&cat=7&pid=16891&cache=true">
&cat=19&pid=16891&cache=true " alt="UK water imports ‘unsustainable’" class="alignleft" />
The amount of water used to produce food and goods imported to the UK is worsening water shortages in the developing world, a report concludes. It says two-thirds of the water used to make things for UK consumption is used outside the country’s borders. The Engineering the Future alliance of professional engineering bodies says this is unsustainable, given population growth and climate change. It says countries such as the UK must help poorer nations curb water use. “We must take account of how our water footprint is impacting on the rest of the world,” said Professor Roger Falconer, director of the Hydro-Environmental Research Centre at Cardiff University and a member of the report’s steering committee. “If we are to prevent the ‘perfect storm’, urgent action is necessary.” The term perfect storm was used last year by the UK government’s chief scientist, Professor John Beddington, to describe future shortages of energy, food and water. Forecasts suggest that when the world’s population soars beyond 8bn in 20 years time, the global demand for food and energy will jump by 50%, with the need for fresh water rising by 30%. But developing countries are already using significant proportions of their water to grow food and produce goods for consumption in the West, the report says. “The burgeoning demand from developed countries is putting severe pressure on areas that are already short of water,” said Professor Peter Guthrie, head of the Centre for Sustainable Development at Cambridge University, who chaired the steering group. “If the water crisis becomes critical, it will pose a serious threat to the UK’s future development because of the impact it would have on our access to vital resources.” Key to the report is the concept of “embedded water” – the water used to grow food and make things. Embedded in a pint of beer, for example, is about 130 pints (74 litres) of water – the total amount needed to grow the ingredients and run all the processes that make the pint of beer. A cup of coffee embeds about 140 litres (246 pints) of water, a cotton T-shirt about 2,000 litres, and a kilogram of steak 15,000 litres. EMBEDDED WATERItemLitres per unitSize of unitLitres per kgSheet of paper10A4 sheet of 80gsm2000Cup of tea30250ml2400Apple70100g700Cup of coffee140125ml21,000Bottle of beer150500ml300Slice of bread440400g1100Chicken fillet683175g3900Packet of sugar15001kg1500Chunk of cheese2500500g5000Packet of rice34001kg3400Beef steak3875250g15,500Pair of jeans10,8501kg10,850 Using this methodology, UK consumers see only about 3% of the water usage they are responsible for. The average UK consumer uses about 150 litres per day, the size of a large bath. Ten times as much is embedded in the British-made goods bought by the average UK consumer; but that represents only about one-third of the total water embedded in all the average consumer’s food and goods, with the remainder coming from imports. The UK is not unique in this – the same pattern is seen in most developed countries. The engineering institutions say it means nations such as the UK have a duty to help curb water use in the developing world, where about one billion people already do not have sufficient access to clean drinking water. UK-funded aid projects should have water conservation as a central tenet, the report recommends, while companies should examine their supply chains and reduce the water used in them. This could lead to difficult questions being asked, such as whether it is right for the UK to import beans and flowers from water-stressed countries such as Kenya. While growing crops such as these uses water, selling them brings foreign exchange into poor nations. In the West, the report suggests, concerns over water could eventually lead to goods carrying a label denoting their embedded water content, in the same way as electrical goods now sport information about their energy consumption. The Engineering the Future alliance includes the Institution of Civil Engineers (ICE), the Royal Academy of Engineering (RAE) and the Chartered Institute of Water and Environmental Management (CIWEM). Richard.Black-INTERNET@bbc.co.uk This article is from the BBC News website . © British Broadcasting Corporation, The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites.
