do not have any recollection (bear with me it was five years ago) of learning about anything that we have covered this term. So in that respect I neither agree or disagree with Haigh (2005) as there are obvious advantages and disadvantages to both arguments.

I have enjoyed this module considerable so far, in particularly the fact how it looks at the present and the future. A lot of the other geography modules concentrate on theories and things in the past. I think it is a good change to look at how we as “future geographers” can make a difference to the environment in the near future. In regards to assessment I am happy with the alternative approaches such as in the use of blogs and debates. I feel that this module has stretched me in using different assessments rather than just doing time constrained tests and assignments.

References
http://portal.unesco.org/education/en/ev.php-URL_ID=23279&URL_DO=DO_TOPIC&URL_SECTION=201.html

Credit Crunch bites!

I believe that global economic downturn will be a positive thing in terms of the sustainable development goals in that people will consume less, waste less and use less of our non renewable natural resources. However I think sustainable issues will be the least of peoples worries at the moment due to other factors such as employment and financial concerns. Although I think people will not be too concerned about "saving the environment" at a time like this. I think people will start to make an unconscious effort to be more sustainable such as buying second hand goods such as furniture and cars.

If we look at the car industry we know that as a whole they are really struggling at the moment. This is quite good for sustainability in that the demand for raw goods in less, this has various implications. By not requiring as many raw goods we save energy or fossils fuels and require less lorries on the road transporting the goods to the car factories. Also with less cars coming onto the market there are less vehicles requiring fuel and emitting carbon emissions into the atmosphere. However this means that people are put out of work, have wages docked and businesses of any size go under.

Environmentalists and other campaigners fear that sustainability and wider
corporate social responsibility (CSR) issues are falling off the boardroom
agenda as businesses tighten their belts in the face of turbulent stockmarkets,
the credit crunch and a looming economic slowdown.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2008/mar/06/greenbusiness.creditcrunch

I think the main good thing to come out of this economic downturn is that as a whole people will consume less and waste less. This will ultimately cause people to make use of what they have and not consume goods or even services.

However sustainability issues should not be ignored at a time like this. Companies and the public should be thinking about the wider picture and thinking about how being sustainable can help them during this period.

But it’s not going to go away – awareness of climate change is
high, and if you look beyond the short-term economic downturn and the difficult
period it has brought, you’ll find the environment will once again become a
major public focus.

http://www.endsdirectory.com/index.cfm?action=articles.view&articleID=200904

Travel Plan

Last Thursday we completed our research between 12:30 and 1:30. During this time we split our group into two halves, one completed the traffic count standing at the barrier and the other stood outside the Senate building asking for people to fill in questionnaires.

The data collection at the barrier was quite easy to collect as all the cars had to stop at the barrier so it was easy to count the number of people in each car. The results were quite variable throughout the hour with the majority of cars appearing in the first half an hour and only having one person in them. We didn't find it too surprising how many people travelled alone compared to those who had car occupants.

The questionnaire collection was quite hard as people weren't keen to stop no matter how polite we were. Also because of the time of day and the weather there were not many people around to ask. We were quite surprised by the number of people who lived more than 15miles away and commuted daily. Often these people travelled alone with no other car occupants. Also not many people were concerned about their effects upon the environment.

If we were to carry out this sort of research again we would choose a better time of the day, where there would be more people about to question, such as morning rush hour. It would also have been good to cover more days so as to get a more representative view of the weeks car useage.

By Emma and Cat

How can I make a difference individually?

I believe that one person can’t make much of a difference to being sustainable. With a population as big as ours we need to get people to come together and make a difference that way. For instance if one person turns lights off in a room what difference will that make? It may cut down that person’s electric bill but it isn’t going to stop climate change. However if everyone in halls of residence in England turned out lights in empty rooms this although would only make a small difference it would be a significant difference.


This Christmas I will be living with relatives in a town called Redditch which is called a new town.

Redditch is a bit similar to Milton Keynes which is also a new town. It is a leafy town of a few hundred thousand people and is classed as a commuter town between Birmingham and Worcester.

The way the town was designed is so that people can get around pretty easily by using the dual carriageways. This is in theory quite clever in that compared to other local towns as Redditch suffers from no rush hour gridlocks therefore cutting carbon emissions.

However this has its negative effects, in terms of car usage. I hate the fact I have to use my car to get around the town, but I am not left with many alternatives as the bus links are pretty poor and very expensive. The bus links out of the town are pretty none existent and the cycle routes are dangerous and go through country lanes that are at national speed limit which are bendy and unlit after dark. I am shameful to say that this Christmas there will be five cars outside the house. Although they are all small cars the pollution that we will be putting into the environment is one that will be heavily on my mind.


However a plus note is that the recycling scheme that is in place is pretty effective. We have several bins and boxes in which to get rid of our waste. I admit in our household there will be five of us which means we end up with a lot of waste however we all make an effort to recycle what can be recycled.


One thing that we do a lot in our household and is urged by Redditch District Council is to Freecycle. This involves instead of throwing things away donating them to organisations instead. We have got rid of a lot of furniture such as living room chairs and bedroom furniture this way. http://redditch.whub.org.uk/home/rbc-live-recycling-reuse-freecycle-furniture-and-electrical_items


I think individually I could do a lot more to make a difference, but even if I did do more how would I know that it is making a difference?

UN Debate

From doing this exercise I have learnt that the so called ‘developed’ countries such as USA and China are not as sustainable as they like to think they are. They are apparently the richer countries but when compared to countries such as Denmark they really are doing little to improve sustainable development in their country.

It was quite hard to find information about the Solomon Islands as they do not actually have a National Sustainable Development Plan. However the other policies such as the National Health Policy was quite easy to find as it was already in place and the country view this policy as quite important and we found this coming up quite a bit in internet searches. It was also quite difficult to find many plans and policies because the Solomon Islands are small and with a population of only half a million they are going to be harder to find than say Denmark. Also with the Islands only just coming out of conflict in 2003 they are only just starting to build their country back up which means that any plans or policies that the country wants to develop are going to be new and probably basic.

It was surprised as all countries have completely different approaches to the idea of sustainable development. For instance the USA wanted the money to help its army and navy but to also try to help Africa whilst countries such as Malawi who have barely any national exports want to use it to try and help their national people. I got the impression that the poorer countries had much more genuine ideas of what to use the money for. Why should the USA be given money to improve its army whilst countries in Africa have to sustain droughts and frequent starvation just so the USA can attack a few more countries?

I think our presentation went ok however I lost the plot half way through which didn’t help. However we said everything that we needed to say and got our point across within the time limit set. I think we highlighted well the policy and plans currently in place and clearly defined what the money would be used for. If we were to do the exercise again I think practice would be key as I think if we were more confident with what we were to say then perhaps it would have come across a bit better and the nervousness wouldn’t show so much in the presentation.

I did enjoy this exercise and I think I have learnt more from it than I would have done if it were done in a normal lecture. I think by having a debate it makes you think more widely around the subject as you want to ask the other countries questions to find out more (and to see them squirm).

Overall I think we worked well as a team and found that we got on and was able to research and present our findings.