Today we review a working paper from Norway that looks at the challenges facing urban centres in developing countries during after global climate change. While many of these cities have large slums which make the issue a matter of vulnerability and poverty, the link between climate change and health with specific impacts from heat and air pollution is the overriding challenge and what sort of governance is needed is the main question.
Urban heat island profile (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
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Today we review a challenge to the conventional answer to the mitigation of climate change by a shift to a green economy with renewable energy instead of carbon fuels, growing more trees and driving in electric cars. The author instead points out that each of these “cures”, when accompanied by more use of energy because of growth driven by population growth and new technology, result in more, not less, greenhouse gas emissions. Governmental policy approaches, even when well-intentioned in terms of the environment, make the problem worse. He calls for “degrowth” or a new environmentalism. “On verra”, as they say in French. At least, it causes one to examine more carefully the alternatives offered and whether, finally, to accept the warnings about global consumptive growth, contained in the book on Limits to Growth, published over 40 years ago by the Club of Rome. In a city context, growth equates to sprawl, whether it is done in a seemingly green way (e.g. electric LRT) and the result is a polluted city.
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The answer to the title of today’s post is in 177countries of the world, but not in United States, Canada, China, Japan, Australia, and New Zealand, among 16 “laggards”, according to the report reviewed today. Why not? Those few countries that do not have substantive protection apparently are influenced by a series of concerns including the fear of the court taking precedence over legislators, a fear of a “flood of litigation” or “too vague to be useful”. Makes you wonder, especially if you are a Canadian, especially at a time when full government action is needed (and absent) to take on the challenge of climate change and air pollution.
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Urbanisation and health in China (10 page pdf, Peng Gong, Song Liang, Elizabeth J Carlton, Qingwu Jiang, Jianyong Wu, Lei Wang, Justin V Remais, The Lancet, Mar. 3, 2012)
Today we review the state of the environment and health in the most quickly growing (and largest) cities in the world that have come about because of a massive shift from rural to urban areas where migrants make up 40% of the population. A major health threat comes from the parallel increase in industry and increase in the use of vehicles which affect outdoor air quality and is the cause of 400,000 premature deaths each year which becomes even more critical in a society that is aging faster (and is older) than the global average (by 2050, median age expected to be 50 vs 38 years). The paper under review calls for more stringent regulation of industrial and vehicle emissions.
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The issue reviewed today concerns the differing challenges of heating and cooling buildings in warmer and colder climates and what this might imply with rising temperatures as a result of climate change. Results indicate that it takes more energy to heat a room than to cool it, due to the technologically superior efficiency of air conditioners vs furnaces. This, in turn, points to a positive trend in sustainable energy terms for cities in cold climates, such as Ottawa (the second coldest capital city in the world to Ulan Bator, capital of Mongolia), as long as the relative warming and cooling efficiencies remain the same. That noted, the research did not consider the energy efficiency of geothermal heating which offers emission free heating along with a small energy cost for electricity to power the circulation of the heated air.
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Today we review a report that calls for an end to coal powered plants in the EU by 2040, although the same reasons for doing so apply elsewhere, particularly in the United States, because of the impact of coal power emissions not only on human health, but also on the need to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from carbon sources as soon as possible to mitigate climate change. Over 18,000 premature deaths/year in the EU can be linked to coal emissions which make up 20% of the GHG emissions for Europe. Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS) technology, touted as the vanguard of “clean coal”, is found to have even more emissions of NO2 with lower SO2.
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Today we review an application of a municipal energy and greenhouse gas reduction guide to Canada’s largest city, Toronto. Reductions of 30% are projected over the next 20 years and 70% in the long term with a focus on lower carbon fuel demands from the building (example solar water heaters) and transportation sectors (example higher parking rates to shift commuters from cars to transit). Many of the suggestions would allow other Canadian cities to meet the same aggressive targets.
