Earth Friendly Fashions, Anyone?

Despite the fashion world’s reputation of fickleness, would an article of clothing that last 30 years a more environmentally friendly option? 

By: Ringo Bones  

Fashion designer Tom Cridland of UK’s men’s wear brand known for luxury clothing had recently developed fashions and T-shirts that lasts at least 30 years. Article of clothing that lasts at least 30 years can be beneficial not only to customers and manufacturers but also to the environment as well because it won’t be ending up in the nearest municipal landfill in 6 months time says Cridland. In June 2015, he managed to raise 80,000 US dollars via the online crowd sourcing site Kickstarter to fund his newest line of environmentally friendly fashions. Cridland’s current celebrity clients include Daniel Craig – the current James Bond and singer / songwriter Elton John. Tom Cridland had been a fashion designer since he was 18. 

Cridland’s recent batches of environmentally friendly fashions are manufactured by traditional Portuguese tailors in which he ethically pays and he started his business via a government start-up loan. Cridland has been inspired by his long-lasting fashions after witnessing some Brits wearing anoraks that are more than 50-years-old due to their durability and best of all –they still look good. 

Has China’s Carbon Dioxide Output Been Overestimated?

Even though the country has been blamed as the world’s number one contributor of the world’s greenhouse gas emissions has China’s carbon dioxide emission’s been overestimated?

By: Ringo Bones 

As an incident that will undoubtedly be soon exploited by climate change skeptics, scientists may have been overestimating China’s emissions of carbon dioxide, the main greenhouse gas driving global warming, by more than 10 percent, because of inaccurate assumptions about the country’s coal-burning according to a study published in August 19, 2015. The study’s findings - as published in the journal Nature, does not mean that the total level of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere is any lower than scientists had thought. That accumulation is measured independently. Rather, the finding may affect discussions of how much responsibility China bears for global warming in comparison with other nations during the upcoming climate change conference in Paris later this year. 

“This doesn’t change the fact that China is still the largest emitter of carbon dioxide in the world”, said Dabo Guan, a professor of climate-change economics at the University of East Anglia in England who is one of the paper’s two dozen authors in a telephone interview from Beijing. The study looked in detail at the coal used as fuel in China and found that it is generally less rich in carbon and is burned less efficiently than scientists had assumed. That means that each ton of burned coal yields less carbon dioxide that had been previously thought as well as less energy and more ash. 

China does not publish official data on annual greenhouse gas emissions, so “international organizations have to make large assumptions” than are required for other major countries, said another author of the study – Glen Peters – a senior researcher at the Center For International Climate and Environmental Research – Oslo. These assumptions often rely  on coal carbon content and combustible data collected in the United States and Europe, said Zhu Liu, a postdoctoral research fellow at Harvard University and another of the paper’s authors. But China’s rapidly growing economy mainly uses cheaper, less pure coal from local mines, often burned in less efficient furnaces and boilers in comparison to typical ones in the West, Dr. Liu said. 

Paper Hewn From Stone: The World’s Most Environmentally Friendly Paper?

Even though it could give a whole new meaning to the game Rock, Paper, Scissors – but could paper hewn from stone prove to be the world’s most environmentally friendly paper to manufacture? 

By: Ringo Bones 

Even though it has been manufactured since the late 1990s, the product has gained recent press coverage by the BBC because the company who invented it is currently spending 50 million US dollars to further lower the cost of its manufacture and to make it more environmentally friendly to produce. Stone Paper – also known as rock paper, paper from waste marble, mineral paper or rich mineral paper – is a paper-like product manufactured from calcium carbonate, actually an allotrope of calcium carbonate which we know of as marble, bonded with high-density polyethylene (HDPE). It is used for stationery, leaflets, posters, books, magazines, bags, packaging, wallpaper, adhesives, tags, in-mould labels, plates, trays, containers and many other uses. 

The process of creating stone paper was first developed by the Lung Meng Tech Company of Taiwan during the late 1990s. Stone Paper has been patented in over 40 countries, where it is marketed under a variety of trade names such as MIST Paper, Parax paper, Terraskin, Vlastone, Kampier, Emana Green, Rockstock, Pixz Printing, KYStone Paper and Nu Stone. 

Stone Paper has a density range of 1.0 to 1.6 grams per cubic centimeter which equals that or is slightly heavier than ordinary paper and a texture somewhat like that of the outer membrane of a boiled egg. It may be recycled with Number 2 plastics or remade into raw blank Stone Paper again. Even though it is not as biodegradable in comparison to paper manufactured from wood pulp, Stone Paper is photo-degradable and compostable under commercial conditions. 

The RPD and RBD papers / Stone Papers have a number of advantages over traditional paper made from wood pulp. Stone Paper collects no static charge, is acid-free with a neutral pH value, has no grain, is water, grease and insect resistant and tears with difficulty due to its latex-like texture. 

