Climate Change

  Contents:

  • Extreme Weather Events

  • Food and Greenhouse Gas Emissions

 

 Extreme weather events

Climate Change researchers tell us that we are to expect more frequent extreme weather events and  with more serious effects due to the elevated levels of greenhouse gases in he atmosphere.

 One example of this could be the post tropical storm Arthur that visited us in the beginning of July. Our little village was cut off and the electricity outage lasted for a week. Our helpful Fire Department helped us keeping freezers cold using a portable electricity generator. They were our heroes along with the ladies serving hot food at the Fire Hall for everyone. 

More than twenty trees fell in my garden, which meant hard work and a filled wood shed. Many of the trees I had been planning to take down, so that was quite OK. I do feel sorry though that I lost a big old apple tree and some beautiful birches. Many flowers were destroyed and the Greenhouse lost some windows. Nobody was hurt.



















If you want to learn more about Climate Change you will find a lot of information of the state of the art in the Synthesis Report for Policymakers that the World's research community put together last autumn http://www.ipcc.ch/pdf/assessment-report/ar5/syr/SYR_AR5_SPMcorr1.pdf
The reading is not great literature, and I think there will be some more easily digestible articles published eventually.



Food and Greenhouse gas emissions

 

Steak or car,  was the catchy title of a study that the Swedish Environmental Protection Agency performed many years ago on the effect of different lifestyles  on Climate Change i.e. the amount of greenhouse gas emissions generated.

We, as humans, influence the climate mainly through the following: Food, Transportation and Housing. To get the whole picture you have to account for all emissions from ”cradle to grave”. So for housing everything from extracting raw materials from the crust of the earth, producing building material,  construction of the building up to emissions from heating, when the building is being used until, finally, taking care of the waste when the building has been torn down.

Swedish data showed that the three areas  were of similar importance each generating 1/3 of the total emissions. This may change from country to country due to how cold the climate is etc.

We are well aware of the fact that our emissions need to decrease drastically, so what can we do? Well that depend on who you are and what your priorities have. But like all decisions we make, we do need to be well informed. There are lots of studies being performed that we can Google in order to learn more.

Below you find some useful links on what GHG emissions specific food products generate to help you make informed choices. I find the Carbondioxide- pyramide below very helpful.  

See the Food and and Greenhouse Gas Emissions.pdf:







You can calculate your emissions by answering the questions in  the Food Carbon Footprint Calculator, even if you don't live in the UK. If  you buy local or nationally produced products from your own country, then just pretend you live in the UK and translate your own situation into UK-local or UK-general.
 
Food Carbon Footprint Calculator:


Having the knowledge it is up to you and your own priorities if you choose a big steak with its considerable GHG emissions. You can  find other ways to reduce emissions. Maybe you compensate these with driving you car less? It is the total amount of GHG emissions that matters for the climate.

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