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Today we review a draft plan prepared by the Environmental Protection Agency to deal with the known and likely impacts associated with climate change in the USA. The document is comprehensive, touching on such diverse areas as air pollution-health issues, the impact of more extremes of temperature and rainfall on flooding in communities, the impact on waste disposal and the challenges all this means to the regulation and enforcement side of EPA’s mandate. As one commentator opined “Too bad we didn’t do more a few decades ago to keep all of this from happening.”
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Today we look at an application global climate models to estimate what impact changes in the atmospheric circulation would have on stagnation and as consequence, air pollution, around the world. Stagnation of the air near the ground occurs when there is light wind, little rainfall and is often accompanied by a temperature inversion which traps local emissions and allows them to accumulate. Large cities, especially in North America (New York, Atlanta, Mexico City), Europe (Rome) and Asia(New Delhi, Shanghai and Beijing), are expected to have 25% more days of stagnate air by the end of the century. This, along with the increase in the number of hot spells which promotes smog formation, is likely to aggravate the impact of air pollution on health.
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Today we review a climate action plan valid from 2012 to 2020, approved by the City of Kelowna, British Columbia in 2012 and aimed at a 33% reduction of greenhouse gases for the community (the entire city), going beyond the climate plans of many other cities which deal mainly with “corporate” emissions (municipal vehicles and buildings). Kelowna is a small city, located in the Rocky Mountains of western Canada. Over 2/3’s of the greenhouse gas emissions come from vehicles which might be explained by the low population density and large geographical area of the city (it is the same size as Ottawa with ¼ the population) and the highest per capita car ownership of any Canadian city. No surprise then that the main target for reduced emissions is reducing the amount of travelling by car, “right-sizing” (downsizing) the type of car and boosting alternative modes of transportation, as well as managing parking rates and unnecessary idling. It is heartening to see that over 90% of the population support the 20% proposed reduction of vehicle miles driven. Other reductions are proposed for buildings, waste management and land use planning.
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Today we review a paper prepared by a Harvard political scientist that analyses the trends of recent American politics which led to the successful blocking of policy and actions to mitigate climate change which had impacts far beyond North America in international conferences and protocols, despite the election of a President who ran on a platform (in 2008, not 2012) to address climate change. In looking at factors that contributed, she noted how the acid rain treaty and legislation in the late 80s (and the Montreal Ozone Protocol in 1987- the first time that an international treaty was achieved using scientific modelling) led environmental leaders to use these successes to emphasize narrow modeling and scientific solutions to address climate change. Unfortunately as it turned out, they neglected or underestimated the need to counter the growing right wing opposition which relied almost exclusively on using the media to undermine the scientific bases and broaden its public appeal. She gives some hope for progressive climate legislation after 2016, provided broad public support is cultivated. As a side note, the same shift occurred to the north of the U.S. in Canada, hastened by the election of a government more influenced by the oil industry than its predecessor.
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Today we review a report that is aimed at adapting to climate change in developing countries with emphasis on the particular vulnerability of women and children to the disasters which are increasing as climate change and its impacts continue to intensify. Examples are given on applying ten principles which appear to be as valid for urban cities as for the case studies in rural third world countries.
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Today we review a paper written by ecologist Paul Ehrlich on his election to the Royal Society in 2012. He assesses the prospects for survival of human civilization as we know it, faced with overpopulation, increasing consumption of natural resources and a growing set of interacting and serious challenges that slowly but persistently threaten to overwhelm society’s ability to cope. One apt observation about this state of affairs is the difficulty in dealing with slow, almost imperceptible, changes, given that the magnitude of the responses needed become greater with time- something that many short term political thinkers have difficulty with.
This leads to the suggestion for “foresight intelligence”- an approach that looks at the various scenarios possible or likely and where these lead so that the re4sults of various policies can be evaluated in advance. It strikes this reviewer that thinking about change is needed from the bottom-up rather than leaving it all to action and policy at the global level because it is in urban centres where most people live and where the impacts of inaction are so often first felt and where a change in energy use and consumption can probably best be achieved.