Having no grain, Stone Paper possesses a smoother surface than most traditional wood-pulp based paper products, obviating the need for a coating or lamination. It burns cleanly without toxic fumes. The source of the calcium carbonate used in the manufacture of Stone Paper is a waste material collected from marble quarries and offcuts which are ground and reduced to fine white calcium carbonate powder. The production of Stone Paper uses no water, acids and no bleach or optical brighteners are used that could pose problems of low-cost environmentally friendly disposal or has the potential to cause water pollution in the local environment. Stone Paper is compatible with inkjet or solid ink printers – e.g. Offset, Letterpress, gravue, flexographic – but do not respond well to very high temperature laser printers. 

Pope Francis’ “Pessimistic” Environmental Encyclical: Good For Our Planet?

A month after the release of his “pessimistic” Environmental Encyclical, are Pope Francis’ “alarmist” views on environmental finally destruction trigger a worldwide positive ecological awareness? 

By: Ringo Bones 

First it was the “radical religious and spiritual leader” of Al Qaeda voicing his environmental concerns, then the leader of the Roman Catholic Church, is the global climate change concerns finally triggered somewhat passive spiritual and religious leaders to voice out their concerns? Well, according to the “princes of the Vatican”, Pope Francis’ rather pessimistic Environmental Encyclical that had gone viral around the world back in June 16, 2015 was allegedly prematurely released without the Vatican princes’ “blessing”.  To those closely following how the general public perceives the science behind climate change / global warming, it seems that only the American right-wing Evangelicals believe that it is a hoax, while non-Americans subscribing such climate change skeptical views are more likely to be billionaires of white-Anglo-Saxon descent. 

In a nutshell, Pope Francis’ “Environmental Encyclical” calls for the world’s richest 1-percent – most of them, unfortunately, are the richest white-Anglo-Saxon-Protestant-Americans – to initiate lifestyles and energy consumption changes in order to save the global environment. The pontiff warned that failure to act would have “grave consequences for all of us” – i.e. the world’s poorest 99-percent. Given the apparent rich versus poor salient theme of the pontiff’s Environmental Encyclical, even the conservative Catholic stalwart of the US Republican Party, Senator Rick Santorum, criticized Pope Francis’ Encyclical as being too socialist and radical. Unbeknown to Santorum, Pope Francis reached his decision of concern of the global environment based on his doctorate on chemistry after scrutinizing every published scientific reports of the UN’s International Panel on Climate Change. Given the Pope’s rather doom and doom outlook when it comes to the issue of climate change, should we all be worried? 

Fortunately for the rest of us, there has been hopeful progress when it comes to curbing the worst effects of climate change the International Energy Commission’s Special Report that’s recently published earlier this year cites that in 2014, global carbon dioxide emissions had plateaued despite the global economy growing by 3-percent. Fred Krupp of the Environmental Defense Fund also cites that the global carbon dioxide emissions had plateued in 2014 even with the resulting global economic growth due to emissions regulations being strictly enforced during the past few years. If enforcement of emissions are strictly enforced, all of us could mitigate the worst effect of climate change while maintaining our current lifestyle. Despite right-leaning US Republican Party alarmists calling the adaptation of low carbon power generation technologies an “abomination” to their “Republican Jesus”. 

Osama Bin Laden Believes In Climate Change?

Despite of his “conservative” 13^th Century view on almost anything, would you believe that the late former head of Al Qaeda – Osama Bin Laden – believes in climate change?

By: Ringo Bones

Despite of the recent overwhelming scientific evidence supporting it, right-wing conservatives – most of them from America – doesn’t believe in climate change declaring via their conservative Evangelical Christian doctrine that humans and their recent industrial activity are not powerful enough to destabilize the Earth’s climate. And thus was born a catch-all caricature describing these wing-nuts called “Republican Jesus”. But inextricably, Republican Jesus’ counterpart - the Al Qaeda head Osama Bin Laden – genuinely believes in climate change and even wrote a bunch of treatises about the subject despite of his rather backward and barbaric 13^th Century view on Islam.

During the May 1, 2011 raid on his compound that eventually killed him, the US Navy SEAL Team VI uncovered a vast treasure trove of intelligent data – in both paper and electronic form – that, until recently, they only prioritize the terror-attack related plans. But as of late, intelligence personnel tasked with sorting out the piles of data recently uncovered the extent of the late Al Qaeda leader’s “research” into the “Christian West’s science on climate change”. And unlike the right-wing-nuts of the US Republican Party and Fox News, Osama Bin Laden genuinely came to the conclusion that climate change is real and an ongoing process, although, the U.S. spymasters tasked with trolling the “Bin Laden papers” has yet to divulge to the public in detail about which terror plans pertain to Al Qaeda’s “action to limit the impact of climate change.”

