Promoting sustainable development
The shared principles of Sustainable development are: living within environmental limits Ensuring a strong, healthy and just society Achieving a sustainable economy Using sound science responsibly Promoting good governance There are several ways in which central government can encourage and help the community sector to work towards sustainable development: 1. Establishing partnerships for common ends: [...]
Posted by Dave under Environmental issues, Uncategorized | Permalink | No Comments »Greening small business
Individually, the impacts from small and medium sized businesses may be relatively small but collectively they make up a large proportion of environmental damage. In fact, due to the fact that SMEs supply consumers with the bulk of goods and services, the impacts of their products are keenly felt and they produce significant amounts of [...]
Posted by Dave under Environmental issues, Uncategorized | Permalink | 1 Comment »The cost of climate equality
A few days before the start of the Copenhagen conference on climate change, I was greeted by the cheering news that Greenpeace had successfully closed down a logging operation in the heart of the Indonesian rain forest. As the Email correctly reminded me, “…deforestation is a root cause of climate change – contributing 1/5 of [...]
Posted by Dave under Environmental issues, Uncategorized | Permalink | No Comments »What are the pros and cons of landfill and incinerators?
Landfill: Negatives: · The cost of lining systems, leachate collection, leachate treatment, covering and capping is prohibitive · Costs tend to drive the building of regional mega-landfills which excite intense opposition from host communities · Release high concentrations of methane and water pollution · Unpleasant odours and visual impacts affect surrounding communities Positives: · Can [...]
Posted by Dave under Environmental issues, Uncategorized | Permalink | 2 Comments »What is the waste hierarchy?
The Waste hierarchy is a useful framework for the management of waste streams and has become the cornerstone of sustainable waste management. The concept lays out the order in which options for waste management should be considered preferable in terms of their environmental impact. The idea is to attempt to minimize the amount of waste [...]
Posted by Dave under Environmental issues, Uncategorized | Permalink | No Comments »Man’s impact on the hydrological cycle
Human activities have had significant impacts on the hydrological cycle, both on the quantity and quality of water flowing within it. A common problem is the overuse of watercourses resulting in drastically reduced flow through rivers into natural stores. A good example of this is the situation in the Aral sea basin, where over extraction [...]
Posted by Dave under Environmental issues, Uncategorized | Permalink | No Comments »What is the relationship between EIA, EMP and mitigation of impacts?
The primary output of the environmental assessment process is the EIA report, which outlines all environmental impacts of a proposed project and how the project managers propose to mitigate these impacts. All EIA reports should include an environment management plan (EMP) that outlines the ongoing implementation of mitigation measures and the management of impacts. An [...]
Posted by Dave under Environmental issues, Uncategorized | Permalink | No Comments »How Is Biodiversity protected in the UK?
In 1992 the European Community adopted the Council Directive on the Conservation of natural habitats and of wild fauna and flora (EC Habitats Directive) which requires member states to introduce measures to protect threatened species listed in its annexes and to survey habitats of importance. In addition, all members are required to propose a list [...]
Posted by Dave under Environmental issues, Uncategorized | Permalink | No Comments »What are the impacts of plastic, paper and jute bags and which is the most environmentally friendly?
Impact of Plastic bags: • take over 400 years to biodegrade and result in a large amount rubbish in our landfills • Air pollution is caused during incineration • Manufacture add many tons of carbon and other toxic chemicals into the atmosphere annually • Approximately 60-100 million barrels of oil are required for manufacture annually [...]
Posted by Dave under Environmental issues, Uncategorized | Permalink | No Comments »Are sustainable communities the answer?
The UK government is claiming it has the tool to solve to the housing crisis, the slump in the construction industry and Britain’s brown housing legacy in one foul swoop. According to the Defra website, Sustainable communities are places where present and future generations want to live and work. They should be environmentally friendly, socially [...]
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