English: Climate zones of the world (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
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Today we review a paper that looks at different climate change policies, their sensitivity to health and air quality and how to translate a specific policy into quantitative estimates of health benefits. The authors conclude that short-term health benefits has to be a major consideration in choosing among various approaches to mitigate climate change.
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Today we review an article on adapting to the inevitable climate change that is coming and will come with the continued increase in global carbon emissions, despite warnings from scientists that have gone unheeded for more than 25 years. The examples discussed include flooding in Rotterdam Holland and Singapore, heat waves in Chicago and the aftermath to Hurricane Sandy in New York City. As much depends on social network and support as it does on preparedness and planning.
Today we review a report from the highly respected International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis (IIASA) that looks at the relationship between the price put on carbon consumption and the resulting global temperature increase that follows because of atmospheric greenhouse gas emissions. An analysis of the climate impacts and instability that result from more than 2 degrees C warming, starting with”extreme heat waves with severe societal impacts” and leading to “global mass extinctions” indicates the need to have a carbon price that would limit warming to that amount. However, continued inaction by political leaders for another decade, the factor seen to be the dominant one, to increase the carbon price from $10/ton leaves the chances of staying below 2 deg C as next to impossible. Even $30/ton has only a 60% chance of success. The role of cities, especially large ones, in reducing carbon emissions is clear as is the link between carbon pricing and road pricing to reduce emissions from transportation.
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Shell’s scenarios over the last 40 years have produced insightful analyses of possible options that have led to a number of wise decisions in both the political and economic areas. Today we review their look at energy scenarios where the future is determined either by short range reactive thinking by governments “Scramble” (which seems to be the order of the day) or by a more disciplined long term planning approach “Blueprint”. The projections from each scenario out to 2050 produce widely different results as might be expected with implications for climate change and the economy, as well as the need to keep a special eye out for the major triggers or uncertainties among which are the future of shale gas (a Scramble approach) and the future of a carbon tax which also takes the form of road pricing (a Blueprint approach). The last of the noted links above show the political-natural gas aspect.
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Today we review a call to look at the best options to replace carbon fuels with a non-carbon energy source in time to have any realistic effect in terms of stabilizing what many see as run-away climate change. This topic has been discussed at the highest levels in recent years, notably at the 18 conferences of the parties (COPs) held since 1997 as part of the Kyoto Protocol under the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change. Despite this, global energy consumption continues to increase at 2% per year along with the carbon emissions that destabilize the atmosphere which has already led to more frequent extreme climatic events. Can we afford to scale back on nuclear? Will the yet unproven Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS) prove to be viable? Will solar and wind energy ever be economical? Answers are needed.
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Today we review an analysis of four policy scenarios for four European cities at increasing levels of pressure aimed at reducing carbon emissions from transportation over the next 30 years. The greatest impact comes from a combination of land use policies (such as densification) combined with congestion charges which in one city produced a 40% reduction in GHGs. It is clear as the report summarizes that such strategies need to be tailored to a given city, its population and degree of sprawl.
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Today we review a conference in Montreal aimed at developing a former racecourse (the “Hippodrome”) in the urban core into an area that promotes the environment and a healthy life for its residents. Above all, this would promote active forms of transportation and lots of trees with a canopy objective of at least 25%. The keynote address by Francois Reeves analyzed the historical link between the growth of heart disease and the industrial era and urban living which gave rise to the very high cardiovascular mortality rates there. He suggests that with a healthier diet and reduction of air pollutants, Montreal could reduce the incidence of cardiac disease by 25 to 75%.
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Today we review a look at the long term impact of climate change on human development for the next century where the policy choices made to deal with climate change on the one hand (example carbon taxes applied globally) are combined in a model with varying degrees of possible environmental scenarios. Not surprisingly, the results do not produce a future or futures with a lot of hope and the road to global disaster “has a low probability”. The impacts on the economy, well-being and the environment, particularly for developing countries could be very useful in preparing the world for what lies ahead.
