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/. 

Is Green Roof sustainable?

1. What is a Green Roof?

A green roof is also called the eco-roof or living roof. They were built on buildings for for a long time in different countries. E.g. the Chicago's City Hall building is famous of their living roofs . A green roof is a roof that has vegetation and a medium to grow the vegetation. Its costs also depend on the type of green roof installed. 

2. What are the advantages of Green Roofs?

Roof areas are a important part in urban cities surfaces. Plants on green surfaces can absorb heat and then use it through evapotranspiration. Therefore, green roofs is very important for reducing urban temperatures, and improve air pollution/smog, reduce the urban heat island effect.

Green roofs store rainwater in the plants and soil, water then be evaporated into the atmosphere. In summer, green roofs can retain rainfall from 70-80% ; in winter, they can retain from 25-40%.

Green roofs can reduce and delay run off when there is heavy and prolonged precipitation. A study in Germany stated that when there is a 10mm rainstorm, 200 litres of rainwater fell on an 18m2 green roof ,only 15 litres will run off from the roof to the ground.Therefore, it can reduce the run off on the storm water drainage system, and reduce the chance of local flooding.

Green roofs can also trap the dust in the air to reduce air pollution and has positive impact on people physical and mental health, also lower the temperate of the building.

However, it is really sustainable in all kind of roofs and situations?

3. The "sustainability" of Green Roofs

• The right kind of vegetationAccording to Scott MacIvor, from York University in Toronto, sedum does not absorb water as good as other plant species. At certain times of the year, sedum actually absorbs heat instead of reflecting it. What even worse is that it does not encourage biodiversity of plant species on the roof. According to MacIvor’s research, green roofs provide the most benefit when they are planted with a diverse group of species that are adapted to local conditions.
• The right installation
  A drain screening system is needed to prevent soil or other sediments from accumulating in your roof drains. A blockage of one or more drains due to sediment could turn your lawn into a flood disaster, and your roof will no longer be sustainable because of the cost and maintenances involved. The root penetration barrier is also needed to prevent the root growing into your house and causes leakage.

A green roof failure ecample:
vegetations struggle to grow on it

In my opinion, green roof is still a good options to improves the sustainability in the urban area. However, the installed must be well prepared or consulted by a green roof specialist. and include a wide variety of vegetation that is suitable for green roof. A regular check to maintain the green roof is also recommended. It is a sustainable tool if you use it correctly and carefully.

Reference:

"Green Roof Technology Blog." Green Roof Blog. Accessed March 23, 2016. http://www.greenrooftechnology.com/green-roof-blog/tag/maintenance_on_Green_Roofs/. 

B., Jonathan. "What Are Some Potential Green Roof Problems? - Good Question." Accessed March 23, 2016. http://www.apartmenttherapy.com/atgreen-home-re-29590. 

"European Federation of Green Roof Associations - EFB." Green Roofs. Accessed March 23, 2016. http://www.efb-greenroof.eu/verband/fachbei/fa01_englisch.html. 

Hilary, Dave. "Green Roof." EzineArticles. Accessed March 23, 2016. http://EzineArticles.com/5237712. 

Urban heat island effect in Hong Kong

An urban heat island (UHI) is a city or metropolitan area that is apparently warmer than its surrounding rural areas due to the activities of people. The phenomenon was first discovered by Luke Howardin the 1810. The temperature difference usually is larger at night than the day, and it is more easy to happen when winds are weak. It is most noticeable in the summer and winter.

The urban heat island effect happens due to the modification of land surfaces. Unnecessary heat generated by energy usage is one of the factors. When urbanization grows, it appears to expand and increase its average temperature.

A bird eye view of  central, Hong Kong 

"Urban Heat Island” (UHI) occurs in a densely populated area, Hong Kong is a one of the most crowded cities in the world, it has a  higher temperature than surrounding rural areas. In the urban development of Hong Kong , the changes of land use and the landscape, the densely located urban infrastructure and anthropogenic heat has caused the poor cooling effect in built-up areas, resulting in forming the Urban Heat Islands.

I lived in Hong Kong for a long time, during the summer time, the constantly high temperature has caused sickness and deaths associated with excessive heat exposure. As UHI exacerbates heat waves, which increases the risks of heat stroke and exhaustion, especially on those with chronic diseases and people who are working outdoors.

However, vegetation cover and using proper building materials can help reducing the UHI effect. But it is always hard to convince developer to have more green space and spend more money on building materials when it doesn't bring any economical benefits to the company. 

It is happy to hear that there is a Remote Sensing technologies and Geographic Information Systems (GIS) according to Dr Charles Wong Man-sing at the Department of Land Surveying and Geo-Informatics, it can help to improve town planning based on data gathered. By using this we can design ventilation pathways by mapping out the Frontal Area Index (a ratio of total area of the building facets exposed to the wind) of each building gathered from GIS data and reducing the paths of the lowest air flow resistance. This helps town planners to have better decisions in environmental design without blocking the main ventilation corridors. If we can maintain the ventilation then UHI effect can be mitigated.

Reference:

"Urban Heat Islands." Wikipedia. Accessed March 18, 2016. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Urban_heat_island. 

 "Mitigating Urban Heat Islands for Better Living Environment." Mitigating Urban Heat Islands for Better Living Environment. Accessed March 18, 2016. http://www.polyu.edu.hk/cpa/excel/en/201504/viewpoint/v1/index.html.