The striving of a record-breaking structure

Do you have a second amazed by the thinness, the length and the height of the bridge. It is actually a built project in Zhangjiajie Grand Canyon which is made of glass!!!! It is 300 vertical height from the ground, 430 meters long, and 6 meters wide.

The construction of the skybridge that stretch 1,410ft between two cliffs

This is the second glass bridge built in the national park in China. The first one attracted a lot of tourist to the national park which brings quite a lot of economic benefits to the Chinese government. In order to build this "super" structure, many trees are cut down and the nearby landscape has been affected. Also, there is water pollution problems caused by the construction. Despite all the air and water pollution created from the production of glass, the glass may needs replacements once a while. The wildlife habitat in the area was affected in the construction stage but what caused me worried is the number of tourist attracted to this tourist attraction. Also, the future development to the area such as housing, hotels and other related developments to boost the tourism.  In 2011, there are 30,410,000 tourist travelled to Zhangjiajie Grand Canyon in a year. This is already a high number of people that caused a burden for the environment in Zhangjiajie . I believe more developments like hotels and housing are coming in the next 10 years, as there are only 854 hotels (55,300 beds) in the area.

As a fast growing country like China, the economic development are happening rapidly over the country and less attention were paid to the natural environment and the sustainability issues, people are designing taller buildings, longer bridges. And with the development of technologies, lots of the materials and structures are prefabricated, decisions were made within a shorter time-frame, consequences to the nature were not put into account while these decisions were made.

In conclusion , I think a developed countries should be reflected on the result of education e.g How people perform as a part of cities and respecting the nature,  but not striving for a taller buildings or longer bridges to break the world records.

Reference:

World's highest glass bridge in China to include three crazy swings. (n.d.). Retrieved June 02, 2016, from http://inhabitat.com/worlds-highest-glass-bridge-in-china-to-include-three-crazy-swings/

(n.d.). Retrieved June 02, 2016, from http://www.zhangjiajietourism.us/press-factsheet.html
(n.d.). Retrieved June 02, 2016, from http://www.telegraph.co.uk/travel/destinations/north-america/united-states/articles/Grand-Canyon-threatened-by-development/
(n.d.). Retrieved June 02, 2016, from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grand_Canyon_Skywalk#Environmentalists

100% renewable energy powered state

Have you thought of the electricity of a state can be 100% powered by renewable energy? Perhaps you may think that it is feasible, but it is not possible by using the technology not. However, the fact is - Tasmania achieved this great result, at least temporarily, in May 2016.

The state-owned energy provider, Hydro Tasmania, reported in early May 2016 that their fossil fuel generators had not been used since 1 May. Instead, they relied on hydro, wind and solar energy.  In particular, their hydro generators were running at maximum capacity and contributed over 80% of the total power in the state, due to significant rainfalls over the weeks before. As a result, the wholesale prices had fallen below to mid $40s/MWh, which compared to nearly $300/MWh when it was forced to rely on gas and diesel.

It is an encouraging news because Tasmania demonstrated the feasibility and practicality of renewable energy, especially the use of hydropower. However, there are two sides to every coin, the use of hydro-power may cause other problems too.

The extraordinarily large dams and reservoirs usually have a significant impact on the land use of surroundings. The flooding destroys forests, habitats of wildlife animals, agricultural land, and even historically scenic places. Not only the flooded area is affected, Impact could be seen on the environment of the downstream, as the reservoir is basically a pool of stagnant water, which changes some key factors which affect the habitats of downstream, such as the nutrient level, oxygen level, sediment level, and flow rate.

Finally, although it can be seen that hydropower is possibly the most economic renewable energy, blindly using hydropower may not be a remarkably better approach than using fossil fuel. Yet, I hope that the government of NSW can put more effort to reduce the use of fossil fuels, like what other state, such as Tasmania and South Australia, are doing.

References:

Environmental Impacts of Hydroelectric Power. (n.d.). Retrieved June 1, 2016, from http://www.ucsusa.org/clean_energy/our-energy-choices/renewable-energy/environmental-impacts-hydroelectric-power.html

Nag, S. K. (2016, May 25). South Australia tops the list for renewable energy. Retrieved June 1, 2016, from https://mozo.com.au/energy/articles/south-australia-tops-the-list-for-renewable-energy

Parkinson, G. (2016, May 11). Tasmania back to 100% renewable electricity as dams replenish. Retrieved May 23, 2016, from http://reneweconomy.com.au/2016/tasmania-back-to-100-renewable-electricity-as-dams-replenish-55955

Tasmania powered by renewable energy for 'first time in months' (2016, May 11). Retrieved May 23, 2016, from http://www.abc.net.au/news/2016-05-12/tasmania-completely-powered-by-renewable-energy/7408148

The terrifying air pollution in Beijing

Chai Jing, who resigned from her position as a prominent news anchor at China's state-owned CCTV after the birth of her daughter. After she became a mother, she realises the impact of the air quality to her baby and all the people who are living in Beijing. She combines research, data visualization, investigative reporting and her own personal experiences to the issues of smog. Jing states that she will not take her daughter out when the air quality is bad in Beijing, which in 2014 was nearly half of the days of year.