April 19, 2010 | Posted in
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&cat=19&pid=16167&cache=true " alt="Green Party to launch manifesto" class="alignleft" />
The Green Party of England and Wales are launching their manifesto with plans to create a million new jobs and help for pensioners and low earners. Caroline Lucas, the party’s leader, is unveiling the programme in Brighton, where she is standing as a candidate. Key pledges include a “living wage” of
April 15, 2010 | Posted in
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&cat=19&pid=15862&cache=true " alt="‘No malpractice’ by climate unit" class="alignleft" />
There was no scientific malpractice at the research unit at the centre of the “Climategate” affair, an independent panel has concluded. The panel, chaired by Lord Oxburgh, was convened to examine the conclusions of research published by the unit. It began its review after hacked e-mails from CRU scientists were published on the web. The panel said it might be helpful if researchers worked more closely with professional statisticians. This would ensure the best methods were used, the report said. The panel found that the work carried out by the Climatic Research Unit (CRU) in Norwich relied heavily on statistical methods. “We cannot help remarking that it is very surprising that research in an area that depends so heavily on statistical methods has not been carried out in close collaboration with professional statisticians,” the panel remarked in its conclusions. The e-mails issue came to light in November last year, when hundreds of messages between scientists at the University of East Anglia’s (UEA) Climate Research Unit (CRU) and their peers around the world were posted on the world wide web, along with other documents. Critics said that the e-mail exchanges reveal an attempt by the researchers involved to manipulate data. This article is from the BBC News website . © British Broadcasting Corporation, The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites.
April 14, 2010 | Posted in
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&cat=19&pid=15864&cache=true " alt="‘No malpractice’ by climate unit" class="alignleft" />
There was no scientific malpractice at the research unit at the centre of the “Climategate” affair, an independent panel has concluded. The panel, chaired by Lord Oxburgh, was convened to examine the conclusions of research published by the unit. It began its review after hacked e-mails from CRU scientists were published on the web. The panel said it might be helpful if researchers worked more closely with professional statisticians. This would ensure the best methods were used, the report said. The panel found that the work carried out by the Climatic Research Unit (CRU) in Norwich relied heavily on statistical methods. “We cannot help remarking that it is very surprising that research in an area that depends so heavily on statistical methods has not been carried out in close collaboration with professional statisticians,” the panel remarked in its conclusions. The e-mails issue came to light in November last year, when hundreds of messages between scientists at the University of East Anglia’s (UEA) Climate Research Unit (CRU) and their peers around the world were posted on the world wide web, along with other documents. Critics said that the e-mail exchanges reveal an attempt by the researchers involved to manipulate data. This article is from the BBC News website . © British Broadcasting Corporation, The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites.
April 14, 2010 | Posted in
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&cat=19&pid=14591&cache=true " alt="Climate ‘more urgent than ever’" class="alignleft" />
The need for a new global climate deal is “greater than ever”, according to developing country delegates speaking at the opening of UN climate talks. Blocs representing the poorest nations called for intensive talks during the year, leading to agreement on a legally binding treaty in December. The EU backed the call, re-stating that the conclusion of December’s Copenhagen summit had not met its ambitions. But other industrialised countries do not appear so keen for a new treaty. The three-day meeting here in Bonn is the first since the Copenhagen summit concluded without the global treaty that many countries had aimed for, instead producing a political declaration known as the Copenhagen Accord. The US and other rich countries see it as a positive development, but others decry it as a figleaf that detracts attention from the real issues. Describing Copenhagen as “a total failure”, Venezuela’s delegation chief Claudia Salerno said the accord would not reduce emissions enough to prevent significant climate impacts on poorer countries. “My country raised its voice against the misnomer ‘Copenhagen Accord’ because… it contains proposals for voluntary reductions in carbon emissions that according to scientists would lead to increases in temperature of about 5C (9F),” she said. “So nobody should be congratulating themselves on that. The urgency we face now is even greater than 2009.” Not all analyses of the Copenhagen Accord’s pledges on curbing carbon emissions produce such high estimates for temperature rise, but many of