Have you ever heard of the term, “Vanlife?” or rather the hashtag #Vanlife ?
It is a growing trend where people convert vans to a fully contained living area that enables them to travel and work virtually anywhere in the world whilst pursuing their dream of travel, discovery and adventure.
Listen to Chris telling Sue about a project that he has to buy and convert a van for a future tour that will include every European capital city, whilst working at distance, making cinematic travel videos, podcasts and a blog alongside the discovery of grassroots ecological projects throughout Europe that seek to protect the environment.
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Ahead of the Climate crisis meeting with world leaders, COP26 in Glasgow in October 2021, Chris talks to Renu, who lives in India, about how India is going green.
Air pollution in India is a serious health issue, of the 30 most polluted cities in the world, 21 were in India in 2019, but are things getting better?
The Indian government has pledged to eliminate all single use plastics by 2022 – they have one year to go – but just how are they doing?
India generates 25,940 tonnes of plastic waste every day – that sounds a lot, right? But, just what does that figure mean?
It is the weight of 9,000 Asian elephants – every day!
88 Boeing 747 jets – every day!
Of this 10,746 tonnes is uncollected plastic waste and 66% of this waste is generated by 60 cities and 50% of this waste comes from 5 cities :Kolkata, Bengaluru, Chennai, Mumbai, Delhi.
This all sounds alarming, and it is, but India is the 15th biggest polluter in the world
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Understanding The COP 21
What is the ‘conference of parties’, and why you will hear more about it as the year-end approaches?
Understanding The COP 21
It was COP-3, in Kyoto, Japan, that gave rise to the Kyoto Protocol, that placed international obligations on the set of rich and industrialised countries to cut their greenhouse gas emissions by assigned amounts.
The twenty-first session of the Conference of the Parties (COP)Â and the eleventh session of the Conference of the Parties serving as the meeting of the Parties to the Kyoto Protocol (CMP) takes place from 30 November to 11 December 2015, in Paris, France.
The COP is an annual meeting, this year it is expected to deliver a major agreement on the action plan for saving the planet from the disastrous consequences of rising average global temperatures.
The term ‘COP’ stands for Conference of Parties. ‘Parties’ is a reference to the (now) 196 signatories of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, or UNFCCC, as it is called.
The Framework Convention came into force in 1994, two years after its text was finalised at the Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro in Brazil.
Every year since 1994, the ‘parties’ to the UNFCCC have met at different venues at the end of the year to discuss a global agreement to cut emissions of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere, the main reason why average global temperatures have been rising.
Understanding The COP 21 in context.
The Paris meeting is the 21st in that series, hence the name ‘COP-21’.
The Kyoto Protocol, which came into effect only in 2005, has since run into trouble, with some countries, which were obliged to take emission cuts, having walked out of it.
Though the Protocol continues on paper for the time being, the current negotiations at the COPs are about bringing in an agreement that will demand some kind of action from all countries, not just the rich and industrialised.
The actions expected from the countries are supposed to be in accordance with their capabilities.
An earlier attempt to forge such an agreement was made at COP-15 in Copenhagen in Denmark in 2009, but it failed spectacularly.
After two years of further negotiations, the countries had decided that a global agreement on climate change must be delivered at the COP-21 in Paris in 2015. However, with fewer than 200 days to go for the Paris conference, deep differences persist on several issues, and the frantic pursuit of a compromise continues.
Visit the COP21 Website.
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Adaptation to climate change
Adaptation to Climate Change, means anticipating the adverse effects of climate change and taking appropriate action to prevent or minimise the damage they can cause, or taking advantage of opportunities that may arise. It has been shown that well planned, early adaptation action saves money and lives later.
Examples of adaptation to climate change measures include: using scarce water resources more efficiently; adapting building codes to future climate conditions and extreme weather events; building flood defences and raising the levels of dykes; developing drought-tolerant crops; choosing tree species and forestry practices less vulnerable to storms and fires; and setting aside land corridors to help species migrate.
Adaptation strategies are needed at all levels of administration: at the local, regional, national, EU and also the international level. Due to the varying severity and nature of climate impacts between regions in Europe, most adaptation initiatives will be taken at the regional or local levels.
The ability to cope and adapt also differs across populations, economic sectors and regions within Europe.
The Commission adopted an EU adaptation strategy in April 2013 which has been welcomed by the Member States. Complementing the activities of Member States, the strategy supports action by promoting greater coordination and information-sharing between Member States, and by ensuring that adaptation considerations are addressed in all relevant EU policies.
The EU’s role can be particularly appropriate when climate change impacts transcend borders of individual states – such as with river basins – and when impacts vary considerably across regions. The role of the EU can be especially useful to enhance solidarity among Member States and ensure that disadvantaged regions and those most affected by climate change are capable of taking the necessary measures to adapt.
Listen to Guillaume, a French environmental researcher on adaptation to climate change, talk about his job, the subject of adaptation to climate change and his background.
From Climate Action
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