This video spread out quickly on the social media and draws a lot of attention, but after several months people started to forget about it.

The video mentions something that most of us would probably comes to mind when we talk about air pollution : industrial factories, car, the lifestyle of the people. The sadly facts is we all knows about it but who really cares and take actions on it. I personally don't think it is the responsibility solely on the government. But every single one of us who are living on earth. It is our values and lifestyle which caused the problems.
 
A photo taken in Beijing which show the dense smog in the city of Beijing

The Columbia University and Chongqing Medical University's study shows a clear connection between children conceived and raised near a Chinese coal-fired power plant and reduced neurological development when assessed at age two because of the particulate matter, carbon dioxide, sulphur dioxide, and heavy metals. The particles are really small that it could enter our body directly.

   
Wang Renzheng, a Chinese performance artist better known as Nut Brother, with the industrial vacuum cleaner he uses to suck up smog.

The artist, Wang Renzheng has used the extracted dust from the city’s atmosphere and transformed them into a dark brown “smog brick”. I am interested in whether this concept can be applied in the future as the pollutants can be collected and turned into a building materials that probably can reduced the pollution. However, the dust collecting progress is slow and not cost effective. Therefore, it is a solution not for now. But I think what he is trying to do is meaningful as it shows how much pollutants we breathe in everyday and we are responsible to clean our city. Hopefully in the future, there are ways that can really turn the pollution to something useful. And we can develop a healthier lifestyle with less cars, less waste and less pollution.

Reference:
Grassheling. "Chai Jing's Review: Under the Dome – Investigating China's Smog." YouTube. 2015. Accessed May 26, 2016. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T6X2uwlQGQM.

"New China Study Reveals a Link between Air Pollution and Brain Development in Babies." TreeHugger. Accessed May 26, 2016. http://www.treehugger.com/health/new-china-study-reveals-link-between-air-pollution-and-genetic-mutation-babies.html

Phillips, Tom. "China's Vacuum-cleaner Artist Turning Beijing's Smog into Bricks." The Guardian. 2015. Accessed May 26, 2016. http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/dec/01/chinese-vacuum-cleaner-artist-turning-beijings-smog-into-bricks.

10cents back for a drink bottle

What do you do after you finish a can of coke, or after a bottle of juice? Throw it away? Clean it and re-use it later on? There is another option for you from July next year.

The Premier of New South Wales, Mike Baird, announced to support the Container Deposit Scheme, a community-backed recycling scheme for drink containers on 8th May 2016. That means, from July 2016, ten cents will be paid for every drink container (150mL - 3000mL, and displaying a NSW CDS label) when returned to a depot or reverse vending machine. The aim of it is to reduce street litter by 40% by 2020, as there are 160 million drink containers of this type end up in the litter every year in NSW.

I think the scheme is brilliant. Although some manufacturing giants, such as Coca-Cola and Schweppes, have threatened they will need to increase the drink prices by 20%, the impact to the environment greatly outweighs the impact to our wallets. This is because the increase in price makes people more mindful before buying bottles of drink. Also, the increase in price will encourage people more willing to claim the 10 cents back.

It was announced that containers could be returned to a depot or reverse vending machine. However, in order to facilitate people recycle the bottles, the government must have a very user-friendly network to collect bottles. For example, it would be very great if there is a vending machine per apartment building to replace those current yellow bins. Furthermore, if the scheme is successfully launched and properly run, the government should extend the range of acceptable containers to other recyclable products, one example would be the plastic takeaway boxes we use every day.

References:

Bhole, A. (2016, May 09). 'A historic win for the community': Cash for cans to start in New South Wales - but will it make your beer and soft drinks cost more? Retrieved May 24, 2016, from http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3579075/New-South-Wales-cash-cans-scheme-start-despite-fierce-opposition-beverage-industry-giants-Coca-Cola-Carlton-Lion-Schweppes.html

Code, B. (2016, May 08). NSW to refund 10 cents for cans under new scheme. Retrieved May 25, 2016, from http://www.abc.net.au/news/2016-05-08/nsw-to-refund-10-cents-for-cans-and-containers-cds/7394408

Needham, K. (2016, May 8). Cash for cans decision a tipping point. Retrieved May 25, 2016, from http://www.smh.com.au/nsw/baird-backs-kids-over-big-beverage-10-for-every-drink-bottle-you-can-find-20160507-gooqih.html

Virtual imagery for chickens

The SECOND LIVESTOCK eliminated the need for the physical space needed for free-range livestock. It claims to give livestock the experience of Free Range life while it is all happened in a small cage. The animals spend their whole lives in a virtual world, light pipes are used to illuminate the building during daylight hours as sunlight.