Besides his recently divulged views on the UN’s IPCC reports, Osama Bin Laden is also keeping up to date with the Christian West’s “leftist philosophies” because the US Navy SEAL Team VI also managed to uncover that Bin Laden is also an unabashed fan of Noam Chomsky. But I still wonder why it was his porn collection that the US Navy SEAL Team VI that got priority in divulging it to the general public.

Did Global Carbon Dioxide Emissions Plateau In 2014?

Even though the global economy managed to grow by 3-percent in 2014, did it managed to do so without an additional increase in carbon dioxide emissions?

By: Ringo Bones

It is a well-established fact that economic activity and energy consumption levels are intimately linked. Energy is critical to modern economies, which is a necessity in creating and maintaining infrastructure, industrial activity, transportation and housing. This means that in general, when the overall income of a nation / state increases so does energy use, which is clear if we look at past trends. And if we don’t use renewable energy sources, then the rise in energy consumption will inevitably lead to more carbon dioxide emissions.

As of late, it seems that our global effort to halt climate change – despite of some holdouts – could finally be paying off since carbon dioxide emissions levels from the energy sector appear to have stalled in 2014 according to a preliminary report from the International Energy Agency (IEA) published back in March 13, 2015, If the data holds up, then this could mark the first time in 40 years that emissions have either remained unchanged or decreased in the absence of an economic crisis.

“This is both a very welcome surprise and a significant one,” IEA Chief Economist Faith Birol said in a statement. “It provides much-needed momentum to negotiators preparing to forge a climate deal in Paris in December, for the first time, greenhouse gas emissions are decoupling from economic growth.”

According to the IEA’s latest findings, global carbon dioxide emissions measured 32.3-billion tones in both 2013 and 2014, despite the fact that the global economy grew by 3-percent in 2014. The International Energy Agency has been gathering data in carbon dioxide emissions for the past 40 years and within this time frame, there have only been three instances in which carbon dioxide emissions either stalled or decrease compared with the previous year and all of these were linked to global economic downturn. For example, a plateau was observed in 1992 after the former Soviet Union collapsed in December 25, 1991.

So what can we attribute to this apparent halt in global carbon dioxide emissions? According to the IEA, a big part of it has to do with a shift in energy use trends in Mainland China and member countries of the Organization for the Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). For example, back in 2014, Mainland China witnessed an increase in the amount of energy produced from renewable sources such as solar and wind with a concomitant decrease in fossil fuel burning.

Although these early data are encouraging, experts have warned that we should not use the findings as an excuse to become complacent or to cease efforts to curb emissions. Instead, decision-makers should use the finalized report – which will be released in June 2015 – to aid the creation of policy measures that will help nations reach climate goals without compromising economic growth.  

Shell’s Bodo, Nigeria Compensation Payouts: A Victory For The Environment?

Does the 80-million US dollar payout by Shell to the farmers and fishermen affected by the 2008 crude oil spill in Bodo, Nigeria represent a victory for the embattled environment?

By: Ringo Bones 

  

Social justice campaigners may argue that the 80-milliion US dollar compensation payout to the farmers and fishermen affected by the 2 major oil spills from crude oil pipelines in Bodo, Nigeria back in 2008 as not enough because it just averages to about 3,000 US dollars per affected fisherman and farmer. But to environmental lawyers, the case serves as a precedent that big multinational crude oil processing companies can no longer pollute the environment with impunity – especially if they are operating in regions of the world where environmental pollution laws are next to nonexistent. In short, it is a veritable victory for the environment and subsistence farmers and fisher-folk in a David versus Goliath legal battle against a polluting multinational corporation that’s seemingly devoid of corporate social responsibility. 

Though the affected farmers and fisherman may get an average of a little over 3,000 US dollars each as a compensation for lost livelihood, the rest of the 80-million US dollars to be paid out by Shell would be used to clean up the crude oil spill and for subsequent bio-remediation of the area affected by the oil spill. Many are doubtful if the rest of the money will ever be used for bio-remediation of the affected area since Shell during the duration of the court proceedings kept on “passing-the-buck” on the local government of Bodo, Nigeria’s inability to halt crude oil theft of Shell’s pipelines crisscrossing the region. 

After three years of legal wrangling for an oil spill that happened almost seven years ago, Shell did try its hardest to absolve itself of legal regal responsibility of the spill citing pipeline tampering and theft of the crude oil and the kidnap for ransom incidence of its workers by local Islamist militias of its repair personnel. And the environmentalists were also concerned that Shell is not entirely admitting to the actual scale of the oil spill – not to mention that Shell did try to “pass-the-buck” to the local contractor in charge of maintaining the pipelines given that the pipelines and the supporting facilities were at the end of their economic life as far back as 2005. Nonetheless, everyone concerned about our embattled environment will be hoping that Shell’s 30-million US dollar compensation will provide enough bio-remediation to the affected region that the local farmers and fisher-folk of Bodo, Nigeria can subsist of the bounty of their natural environment once again.