The Pacific Ring of Fire - Indonesia and Earthquakes

Comprised of over 17,000 islands, Indonesia is no stranger to earthquakes. Since January 4th 2009, it has experienced them on eight separate occasions, with its lowest magnitude being the Sumatra Earthquake of 6.7 near Siberut, Mentawai Islands.

October 2010 and the trend continues. Mother Nature flexed her muscles and the earth shook. The Mentawi Islands off western Sumatra were on the receiving end, pummelled once again by Gaia. A magnitude 7.7 underwater quake created a 10-foot-tall tsunami, killing hundreds and displacing thousands. Even if the early warning system had been in operation, it would have made little difference. A tsunami that strikes just 13 miles beneath the ocean floor and is followed by at least 14 aftershocks leaves you with no time.

So, what explains this latest display of violent seismic activity?

According to National Geographic, the earthquake was caused by plate movements in the area known as the Pacific Ring of Fire, a highly volatile region which circles the Pacific Ocean. Around 80% of the world’s earthquakes occur around this rim. When the build up of stress at the plate boundary causes rock to fracture, the plates grind past each other and release energy in the form of an earthquake. The October earthquake occurred in the Sumatra Subduction Zone which is an area where the Australian and Sunda (Eurasian) plates collide – one of the most active areas for plate movement.

Cursed by the misfortune of geography, Indonesia looks set to fall further into this Ring of Fire.

The Global Cookie Monster & Food Insecurity.....nomnomnom

Price volatility and food shortages – cousins of our good friend globalisation – have become familiar, albeit unwelcome visitors to the global community.

The food crisis of 2007-08 has given us a taste of things to come. A combination of factors (droughts in grain-producing nations, changes in trade and production, rising oil prices and hence an escalation in the cost of fertilizers, food transportation and industrial agriculture) led to a worldwide increase in food prices. These events triggered violent protests across the world, from Egypt, Haiti and Côte d’Ivoire to Uzbekistan, Senegal and Bolivia.

So where do we stand in 2010? Certainly not in the dire straits of 2007-08, but recent reports don’t inspire much optimism for the near future. According to the Reuters-Jefferies commodity price indicator, global wheat and corn prices jumped nearly 30% in a few weeks, while meat prices are at 20-year highs. World wheat and corn prices have risen 57%, rice 45% and sugar 55% over the last six months and soybeans are at their highest price for 16 months. Food prices are rising around 15% a year in India and Nepal, and similarly in Latin America and China.

Even the big players need to assess their options. America and Russia occupy pivotal roles in global food supply. The latter is one of the world’s largest wheat exporters. Hit by fires and drought which have wiped out a third of the grain crop, Russian authorities banned exports, first temporarily and now until next year’s harvest. As a result, wheat prices spiked: they have nearly doubled since the low point in June of $4.26 a bushel.

America harvests two-fifths of the world’s corn and provides nearly 60% of global exports. On October 8th, news that America’s production of corn would be 4% lower in 2010 than previously estimated sent prices surging by 6%, enough to stop trading on the Chicago Board of Trade.

The recession has demonstrated the degree to which countries are connected. Events, economic or otherwise, no longer occur in a vacuum, their consequences divorced from the rest of the world. As global warming continues, we are less likely to benefit from stable production patterns. Drastic climate changes lie ahead. Whether Russian wheat, Argentinean beef or American corn, we are too reliant on a few big countries. It’s time to start looking inward again and start re-discovering our roots. Home-grown domestic produce could still be the way of the future. It’s food for thought at least.

Overpopulation - the Rise and Fall of Gaia

Overpopulation should be top of the world’s ‘must-do’ environmental list. Nearly everything stems from this. Higher birth-rates put greater pressure on existing structures, thus necessitating further development. This is a driver in climate change, the loss of biodiversity and is a fundamental problem undermining the notion of sustainability – a concept that becomes more elusive every day.

Like a bus that gradually fills up, I appreciate that population increase isn’t always a bad thing. More passengers can be an asset if there is space. This youth bulge is a positive where education, social services and economic activity exists to build a workforce.

The central problem arises from the rate of growth and its location. This is where Africa arrives on the scene, its bus burdened by too many people, its driver all too willing to accept more fares. Nigeria has one of the highest birth rates in the world, not surprising when 92% of married women don’t use contraceptives and 55% say they never intend to. The fertility rate is 5.7 children per woman, and the women think 7 children is the ideal number. The population projection for Uganda also makes for interesting reading. It shows a country heading to a population of 96 million in 2050 from 31 million today. In a previous entry, I wrote about Niger, a country of 15.3 million people, on the verge of mass starvation this summer. Foreign aid covered 80% of Niger’s needs and narrowly averted famine. However, with a population growth of 3.6% and a projection of 50 million inhabitants by 2050, the future looks bleak.