The actual device and cage of the SECOND LIVESTOCK 

I will not be talking about how inhuman the SECOND LIVESTOCK is. As I want to focus on the sustainability of the SECOND LIVESTOCK project. As they claimed that they have minimised the ecological footprint compare to the free-range chicken and allowed an increased production density. As the chicken waste will also be collected as fertilizer, the facilities are claimed to be highly energy efficient. 

It's time to discuss about their claims are true or not, first, the company claimed to keep every process sustainable,  the facilities might not work perfectly as they claimed and the maintenance cost will be high since each chicken has its own device. Second, there is a high chance where some of the device might not work properly and causes problems. Thirdly, the handling the chicken waste can actually create a lot of water pollution if a single part in the process went wrong. Also, all the facilities from the virtual headset to the cages needed a high level of energy to maintain and might create a large amount of electronic waste to the land.

The waste of free range chicken can go the the natural environment directly. There are natural air for ventilation, there will not be any energy needed to create a virtual electronic device for the chicken. Therefore, I do not support the concept of SECOND LIVESTOCK.

Reference:

Ecologically Sound. (n.d.). Retrieved May 10, 2016, from http://www.secondlivestock.com/public/eco_s.php

Oculus Rift... for chickens?! (n.d.). Retrieved May 22, 2016, from http://www.cnet.com/au/news/oculus-rift-for-chickens/

Housing homeless people and teaching them to build a house

On the coming May 10, Lamon Luther the founder of this charity will give away a tiny house to launch its charitable foundation to offer housing for its homeless employees. The tiny house was built by a bunch of homeless employee. It is made up of 50 percent reclaimed wood which kept hundreds of thousands of pounds of old houses, barns and pallets out of landfills.

The interior of the tinyhouse showing the recycled timber fittings

The exterior of the tinyhouse showing the recycled timber cladding

The money they received from the entries in the giveaway event will be used to hire more homeless employee and the housing for the homeless employee. 

I think this project is a great idea because it not only empowered the homeless people with building skills also its goal is to provide shelters for them. Moreover, over half of the building materials they used were recycled materials. As I mentioned in the previous blog, we should reduce the construction waste, this project is an excellent example that is beneficial not only to the earth but also to the society. 

In one of the guest lecture, the guest speaker mentioned what is the resilient measures to help people who suffered in disaster. Instead of donating a large sum of money to them where most of the money goes to other peoples' hands, we should empower the people and giving them confidence to start lives again. Same with homeless people, we empower them with skills and they work as part of the society. It is a sustainable workforce where the skilled homeless employee can pass the skills to the other homeless people. Also, the tiny houses has given a new value to the abandoned timber and steel from other construction site which is help to reduce waste for our environment. Therefore, I totally support the Tinyhousegiveaway program.

References:
Lamon Luther to Give Away a Tiny House to Raise Money for Homeless Employees. (n.d.). Retrieved May 18, 2016, from http://www.marketwired.com/press-release/lamon-luther-to-give-away-a-tiny-house-to-raise-money-for-homeless-employees-2112375.htm

Home. (n.d.). Retrieved May 17, 2016, from http://www.tinyhousegiveaway.co/

Giving a new life to the old building

Recently there is a rising number of old building transformed into a new and educational buildings. For example, the River Cottage which located in Devon of southwest England, was successfully transformed from a disused farm building into a sustainable farming and cooking school that promotes organic cooking and sustainable farming practices.

The interior of the River Cottage

The exterior of the River Cottage

There is another example where the old cellar of a 7th-century landmark building in Spain was transformed into a local gallery showing the history of wine making. The cellar also includes a wine shop, a kitchen for visitors to take cooking classes, and spaces for lectures and concerts. 

The interior of the cellar showing the wine jars

Despite the historical values of preserving the old buildings and giving it a new identity to the space, it is also a sustainable method to minimised the construction waste produced in the demolition or reconstruction process. In Hong Kong , my hometown, most of the old buildings( even buildings with heritage value) were pull down for new skyscrapers or offices. There are tons and tons of constructions waste produced in Hong Kong every year. The demolition process and the construction process were speeded up by the improvement of technologies. All the construction waste were sent to Hong Kong landfills, the limited size of  landfills in Hong Kong has already reached the maximum capacity. 