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We review today a look at recent trends and the next 20 years for the world and in particular at what this means for urban centres. Some the key trends are the shift in middle class consumption and manufacturing from North America to the developing world, especially to mega-cities in China and India, the improvements coming from technology that range from smart city infrastructure to self driving cars. Much more is said about diplomacy, military power and security but for this review we concentrated on the urban aspects.
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Today we review the annual report from the Environmental Commissioner of Ontario (ECO) to the provincial legislature. The 2012 report questions the government’s commitment to meet the goals it proposed in 2007, after assessing progress to date toward those goals. It is unfortunate that the role of cities which make up by far the greatest population of Ontario- the two largest cities, the Greater Toronto Area (GTA) and the City of Ottawa make up over 50% of the total. Most of the increased emissions in the transportation sector, a key emissions component, come from road traffic, an area where cities have most mandate and ability to control – with cooperation from the province. Road pricing comes to mind and here the ECO is only thinking of improved public transit without looking at revenue and air quality benefits.
English: GHG emission per capita in metric tons per person for each country in 2005. Data is from the CAIT 8.0 dataset. CO2 equivalent emissions from land use change and emissions of CO2,CH4,N2O,PFC,HFC, and SF6 are included. Bunker fuel (aka ships) is not. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
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The WordPress.com stats helper monkeys prepared a 2012 annual report for this blog.
Here’s an excerpt:
4,329 films were submitted to the 2012 Cannes Film Festival. This blog had 42,000 views in 2012. If each view were a film, this blog would power 10 Film Festivals
At year end, bloggers sometimes look back at their posts to see which ones were the most popular- and I did just that with the list of links clipped below, in case you want to revisit any of them. There continues to be interest in pollution free cities such as Masdar City in the United Arab Emirates and advances being made to reduce or eliminate energy consumption, traffic congestion, pollution (including noise) in cities, along with an ongoing interest in the health impacts of all this. Perhaps surprising is that only one post in the last year was as popular as the older posts- the one on GEO Medicine and accumulated exposure to air pollution over a lifetime.
Climate Risk and Resilience: Securing the Region’s Future (Photo credit: Asian Development Bank)
General Resilience to Cope with Extreme Events(12 page pdf, Stephen R. Carpenter, Kenneth J. Arrow, Scott Barrett, Reinette Biggs, William A. Brock, Anne-Sophie Crépin, Gustav Engström, Carl Folke, Terry P. Hughes, Nils Kautsky, Chuan-Zhong Li, Geoffrey McCarney, Kyle Meng, Karl-Göran Mäler, Stephen Polasky, Marten Scheffer, Jason Shogren,Thomas Sterner, Jeffrey R. Vincent, Brian Walker, Anastasios Xepapadeas and Aart de Zeeuw, Sustainability, Nov. 28, 2012)
Today we review an article that looks at resilience when faced with extreme events, an especially timely topic given the recent hurricanes, droughts, forest fires, storm surges, earthquakes and tidal waves and the expectation that climate change will increase the frequency of rare weather-related disasters. Among the key activities and outlooks needed in advance of such disasters is the need to combine long term considerations into short term planned actions and the usefulness of such tools as planning alternate scenarios to identify needs.
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Today we review an assessment of national air quality standards for PM10 and SO2 for over 80% of the population of the world compared to guidelines issued by the United Nations through the World Health Organization. Results indicate that average national standards in place exceed those of the WHO. Also, the degree of national compliance is inversely proportional to energy use and directly proportional to observed national PM levels i.e. standards are less applied in high energy use countries and more applied where the pollution is poorer. An interesting observation when it comes to health impacts fro air pollution is that countries tend to restrict their use of these studies tot hose conducted within their country rather than extrapolate findings from other countries.
