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Lifestyle And Carbon Footprint | Earth Wise

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Many studies have shown, to no great surprise, that affluent lifestyles lead to larger carbon footprints. Households in Switzerland enjoy a high standard of living and a team of researchers there has been studying the consumption and travel habits of Swiss citizens to better understand the impact of various factors on carbon footprint. Key factors include household composition and income, and whether the households are in the city or the countryside – even though, in the end, people’s lifestyles do not differ greatly from one environment to another. 

A team of researchers at EPFL’s School of Architecture, Civil and Environmental Engineering analyzed data from Switzerland’s household budget survey for 2008, 2011 and 2014.  They combined that data with an environmentally extended input-output analysis to assess households’ carbon footprints by measuring their direct and indirect emissions.

Overall, households in the countryside have larger carbon footprints than those in the city, mainly because they travel more and use more energy in their homes. But urban households have larger carbon footprints than their rural counterparts when it comes to food, clothing, cultural activities and air travel.  

A household’s composition directly influences its carbon footprint. A two-person household has the largest per-capita carbon footprint, and it falls as the size of the family grows since many of the same resources are shared by more people. 

Income levels play an important role.  People consume without much thought because they can afford to and enjoy doing it. But there is a trend towards people becoming more conscious of their levels of consumption and trying to be more responsible in Switzerland.  Overall consumption has actually declined over the years studied.  

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Our carbon footprint is highly impacted by how we live

Photo, posted December 19, 2017, courtesy of Alexander Kozik via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio.

Urban Agriculture And Sustainability Goals

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In 2016, the City Council of Phoenix, Arizona adopted eight Environmental Sustainability goals for 2050 that lay out the desired long term requirements in order to become a Sustainable Desert City.  Recently, a group of researchers from Arizona State University assessed how urban agriculture can help Phoenix, a desert city of 1.6 million people, meet those sustainability goals.  

Using public records and high-resolution satellite imagery, researchers analyzed the potential benefits of growing crops in three types of urban areas in Phoenix: vacant lots, rooftops, and building facades.  The study, which was supported by the National Science Foundation and the USDA, estimated that there are 28 square miles (or 5.4% of city space) available for urban agriculture.  The data-driven analysis found that 71% of the available areas for urban agriculture would come from existing buildings as opposed to vacant lots. 

All this available space for urban agriculture in Phoenix could supply the city with nearly 183,000 tons of fresh produce annually, which would allow for the delivery of fresh fruits and vegetables to all of the city’s existing food deserts. In fact, the city’s own urban-agriculture output could meet 90% of the fresh produce demand that currently exists in Phoenix. 

In addition to producing food, rooftop agriculture could also reduce the energy use in buildings by 3% per building per year, and displace more than 55,000 tons of CO2 annually.  The use of vacant lots could increase the total Phoenix green space by 17%, and reduce the number of areas lacking green space by 60%.   

This study demonstrates the many different ways that urban agriculture can benefit a city. 

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Urban agriculture can push the sustainability

Photo, posted May 10, 2011, courtesy of Stephen Zank via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio.

Bee Friendly Amsterdam

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Scientists around the world have been sounding the alarm for years about the decline of bees and other pollinators that are crucial to the growth of crops.   One place where this trend has been bucked is in Amsterdam.  The diversity of wild bee and honeybee species in the Dutch capital has actually increased by 45% since 2000.

The city attributes this success to creating bee-friendly environments including the installation of so-called insect hotels.  There has also been a ban on the use of chemical pesticides on public land.

Four years ago, Amsterdam set a goal to convert half of all public green spaces to native plants including species that produce flowers and fruits that provide nourishment for bees.  Developers in Amsterdam are encouraged to install green roofs on new buildings which reduce reliance on heating and cooling systems and also create habitat for wildlife.

Residents can request to have a 16-inch strip of pavement adjacent to their homes removed in order to plant shrubs, flowers or climbing vines.  When a new highway was built in the area in 2015, local activists planted wildflowers along the sides of the road that otherwise would have been left with only gravel or grass.  This practice has spread to other major routes and along dikes and railways and is referred to as the Honey Highway.

All of these efforts seem to be having a positive effect.  An initial survey was conducted in 2000 to establish a baseline.  A 2015 survey of pollinators found 21 bee species not previously documented in the city.  The rest of the Netherlands has not done as well, and the Dutch government has recently introduced a pollinator strategy to revive bees, butterflies and other insects crucial to the country’s food crop.

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Bees are dying at an alarming rate. Amsterdam may have the answer.

Photo, posted December 28, 2006, courtesy of Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio.

Urban Streams Are Breeding Superbugs

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City streams are subjected to a constant onslaught of synthetic chemicals found in pharmaceuticals and personal care products. Wastewater treatment facilities are not designed to filter out these compounds. Instead, they flow into surface waters where they impact aquatic organisms like microbes – which perform key ecosystem services like removing excess nutrients and breaking down leaf litter.

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Green Solutions To Storm Water Runoff

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Philadelphia, America’s fifth largest city, has struggled with storm water runoff problems since the days of Benjamin Franklin.  The city’s numerous streams that run into the Schuylkill and Delaware Rivers were eventually covered with brick arches or cemented into underground sewers.  The network of underground-to-riverfront outfalls through increasingly-larger pipes is pretty much how all U.S. cities have been coping with storm water for over 200 years.

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The Delhi Air Pollution Crisis

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Delhi, the capital city of India, has always been a city bursting at the seams.  With over 19 million people, heavy industry, growing numbers of vehicles, and choking amounts of road dust, Delhi suffers from some of the worst air pollution in the world.  It is a situation the country has been struggling with for years.

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Green Steam

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Many of the world’s biggest cities have miles of underground pipes built decades ago that provide district energy.   District energy systems use a central plant to produce steam, hot water or chilled water that is then piped underground to individual buildings for space heating, domestic hot water heating and air conditioning. As a result, individual buildings served by a district energy system don’t need their own boilers or furnaces, chillers or air conditioners.

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WAMC Northeast Public Radio

WAMC/Northeast Public Radio is a regional public radio network serving parts of seven northeastern states (more...)