As the urbanisation and the growth of city continues, more and more landfills will be needed in the future. But instead we should think how can we minimise the construction waste, transforming the old buildings is definitely one of the ways. Or recycling building materials like timbers and steels is also a way to reduce the construction waste. One may say it is difficult to turn an old building with its original layout to another layout, but I think it is the challenge where all of us as an architects should be able to tackle and create something creative like the two projects above.

References:
Historic 7th-century cellar in Spain renovated to celebrate the history of wine-making. (n.d.). Retrieved May 16, 2016, from http://inhabitat.com/historic-7th-century-cellar-in-spain-renovated-to-celebrate-the-history-of-wine-making/

Disused farm buildings are transformed into a sustainable farming and cooking school. (n.d.). Retrieved May 17, 2016, from http://inhabitat.com/disused-farm-buildings-are-transformed-into-a-sustainable-farming-and-cooking-school/

A mobile gaming app to change you lifestyle?

Have you ever imagine one day real world can actually linked up with the virtual world. What you did in the real world actually reflects in the digital world and vise versa. Noe it may become true.

The mobile app: Airnergy

Airnergy is a mobile app (Red Dot Award) that merges the features of gaming and utility. Your real-world energy consumption data will be reflected in the virtual world and affects the in-game environment to encourage users to minimise daily energy consumption and  air pollution, eventually create a better place to live.

The interface of the mobile app Airnergy

It is a good idea to attract the young people and educate them as well. Because many things that we think are difficult to do can seem easier and have more motivation when turned into a game.The game also have the competitions features between friends which stimulate people to continue playing so that they can achieve better scores and win , also the in-game environment will change according to users’ real-life energy consumption data. What I think the game developer is really smart is users can earn bonus points to buy in-game products by attending green activities, such as tree planting, or purchase energy-saving products. 

Here comes the negative side of this design concept, games usually cannot keep ones' passion for long, maybe one month, one week or even just one day. Also usually young people are living with their parents or friends, unless they can affect their parents of friends to reduce the energy consumption or they may give up very soon. 

However, I think in this digital stage, it is always good to promote the sustainable lifestyle using the mobile app. Instead of focusing on the immediate result of reducing energy consumption, we should focus on the long term development. How reduce the energy consumption in the future 10 years? By making sustainable living as a easy and fun topic definitely is a good starting point. It may even applicable on topics like waste management, water management etc.

Reference:
Airnergy _ Innovating Mobile App for Reducing Daily Energy Consumption. (n.d.). Retrieved May 10, 2016, from http://www.red-dot.sg/en/online-exhibition/airnergy/

A new home for solar panels?

Here comes the good news of solar panels, the engineers at TU Wien developed the Heliofloat, a creative solution to choppy waves and stormy skies.

When estimate how much solar energy can be collected for our house we usually measure the size of our roofs. The larger the roof , more panels can be installed, more energy output to the house. So space really matters when we talk about solar panels. How about putting them on the ocean? Of course not in the old days. But Heliofloats offer a platform to install the solar panels and they claimed that it has a huge potential with their ability to support installations as large as football fields.



Heliofloat System Solar Power:The flotation system is constructed differently from others, allowing the platform to withstand even heavy storms.

I think this invention will really make a different to our future renewable energy resources. I still remember John Blair mentions if you have to give a rating to the example between 1-10 , 1 is totally not sustainable while 10 is totally sustainable, I would give it a 8/10. Because besides the materials and energy used to make the platforms, I believe that if the installation and the maintenance are done correctly and regularly, the solar panels could be functioning  probably for quite a long period of time. And solar energy is actually a very clean energy that will not cause pollution to the ocean. If the Heliofloat really able to withstand the storm and waves in the ocean, I think it is a new and good choice to install the solar panels other than our roofs in the future.

Reference:

New tech could keep solar panels afloat on the ocean - even during storms. (n.d.). Retrieved May 9, 2016, from http://inhabitat.com/new-tech-could-keep-solar-panels-afloat-on-the-ocean-even-during-storms/heliofloat-solar-panels-on-ocean/

A new hope to air pollution?

A new invention uses fluorescent lights to remove air pollution and stinky odours. It uses the Gas Phase Advanced Oxidation (GPAO) system was invented by Matthew Johnson. The system changes gaseous forms of pollution into a solid state using ozone and fluorescent lightbulbs. It functions as the free radicals form and attack the pollution, making it clump together like bits of dust. Once the gas pollution becomes dust, it’s just as easy to remove from the air as any other type of dust particle—with electrostatic charge. It not only make air cleaner, but it also works on unpleasant odours e.g. the toughest stinks associated with wastewater treatment. 