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Today we review a recent report from the World Bank, assessing the impacts of unrestrained greenhouse gas emissions leading to a 4 degree warmer planet. The impacts are many but tend to occur more often among developing countries near the equator rather than in mid-latitude developed countries who have been (and are) responsible for most of the emissions over the last century and these have accelerated in the last decade or two. The World Bank with a direct interest in promoting the economies of the developing world urges world leaders to begin to take serious measures to reduce emissions and as far as possible these impacts, even though the tipping point for an unstable climate was reached at 350 ppm (now close to 390 ppm).
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Today we look at the cities of the future in northern Scandinavia where 13 of Norway’s largest cities have become engaged with their national government in a 6 year program, ending in 2014 “to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and make the cities better places to live”. The initiatives are broken down into four distinct categories (Land Use and Transport, Consumption and Waste, Energy and Buildings, and Climate Adaptation) and each of these has several sub components with specific examples of progress being made. This would be of special interest to other northern countries, such as Canada and Russia, where carbon fuels needed in winter for heating buildings and for transportation and where introducing new energy sources and infrastructure to reduce emissions are big challenges. Some, if not all, of the ideas may be borrowed and used elsewhere in the wake of the recent 2012 Conference of the Parties (COP) 18 at Doha, Qatar where the world and the world’s cities in particular look ahead to post-Kyoto years as to how to reduce global emissions by the 90% required in the short time available.
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The spectacular success of Paris’ bike sharing program, Velib, has been expanded to include electric car sharing, Autolib, which after one year has reached 42,000 subscribers. No wonder, since one can register and get behind the wheel of an Autolib car in less than 10 minutes with a much lower cost than from a normal car rental or even owning one’s own car. The electric car industry world-wide has accelerated in tandem with the Paris success with growth rates of 20% per year and a forecast of 20 million EVs on the road by 2020. Both trends are very good news for those concerned about health impacts and the large part that vehicle emissions play in affecting urban air pollution.
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Canada’s largest city is expected to have four times as many days with a humidex above 40C (104F) by 2040. So says the report being reviewed today and prepared for the City of Toronto Council in order to decide on what preparations are needed to adapt to the future with climate change continuing to proceed at full speed because of inaction by the world’s biggest emitters of greenhouse gases, namely, the USA, Brazil, Russia and China- and on an emissions per capita basis, Australia and Canada. Past studies have linked heat waves with air pollution and health and higher mortality rates. We look forward to see what the response from city council will be.
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And here: Roundabouts – Frequently asked questions (FAQs)(Wisconsin Department of Transportation)
More and more evidence shows that when an intersection with traffic signals is replaced with a modern roundabout, vehicle emissions drop and safety for both pedestrians and those in vehicles increase significantly. Today we review news from Germany that a country-wide switch is being considered along with some modeling assessments from Vermont in the USA that indicate that roundabouts could play a critical and inexpensive role in meeting greenhouse gas targets (assuming that the national government ever adopt stringent ones). On sheer economics, there is no contest. Roundabouts have an initial installation cost less than that for traffic lights (roughly $250 K) and an ongoing operational cost that is almost negligible (the cost of electricity alone is approximately $1,000/year for traffic lights at each intersection).
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Reduction of flood and associated extreme weather costs is the primary benefit of climate change mitigation. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
Today we review a paper that looks at lessons learned from recent disasters in New York City (storm surge) and Wellington, New Zealand (earthquake) where each city suffered because of damage to their urban infrastructures and exceeding the limits that had been built into them. Although controversial among urban planners, the conclusion drawn is both to upgrade building codes to meet the greater range of possibilities being brought by climate change and to decentralize as much as possible to create more independent and self-sufficient communities rather than a centralized core vulnerable to disruption. Urban intensification can reduce sprawl and costs of services, particularly public transit and emergency services. However, there needs to be consideration given as well to the degree of vulnerability to infrastructural failure that this could entail. This is true not only for the more severe and more frequent impacts that come with climate change but also to meet the challenges of the variability of today’s climate.