those pledges are far from precise. Lessons of history The US – which did not speak during the opening session here – has been the accord’s principal champion, saying it “achieves a number of landmark outcomes”. Its written submission to the UN climate convention (UNFCCC) backs “further formalisation of the accord” at this year’s summit in Mexico, and says that “it will be difficult to find consensus around alternative proposals that depart from the accord understandings”. These statements have raised the hackles of developing countries, which interpret them as meaning that the US now sees the accord as the central global agreement and is not prepared to engage in anything that goes much beyond it. “As a well-known politician once said, the one thing we learn from history is that we never learn from history,” said Tosi Mpanu Mpanu from the Democratic Republic of Congo, speaking for the Africa Group of nations. “The Africa Group believes that if we are to avoid a repetition of Copenahgen and repair this damaged process, then we must learn from Copenhagen.” And one of the lessons to learn, he continued, was that breaking away from formal inclusive negotiations and instead focusing on “a secret text put together by a selected few fundamentally broke the trust that is necessary for any partnership that aspires to be succesful and enduring”. Fernando Tudela, the Mexican delegate whose government will host this year’s summit, referred to the need for “an authentic process of multilateral negotiations”, with many others echoing his call. Time and money How and when these negotiations can happen, though, is another matter. Developing country blocs called for at least three extra meetings this year – and perhaps as many as five – in addition to the regular fortnight in Bonn scheduled for June. Staging all the extra meetings between the 2007 Bali summit and Copenhagen cost more than $30m (
April 9, 2010 | Posted in
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&cat=19&pid=11631&cache=true " alt="Next UK nuclear plant ‘in Wales’" class="alignleft" />
The UK’s next nuclear power plant could be constructed on the island of Anglesey by 2020. Wylfa was one of 10 sites approved by the UK government in November 2009 for new nuclear plants. Now Horizon, a joint venture by energy firms RWE and E.on, is expected to announce Wylfa as its lead site later. Isle of Anglesey County Council leader Clive McGregor said the move would have a “positive impact” on the community and deliver “high quality jobs”. ‘Vital contribution’ The Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC) is conducting a 15-week consultation about the proposals. The current Wylfa power station has permission to continue electricity production until December 2010. According to a report in the Times, Wylfa was chosen over another site in Oldbury-on-Severn, South Gloucestershire, which Horizon hopes to develop later. The island’s council estimates that the development could bring
March 30, 2010 | Posted in
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&cat=19&pid=11539&cache=true " alt="Ex-Tory donor launches new party" class="alignleft" />
A multi-millionaire former Conservative donor has said he is forming a new political party to fight the election on an anti-corruption platform. Spread-betting tycoon Stuart Wheeler was expelled by the Tories last year after he donated
March 29, 2010 | Posted in
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By Jonathan Amos Science correspondent, BBC News Europe’s Cryosat-2 spacecraft is set to launch on its mission to map the world’s ice fields on Thursday 8 April. The satellite was due to fly in late February but was held on the ground while engineers investigated concerns about the operation of its rocket. Cryosat will ride into orbit atop a Dnepr vehicle, a converted Russian-Ukrainian nuclear missile. The satellite is designed to make detailed measurements of the shape and thickness of Arctic and Antarctic ice. Its data will help scientists to assess better how changing polar ice conditions affect ocean circulation patterns, sea level and global climate. The Dnepr will lift off from the Baikonur cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. The Russian authorities overseeing the flight have advised the European Space Agency (Esa) they are ready to proceed with the mission. The launch is timed for 1357 GMT (1457 BST; 1557 CEST). Re-attachment task Earlier worries that the rocket’s second-stage steering engines might not have enough margin on their performance have been allayed. Richard Francis, the Esa Cryosat project manager, said software changes had been introduced to ensure the Dnepr managed its supplies of fuel and oxidiser in the most efficient way possible, giving the engines sufficient room for contingencies. Cryosat had already been installed on the rocket when the order came to stand down, and was removed during the delay. “We took it off the day after the call was made and moved it back to the cleanroom, and it’s been in a secure area ever since. We have a man who goes and monitors it every day,” explained Richard Francis. “The planning we have at the moment is to put it back on the rocket on 31 March,” he told BBC News. Cryosat carries the “2″ designation because it is