Matthew Johnson, chemistry professor at the University of Copenhagen, has invented an air purification method using fluorescent lights.

I think it is a good invention in commercial buildings in dense and crowded area. As the office use a lot of fluorescent lights and the streets are always full of cars where the air quality is really bad on the street. But I got one question : Is the fluorescent light can only purify the indoor air but not the outdoor air? If the answer is yes, I think the effect of air purifying function is less than what I thought it would be as the indoor air pollutant are much lower than the outdoor air. Because before the outdoor air flow into the office , it already have filtrated. What we actually need is to improve the air quality on the street. I am also worried on the light pollution and the pollution created by the used fluorescent light bulbs. As the fluorescent light bulbs may contain toxic substance like mercury which is poisonous to human. Therefore ,if I have the give a sustainable rating to this invention out of 10 (10 is totally sustainable), I would give 3/10 as it's air purifying function is not applicable to outdoor air and the waste pollution created by the fluorescent light bulbs.

Reference:

New invention uses fluorescent lights to remove air pollution and stinky odors. (n.d.). Retrieved May 5, 2016, from http://inhabitat.com/fluorescent-lights-remove-air-pollution-and-stinky-odors-without-filters/

An environmental responsible art chapter 2

Machine for Living Interdependently 2012 - 2015 by artist Amy Young

Last chapter we were talking about as an artist what should we pay more attention to and what we should beware of. In this chapter let us look into a good example of being an environmental responsible artist.

Artist Amy Youngs has begun this work by creating a series of artworks designed to help humans get comfortable with having worms as roommates. Amy's series of Worm Cozies are  function as softening interfaces to help us get used to the idea of living with worm ecosystems. Hidden inside domestic items – teddy bears, paper shredders, plant stands and cook pots – worm ecosystems work to rid our homes of food and paper waste, transforming it into rich fertilizer for houseplants. She has also designed a hydroponic plant tower named the Machine for Living Interdependently, powered by a combination of worm composting and the human action of rocking in a chair, which circulates water and nutrients through the system.

I love how the artist created an installation not only raise the awareness of waste pollution and green house gases but how the installation also have sustainable functions that is actually working and cleaning our earth. The plants provide cleansed air and the worms provide local waste disposal services. Worm composting keeps waste out of the landfill, saving us from generating more greenhouse gas. The artist has also considered the methane gas usually found in landfill areas. While methane is a greenhouse gas that is coming from rotting food, even inside of traditional, outdoor compost bins. Worm composting doesn't produce methane and doesn't create odours. This installation has been to places around the world, the visitors can actually touch the installation and interact with the installation. It is so important for the visitor to understand how the worm ecosystem works and how they can do it themselves at their home. I would give 10 out of 10 sustainble rating to this artist and this art installation.

Reference:
Amy Youngs - Machine for Living Interdependently. (n.d.). Retrieved May 4, 2016, from http://hypernatural.com/machineforliving.html

Artist advocates worm composting solution to reduce waste and methane emissions. (n.d.). Retrieved May 4, 2016, from http://inhabitat.com/artist-advocates-worm-composting-as-solution-to-reduce-waste-and-methane-emissions/

.

An environmental responsible art chapter 1

Have you seen this image before? This is a current light installation in Uluru. The artist Munro named his latest installation, Tili Wiru Tjuta Nyakutjaku. This translates to “looking at lots of beautiful lights” in Pitjantjatjara, the language of the Aboriginal locals. This is available until the March of next year. It is quite amazing in terms of its lighting effect and the size of the installation. I admired the artist's creativity and this installation is on placed on the earth but not damaging the land physically. However, I personally thinks this installation may create quite a numbers of problems to the environment.  

Firstly, to keep the lights on every night until the next March in such a large scale. I would ask how much electric energy are actually used in the installation.

Secondly, the installation may suggest a light pollution in the area. As the whole area will be lit up the whole night, it might already affect the animals habitat around the area. 

Lastly, I am also interested in where this large amount of optic fibre will be placed after this installation ends. I hope there is better place to use these optic fibres then just let them become a large amount of waste. 

I reckon the recently art installation has actually created many waste and sadly to see most of the beautiful and creative art installations become a piece of waste once after the exhibitions. I think either reusing the waste to form another piece of installation or simply just be more aware of how much waste and pollution the installation has created will be a good start to be an environmental responsible artist.

Bruce Munro / Field of Light, Uluru, 2016

Reference:

Bruce Munro's multicolored Field of Lights blooms in stunning desert display. (n.d.). Retrieved April 27, 2016, from http://inhabitat.com/bruce-munros-multicolored-field-of-lights-blooms-in-stunning-desert-display/bruce-munro-field-of-light-uluru-2016-mark-pickthall-afar/

So you think electric cars are clean?