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Today we review a short article from an urban planning firm in Denmark that examines how cities in the OECD could and can shift from a car-centric plan for urban development and economics to one that both accommodates growth and improves the urban quality of life. This involves changing technology, tax policies, improved infrastructure and different objectives in urban planning- things that merit consideration in other countries who are seeing lowering rates of use of the car as the vehicle of choice in urban transportation and mobility.
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Some people link the presence of trees in cities with improved health because they assume a positive link with reducing high air pollution levels- which others find questionable, citing research that coniferous trees near traffic emit hazardous pollutants. Today we review an article that points to more substantive evidence that urban forests and parks reduce mortality especially among lower income groups because of beneficial social impacts lowering stress and reducing crime.
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What makes Paris so great when it comes to the way they deal with cars and traffic? Today we review a post on a leading sustainable transportation blog, World Streets, that asks and answers the question. It seems to be a matter of consistency and perseverance that not only works in Paris but throughout many other cities in France. Only 17% of Parisians choose their car to commute compared to over 60% and 46% to walk in car-addicted Torino (and to cities in the USA and Canada).
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Today we review a policy discussion paper from California, already a leader for reduction of vehicle emissions in the USA and internationally, aimed at reducing greenhouse gas emissions and hazardous air pollution by 85% over the next 40 years. Scenarios are presented for discussion toward making decisions that would integrate efforts at the state and federal level and among private and public agencies to achieve the targets along the way to 2050. What is different about this plan is that it goes beyond incremental tailpipe emissions at the manufacturing level, commonly used in many states and countries, to try to get to zero emissions in the long run, making use of evolving technology and integrated planning.
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Today we flag a press release from Singapore’s environmental agency which announced new targets for air quality as part of their long term plan to reduce annual means for SO2 and PM2.5 (to 15-20 ug/m3 respectively) by 2020. This is relevant for several reasons. Singapore is a major urban state that has to cope with local pollution from industry and mobile sources as well as ambient air quality affected by pollution from its neighbours, including, notably, China. Secondly, because it was the first city in the world to implement congestion charges using electronic toll gates in 1975 and has been a world leader in this field since along with Stockholm and London- indicating a progressive (and successful) approach to addressing the challenges of urban traffic congestion and vehicle emissions.
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The focus today is on the impact of global warming on the need for air conditioning and the impact of more air conditioning on climate change. The article reviewed notes that most of the world’s future mega cities are already in tropical or near tropical areas where they are under significant pressure from growing population, increased heat and a growing desire for more air conditioning. Air conditioning adds to the rate of climate change directly through the coolants and indirectly through the additional electricity generated from carbon fuels to accommodate them. It is not enough to simply for office workers to put up with more heat as each (Celsius) degree of warmth drops productivity by 2%. Yet another reason to take action globally to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and mitigate climate change in general.
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Today we review a paper that looks at the state of air quality globally for the next 40 years, using an index that represents the five major pollutants and a global circulation model to produce scenarios into the future if we continue with “business as usual” policies. These scenarios show that countries and large cities with the worst widespread pollution (in Indo-Asia, the Middle East and North Africa) will not surprisingly deteriorate. The rest of the world’s state of pollution will worsen on average to what we see today in East Asia with the negative health results and enhanced anthropogenic climate change that this implies. Clearly improved atmospheric environmental policy is called for in almost all countries.
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The question whether trees reduce or add to urban pollution is frequently debated with the answer seeming to be that in a highly polluted atmosphere, some coniferous trees add aromatic gases to the mix. Today we review an interesting article that suggests that foliage (not trees) will absorb pollution through their plant surface which is more effective than the hard surfaces that make up street canyons – with reductions of 40-60% in terms of the concentrations of NO2 and PM.