actually a rebuild of a mission that was destroyed in 2005 when its then launcher (also a converted missile) failed just minutes into its flight. Esa member-states considered its polar ice measurements to be so important to the assessment of climate change that they approved the construction of a facsimile spacecraft within months of the accident. Cryosat’s radar instrument will make detailed maps of the ice that covers both the sea and land at the poles. Data from other satellites, such as the US Icesat and European ERS/Envisat missions, has already indicated that some of this cover is diminishing at a rapid rate, with the biggest changes occurring in the Arctic. Cryosat will add significantly to the information scientists already possess, making observations that are beyond the current generation of spacecraft. The mission is part of Esa’s Earth Explorer programme – seven spacecraft that will do innovative science in obtaining data on issues of pressing environmental concern. The first in the series, a gravity mapper called Goce, was launched in March 2009. The second, known as Smos, is measuring soil moisture and ocean salinity, and was launched in November. Jonathan.Amos-INTERNET@bbc.co.uk
March 19, 2010 | Posted in
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&cat=19&pid=7999&cache=true " alt="Further jobs go at Ethel Austin" class="alignleft" />
The administrator of Ethel Austin and its sister chain Au Naturale has confirmed that a further 81 stores will close by the end of March. The closures, which come on top of the 124 announced last month, are expected to lead to a further 696 job losses. Another 56 redundancies at the company’s head office in Knowsley, Merseyside, have also been announced. The company MCR was appointed as the administrator of Ethel Austin in February this year. Geoff Bouchier, joint administrator and partner of MCR, said the search for a buyer for the company was proving difficult. “It is a difficult retail climate and until such time as any sale of the businesses can be completed, cost-cutting measures need to be taken to allow the businesses to trade on in the short term,” he said. But he added: “There are still opportunities for a purchaser of the businesses to come forward.” Ethel Austin went into administration for the second time earlier this year following poor trading in January, and a failure to secure the funding it needed.
March 17, 2010 | Posted in
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&cat=19&pid=7835&cache=true " alt="Ads ‘exaggerated climate change’" class="alignleft" />
Two government press adverts which used nursery rhymes to raise awareness of climate change have been banned by the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA). It said the advertisements went beyond mainstream scientific consensus in asserting that climate change would cause flooding and drought. A total of 939 people complained to the ASA about the “Act on CO2″ campaign. But three other advertisements, including a TV commercial, were cleared by the advertising watchdog. The ASA ruled that the banned adverts, created on behalf of the Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC) to promote its carbon reduction initiative, made exaggerated claims about the threat posed to the UK by global warming. Two posters juxtaposed adapted extracts from popular nursery rhymes with text that warned about the dangers of global warning. ” The science tells us that it is more than 90% likely that there will be more extreme weather events if we don’t act ” Ed Miliband Environment secretary One of the banned adverts read: “Rub a dub, three men in a tub, a necessary course of action due to flash flooding caused by climate change.” And a second said Jack and Jill could not fetch a pail of water because extreme weather due to climate change had caused a drought. The ASA upheld complaints against these two advertisements, saying a claim that “extreme weather events would become more frequent and intense” should have been phrased more tentatively. It noted that predictions about the potential impact of global warming made by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) “involved uncertainties” that had not been reflected in the adverts. The advertising watchdog said the text accompanying the rhymes should have used more tentative language in both instances. Future campaigns However, the watchdog cleared complaints against a TV commercial, showing a young girl being read a nightmarish bedtime story by her father about a world blighted by climate change. Climate Change Secretary Ed Miliband said the ASA had “comprehensively vindicated the accuracy of the TV advert” made for the DECC and “rebuffed those who attempted to use the advertising standards process to question the reality of man-made climate change”. And, where the banned adverts were concerned, he said: “The science tells us that it is more than 90% likely that there will be more extreme weather events if we don’t act. “In any future campaign, as requested by the ASA, we will make clear the nature of this prediction.” Mr Miliband said the government would “continue to provide public information about the dangers of climate change”.
March 17, 2010 | Posted in
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