VW Golf TDI 2009

The U.S. Federal Trade Commission sues against the Volkswagen company in U.S. District Court in San Francisco on last Tuesday. The agency said U.S. consumers suffered "billions of dollars in injury" as a result of deception by VW, which has admitted to using software that allowed 580,000 diesel vehicles built since 2009 to emit up to 40 times legally allowable pollution. The FTC claims VW falsely advertised more than a half million diesel vehicles as environmentally friendly when it knew they were emitting excess pollution.

There is effective technology to cut nitrogen oxides (NOx), but sadly the car manufacturers are not implementing it because of its cost and weight.

Diesel cars tested in Norway produced four times the NOx emissions of large buses and lorries in city driving conditions, according to a report from the Norwegian Centre for Transport Research. An independent study for Transport for London showed that a small car emitted several times more NOx than most bus and heavy trucks.

Since cars release toxic gases and lots of green house gases. People tends to think electric cars are way more cleaner than diesel or petrol car. However, a Electric vehicles study by Yale University stated that the carbon footprint of EVs could be “indistinguishable from those of a diesel vehicle” depending on the distance they are driven and the location they obtain electricity.

An Electric Car recharging its battery

In the study, they calculate all the energy needed to manufacture the vehicles, also the amount and sources of energy used during operation and the energy needed to recycle them. they found out the predominantly coal- and natural gas-powered grid in Germany means an EV will generate 100 to 120 g of CO2 per km. The situation is even worse in China, which generates 85% of its electricity from coal. China is already at a miserable levels of urban air pollution, which will only get worse if Chinese consumers embrace electric cars. However, most of the electricity in France generated from nuclear power, an EV may generate only 15 g of CO2 per km, which is really clean.

In addition, a recent report from the Environmental Protection Agency on the life-cycle research of lithium-ion batteries discovers they may cause resource depletion, global warming, ecological toxicity and human health impacts.

I love driving electric cars because it is really quiet and smooth in driving. I will not drive electric cars in Sydney until I find out where is the electricity of Sydney comes from. But for now I think I would probably still choose public transport or bicycle. To conclude, I think electric cars are not sustainable yet because of the life cycle of the batteries and the origin of the electricity.

Reference:
"World Environment News." Planet Ark. Accessed April 25, 2016. http://planetark.org/enviro-news/item/74298. 

Carrington, Damian. "Diesel Cars Emit up to Four times More Toxic Pollution than a Bus, Data Reveals." The Guardian. 2015. Accessed April 26, 2016. 

http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2015/oct/21/diesel-cars-emissions-toxic-pollution-than-a-bus-data-reveals. 

"Electric Vehicles Not Sustainable." Electric Vehicles Not Sustainable. Accessed April 26, 2016. http://wardsauto.com/blog/electric-vehicles-not-sustainable. 

"VW Might Not Be Able to Make Rigged Diesels Compliant with U.S. Air Quality Rules." TreeHugger. Accessed April 25, 2016. http://www.treehugger.com/corporate-responsibility/vw-it-might-not-be-able-make-rigged-diesels-compliant-us-air-quality-rules.html. 

"Electric Vehicle." - Simple English Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia. Accessed April 27, 2016. https://simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electric_vehicle.

Building with a sustainable material - Bamboo

In the year one of my master studies , I did a studio project that is a mixed used residential project in Cambodia. Starting from that time, I became aware of natural building materials that is low cost and sustainable. Therefore, timber, bamboo, thatch has come to my mind.
There are not much bamboo built structure that can last long because unprotected bamboo weathers and will be damaged by insects and get eaten to dust. Therefore, in Asia living in bamboo house represent you are really poor that you can't afford better building materials.

In the following TED talk, Elora Hardy introduced how to use bamboo as a structure material in her magical house in Java. She mentioned that we needed safe treatment solutions firstly. Borax is a natural salt that makes bamboo become a viable building material.

"Treat it properly, design it carefully, and a bamboo structure can last a lifetime."- Elora Hardy


Then, build something imaginative and special to inspire people. She said Balinese culture values craftsmanship fortunately.They value the artisan and join them with the adventurous new generations of locally trained architects and designers and engineers, unlike the conventional formulas and vocabulary of architecture, they have had to invent their own building methods.In this project, the building speak for itself for its sophisticated skills and innovative design.

Why bamboo is a sustainable material?
Bamboo regenerates very quickly. It is one of the fastest growing plants in the world, with the fastest growth rate reaching 100cm in a 24-hr period. Bamboo can be harvested every three to six years for construction purposes; whereas trees range from 25 years (for softwoods) to 50 years (for hardwoods).