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Today we review a short video from the World Streets blog by Prof. John Whitelegg, an expert in what makes a sustainable city, mainly in terms of transportation. He points out the importance of the choices made in cities to either promote the use of vehicles and roads to carry them or to look for more sustainable, less polluting options such as car free housing, reduced parking spaces etc – all in the face of the challenge of climate change mitigation and the goal to achieve a carbon free city.
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The American Society of Landscape Architects has proposed a 20 year plan for the US capital that could bring that city from the 8th place out of 27 in ranking (by the Economist Intelligence Unit) of greenest cities #1 – the top two in 2011 were San Francisco and Toronto. Many of the goals are both achievable and applicable to many other cities, given the political will, and include such targets as zero waste, all waterways fishable and swimmable and to cut energy use and CO2 emissions by 50%.
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Today we examine the results of a backcasting workshop in Europe that, after establishing targets for cities in 2030, assessed how to get there, based on the growing importance of public health as an integrator of impacts from climate change, urbanization and a graying society. It is noted that some health impacts are not presently associated with climate change in the public mind although there are and this will become more evident as climate change continues and impacts become more severe – an example being the spread of infectious or vector borne diseases such as West Nile Virus.
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The C40 Cities Climate Leadership Group (C40) met with ministers from 30 countries from the OECD to discuss and make recommendations for future action toward urban sustainability. Many examples were shown on how cities play an essential role in reducing greenhouse gases and in adapting to climate change, and taking other actions in the sectors where cities have the mandate and means to control: water, waste, energy and transportation. Economic instruments play an important role.
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A press release from London’s clean air advocate organization today contains an assessment of air quality in that city that, while troubling, is admirable in terms of laying out where, how and what impacts air pollution is having in England’s capital on the eve of hosting the 2012 Olympic games. It is notable that previous Games in Athens and Beijing had partial success in using “hard” measures (such as odd-even license plate bans) rather than depending on voluntary cooperation from their driving public.
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The 2012 Environmental Performance Index (EPI) (99 page pdf, Yale Center for Environmental Law and Policy, Yale University, Center for International Earth Science Information Network, Columbia University, 2012)
The Environmental Performance Index assesses the relative progress of 132 countries with 22 performance indicators. The 2012 ranking showed Switzerland, Latvia and Norway at the top, Canada in 37th position and the USA, 49th. Rising greenhouse gas emissions are a particular challenge for developed countries while safe drinking water is the biggest one for developing countries. Major data gaps exist for monitoring air pollution and greenhouse gas with the notable exception of the European Union(which had 20 of the top ranked 22 countries overall).
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Today we review research that looks at how trees infested with beetles contribute to poorer air quality in and near forests. Results indicate up to a 20 fold increase in Volatile Organic Chemicals. Although the focus is on forests in the wild, one can speculate that the same process may be at work in urban areas with beetle diseased trees, such as the Emerald Ash Borer which has killed millions of ash trees in Ontario and many parts of the United States.
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Today we look at Toronto and the Greater Toronto Area (GTA) which has many of the challenges faced by other large American and Canadian cities which have evolved to a car-oriented end state that discourage walking and cycling – modes where Toronto lags behind Montreal and Ottawa. The results of a survey are encouraging- most residents prefer more walkable neighbourhoods and those who have them enjoy less pollution and healthier environments.
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Today, we review a look at changing the albedo of urban areas of the world and then estimating how much this would reduce climate warming in terms of offset CO2. The key “dark”, and therefore highly absorbing, surfaces of most cities are the black roofs and pavements which make up 60% of the area and are normally replaced every decade or two. By increasing the albedo of urban areas in a global climate model and running a simulation for 80 years ahead, the authors estimated a CO2 offset of between 130 and 150 billion tones- equivalent to taking every car in the world off the road. These reductions could be put into effect by changes at the municipal level with benefits in terms of reduced urban heat islands and urban smog.
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