What prospects do children enjoy when their country can’t build schools fast enough, train teachers fast enough and improve health care fast enough to harness the potential of its youth?

Green Machines - Hasta la Revolucion!

A fantastic new exhibition has opened at Trinity College Dublin's Science Gallery: Green Machines. This is not your average, passive gallery experience. At how many exhibitions are you given €5 million and told “invest” it in environmentally friendly innovations?

Revoutionair – There’s nothing like your own wind-turbine. The Revolutionair was designed to empower individuals to generate their own domestic power. Its small footprint and vertical axis means it can be safely used in the city, garden or countryside. Its sculptural form minimises noise pollution.

Latro – A green light for new power? In 2010, scientists from Yansei and Stanford University captured a small electrical current from algae during photosynthesis. With increasingly energy efficient products, plants such as algae will become attractive sources of energy. Latro is a speculative product responding to this potential future market.

Gocycle – A fresh take on the electric bike, Gocycle was designed from the ground up to be the ultimate commuting solution. With a unique cast magnesium frame and bespoke components the Gocycle is an extremely light electric bike with a compact motor

These are just a few examples of the green wave of environmental innovation on display. Perhaps more importantly, the exhibition encourages us to think creatively about sustainability and develop our own ideas. We may not have the necessary €5 million to make our plans a reality, but thinking about new ways to tackle old problems, in a greener light, is always a welcome exercise.

For more information, the Irish Times has written an article about it here: http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/weekend/2010/1016/1224281227274.html  and TCD’s Science Gallery has promoted Green Machines here: http://sciencegallery.com/greenmachines

Office Recycling Championships - I recycled and I liked it....

How often do we hear the shibboleth “reduce, reuse, recycle”? Whether it’s sung to children to the tune of ‘Eensy, weensy spider”, included in poetry as a part of Earth Day or even backed by Jack Johnson, doing his best to make this a bigger hit than ‘Teenage Dream’ or ‘I gotta feeling’, the battle for waste reduction is an uphill struggle – but one that we seem to be confronting reasonably well, at least in Ireland.

As Recycling Week draws to a close, the latest research from Repak (a non-profit organisation responsible for used packaging recycling) suggests reasons for optimism. According to its findings, 644,000 tonnes of used packaging or the equivalent of 24.3 million green bins was recycled at a cost of €28.9m. This places Ireland at No 8 of the 27 EU member states, with a packaging recycling rate of 65pc, ahead of Sweden, the UK, France and Denmark.

Statistics for the workplace are less encouraging. A survey of 1,000 people found 62% do not recycle regularly from the office or desk and 42% did not recycle their plastic bottles. The conclusion is simple: people are not bringing good recycling habits that have developed at home into the workplace.

I think the reason for this disparity in behaviour is obvious. People are often apathetic when it comes to environmental affairs. In the hierarchy of priorities, the environment has not yet forced its way onto a lot of people’s list. While most profess an interest in addressing waste, acknowledge the dangers of climate change and object to high profile cases of environmental degradation, their daily contributions to changing the environment regularly depends on how little effort they have to make.

This helps to explain the difference between home and work. In Dublin, for example, there are different mechanisms available to householders for the recycling of waste including household wheelie bins (different colours for different types of waste), bring banks and recycling centres. It’s never been easier to recycle at home, whereas at work, it takes initiative and effort. When companies make it easy for employees by setting up recycling systems and awareness advertising campaigns, this is when we’ll see a change.

Recycling is not hard and it serves everyone’s interests – companies can save on their waste charges and also help to improve the work environment for the employees, it saves energy, money, reduces waste, preserves landfill space and is ultimately good for the environment.

Pineapple Express in Costa Rica, mae

Costa Rica is a country full of unusual and surprising facts – a place where traditional ice-cream flavours are flouted in favour of green mango, peanut, wild blackberry and even sour cream; where babies and young children are encouraged to drink coffee; where McDonald’s and Burger King will satisfy your every fast-food desire and offer home delivery; and a place which claims more than 5% of the world’s biodiversity.

In the past, it was principally known for coffee and bananas, but pineapples have recently surpassed coffee as the number two agricultural export. Here’s the story of a pineapple boom predicated on environmental degradation and exploitation of workers. It’s another good example of how global food corporations fail to respect human rights, public health and the environment in their supply chains: http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/video/2010/oct/01/pineapple-trade-costa-rica 

The biggest plantations of pineapples in Costa Rica cover an almost unimaginable expanse, equivalent to more than 1,800 football pitches. Monocultures of pineapples on this scale are a honey-pot for pests and diseases and so the fruits have to be grown with substantial inputs of pesticides, either applied by knapsack sprayers on the backs of workers, or dispensed by long-armed truck sprayers. This has unsurprisingly led to a number of health problems: respiratory diseases, asthma, babies born with defects, spontaneous abortion and male sterility are higher in the pineapple zone than anywhere in Costa Rica.