Moreover, bamboo gives 35% more oxygen to the air compare to trees, as well as absorbs 40% more CO2 than trees, creating better air quality. Bamboo can grow perfectly without the use of any fertilizers or pesticides, so its harvesting process is kinder to the Earth. Bamboo also has a wide spreading root system that keeps twice as much water in the watershed and prevents soil erosion.

Reference:

"Transcript of "Magical Houses, Made of Bamboo"" Elora Hardy: Magical Houses, Made of Bamboo. Accessed April 21, 2016. https://www.ted.com/talks/elora_hardy_magical_houses_made_of_bamboo/transcript?language=en#t-30360.

"Benefits of Bamboo Wood vs Other Hardwoods | Bamboo and Tikis." Benefits of Bamboo Wood vs Other Hardwoods | Bamboo and Tikis. Accessed April 21, 2016. https://bambooandtikis.com/blog/benefits-using-bamboo-versus-other-wood-materials.

"Uses for Bamboo in Sustainable Building - Www.greenbuild.org." Wwwgreenbuildorg. 2012. Accessed April 21, 2016. http://www.greenbuild.org/new-construction/uses-for-bamboo-in-sustainable-building/. 

Uber's plan to get more people into fewer cars

In the TED talk, Travis talks about the future of human-driven transportation; about how we can cut congestion, pollution and parking by getting more people into fewer cars; and how we can do it with the smartphones using the Uber app. 

He mentioned In the US, people spend 7 billion hours a year, wasted, sitting in traffic. 160 billion dollars in lost productivity, of course also sitting in traffic, and 1/5 of our total carbon footprint is spewed out in the air by those cars that we're sitting in. And that is only 4% of our problem though. Because if you have to own a car which means 96% of the time your car is sitting idle. And so, around 30% of our land and our space is used storing the cars. 

And in the beginning of 2010, Uber created the method where people simply push a button and get a ride. It turned out that lots of people use it and ultimately they started to discover that there was a lot of duplicate rides. They saw a lot of people pushing the same button at the same time going actually heading to the same place.Then, they introduced the uberPOOL. It is working as more people getting around the city in fewer cars, taking cars off the road. They have taken 7.9 million miles off the roads and  taken 1.4 thousand metric tons of CO2 out of the air.

I remembered once in the lecture, the guest lecturer mentioned in the future, there will not be any individual owned cars about replaced by bikes and shared cars. Michael Glotz-Richter, a German Marshall Fund Fellow from Bremen stated that 45% of vehicle kilometers traveled were declining due to the use of car sharing, and people were selling their cars or not buying cars, and the reductions in energy use and CO2 emissions were notable it also shows people are changing their behavior.

Travis is combing the concept of car sharing and carpool together which would help to reduce the Co2 emission. I am looking forward to see and try if there is uberPOOL in Sydney as well. Save the cost as well as help the environment.

Reference:

"Uber's Plan to Get More People into Fewer Cars." Travis Kalanick:. Accessed April 19, 2016. https://www.ted.com/talks/travis_kalanick_uber_s_plan_to_get_more_people_into_fewer_cars?language=en.

"Susan Shaheen: How Car Sharing Accelerates Sustainability." GreenBiz. Accessed April 19, 2016. https://www.greenbiz.com/blog/2014/10/14/shaheen-how-car-sharing-gets-us-here-sustainability.

"Car Pool." - Sustainable Living. Accessed April 04, 2016. https://www.bendigobank.com.au/generationgreen/sustainable-living/transport/car-pool.asp.

Where does you old phone goes?

The average US citizen change their phone in less than a year

In the United States the average citizen change their phone in less than a year. When they replace it, most of them send it to a landfill or incinerator where toxic substances can get into the soil, water and air. Every year, 140,000,000 cell phones, that is every 4 second a mobile phone will be dumped into a landfill, where there will be 80,000 pounds of lead going into the earth and groundwater supply of surrounding communities. 

Dumping mobile phone into landfill is not sustainable, it will cause long term pollution risk to the environment. Mobile phones and accessories consist of high concentrations of toxic heavy metals or other metals including cadmium, lead, nickel, mercury, manganese, lithium, zinc, arsenic, antimony, beryllium, and copper. They may leach into the water courses or contaminate the soil. Metals build up in the soil and they can then enter the food chain and in sufficient concentrations may cause health problems.

What really makes me worry is the chemicals above will have a range negative health effects, including damage to the nervous system, reproductive and developmental problems, cancer and genetic impacts. The health effects of lead poisoning are well known. If too much lead is absorbed into the bloodstream, it will cause serious liver and kidney damage in adults and neurological damage in children. Nickel and mercury are toxic and are classed as hazardous substance. I wonder how many adult and children are sick because of the metal poisoning in the developing countries like some developing cities in China and in South-East Asia.

