Sustainable Living

Contents:

Resources, Articles, Videos, Tips, Book Reviews, Recommended Reading

Sustainability is complex, and even the most conscious among us may wonder whether we really live sustainable lives. Giles Crosse looks at how to take more meaningful action.

What is considered sustainable? Do we have to give up everything or are there more realistic options for balancing impacts with a more thoughtful way of life?

It’s an interesting question, because so many of the most common elements of 21st century living seem opposed to sustainable principles. Driving, consumption and the food we buy in the supermarket can all contribute to global warming and threaten biodiversity.

Equally, there’s little less appealing than the notion of giving up every tiny luxury for our planet. Clearly some kind of balance is required.

So what’s the solution?

“Sustainable living is by its nature a holistic concept,” explains Karl Hansen. He’s the Director of The Living Rainforest / Trust for Sustainable Living. It’s a charity that looks at rainforest ecology as a metaphor for sustainability issues.

“The focus is not just on our ideas, but also our actions. I like the broad, ‘big picture’ approaches. Looking not just at population, but at consumption. Not just economics, but also ecology. Ultimately, we'll probably need to adopt a new language for all of this, and release ourselves from the old ways of thinking which got us here.” Read more 

Action for sustainable living:
Case Studies:
Rolls Crescent Primary School
Chorlton’s Big Green Festival
Fo Guang Green Action Group
The Energy Academy
New Barracks Co-operative Housing Scheme

Videos:

Tips: As summer approaches, more of us will be heading outside to cook – but which is the most eco-friendly fuel to use? Charcoal barbeques burn around 11kg of CO2 an hour, with 5.6kg for Gas and 11kg an hour for electric. However charcoal is carbon neutral due to it absorbing CO2 when living, which is not really the case with gas. However when you take into account the large distances charcoal travels, and the fact that 97% of the 40 000 tonnes of it used annually in Britain come from unsustainable sources, its benefits diminish. Charcoal also emits lots of carbon monoxide, which isn’t to handy for your lungs or the environment. If you already have a charcoal barbeque and don’t want to fork out for a new gas one, then when buying new charcoal check the packet to see if it’s Forestry Stewardship Council (FSC) certified, meaning its sourced from sustainable sources.

Supporting links: Huffington Post, EcoZine, The Daily Telegraph

Book Reviews:
The Green Living Guide

Recommended Reading:

Heat By George Monbiot
Monbiot demonstrates a necessary 90% reduction in carbon emissions by 2030 - without bringing civilisation to an end. Combining his unique knowledge of campaigning and environmental science, he shows how we can transform our houses, our power and our transport systems. But he also shows that this can happen only with a massive programme of action which no government has yet been prepared to take. His exciting, disturbing ideas expose the cowardice of our politicians. By showing that we can save the biosphere without losing our comfort and security, Monbiot sweeps away their perpetual excuse for doing nothing: that it would be too painful and expensive to sustain life on earth.

Peak Water By Alexander Bell
Peak Water was written by Alexander Bell to alert the world to a crisis: we are using more water than is available in the places where we live. For some, in the wet regions, peak water will never occur, but for the people of the USA, Africa, Southern Europe, India, Middle East and China, it is already here. We can either stop soaking it up or face up to the greatest threat to our way of life we have ever known.

High Noon By J F Rischard
In this age of instant communication and biotechnology, on this ever-smaller planet, what kinds of problems have we created for ourselves? How do we tackle them in a world where the accustomed methods used by nation-states may be reaching their natural limits? In High Noon, J. F. Rischard challenges us to take a new approach to the twenty most important and urgent global problems of the twenty-first century. Rischard finds their common thread: we don't have an effective way of dealing with the problems that our increasingly crowded, interconnected world creates. Our difficulties belong to the future, but our means of solving them belong to the past.