A polluted river flows past a workshop that is
used for recycling electronic waste in GuiyuTyrone Siu/Reuters

If you are attached to your cell phone as I do to mine, don't change it until your phone really stop working, even it is not working well just go to a local mobile store and fix it. The information shown here about the pollution of cell phones on the environment and the impacts on your health will probably make you uncomfortable, but you can help to minimise the impact and tell your friend about this.  And remember, when you really decided to give up on your old phone be sure to donate or recycle your old one! I will be thankful if you could do one more step before you chuck it in the bin. It is meaningless to chase the latest cell phone, as the main use of mobile phone are phone calls, messages and internet. Maybe let's ask ourselves a question: Do I WANT it or I really NEED it?

Reference:

"The Environmental Impact of Cell Phones." Techi Fresh Daily Technology News. Accessed April 15, 2016. http://www.techi.com/2011/01/the-environmental-impact-of-cell-phones/. 

"ARP : Mobile Phone Waste and The Environment." ARP : Mobile Phone Waste and The Environment. Accessed April 15, 2016. http://www.arp.net.au/envcha.php. 

"Guiyu Waste Dump: The Chinese Tip Where Your Old Mobile Phones and Computers Go to Die [Photo Report]." International Business Times RSS. 2015. Accessed April 15, 2016. http://www.ibtimes.co.uk/guiyu-waste-dump-chinese-tip-where-your-old-mobile-phones-computers-go-die-photo-report-1509187. 

Larger the cities, smaller the rainforest

Sections of rain forest cut for slash-and-burn agriculture in Peru.
(Photo by R. Butler)

As the population increases rapidly on earth, we consumed more and more valuable resources. The shrinking size of rainforest means we are losing the biodiversity of our planet. Rainforest has many various species that we will probably never encounter them again. 

The consequences of losing the rainforest

1. Green house gases

• Deforestation not only lessens the amount of carbon stored, it also releases carbon dioxide into the air. This is because when trees die, they release the stored carbon. Deforestation is the second largest human-caused source of carbon dioxide to the atmosphere, ranging between 6 percent and 17 percent. 
• Water vapour is also one of the greenhouse gases. Deforestation has reduced global vapour flows from land by 4 percent from a study by the National Academy of Sciences. Even this small change in vapour flows already disrupt the natural weather patterns and modify current climate models.

2. Loss of species

• Animals are losing their habitat, there are negative consequences for medicinal research and local populations who rely on the animals and plants in the forests for hunting and medicine.

3. Soil erosion 

• Tree roots anchor the soil. Without trees, the soil is free to wash or blow away, which can lead to soil erosion, flooding and landslide issues. 

My biggest concern about deforestation is that it is a permanent destruction of forests to gain more land mostly for fuel , housing and urbanization. According to the United Nations' Food and Agriculture Organization, every year around 18 million acres (7.3 million hectares) of forest are lost. In the the WWF reports ,50% of the trees cut down from forests illegally are used as fuel. A forest takes hundreds of years to grow but it only takes 1 weeks for us to clean the whole forest, it is a one way process which is totally not sustainable, once it is clean it is gone, forever. Although forests seems far away from us, who are living in the urban areas, but it is a gift from nature, from our ancestors, it deserves respect and conservation. 

Deforestation in Brazil: Aerial view of a large soy field eating into the tropical rainforest.

It is never too late to stop diminishing the rainforest, we can help to reforest the area, helping the restoration of the animals original habitat. We have to stop the urban sprawl all over the world. we could think of ways like urban consolidation in the urban areas but not expanding into the rural area. We should reduce our use of timber-sourced products like paper, paper cups and bowls in order to minimise the demand of timber. we can encourage people to buy second hand furnitures to minimise the need of new timber of wood furniture. You can also choose to buy environmental responsible product, or donate to the rainforest organisations like rainforest foundations, orangutan, growingairfoundation and
rainforestconcern.

It is the time where all of us should take the responsibility to look after our planets, our rainforest!

Reference:

    Bradford, By Alina. "Deforestation: Facts, Causes & Effects." LiveScience. 2015. 

    Accessed March 25, 2016. http://www.livescience.com/27692-deforestation.html. 

    "Loss of Renewable Resources and Wildlife Conflict Resulting from Deforestation."
    Mongabay.com. Accessed March 25, 2016. http://rainforests.mongabay.com/0905.htm. 

    "10 Things You Can Do To Save The Rainforest | Rainforest Foundation US." Rainforest
    Foundation US. Accessed March 25, 2016. http://www.rainforestfoundation.org/10-things-

    you-can-do-to-save-the-rainforest/.