Crowds likely did a double-take this week as they streamed into Mobile World Congress, the largest mobile tech conference on the planet. And not because of the new gadgets. Activists took over the sidewalk in front of the MWC to (literally) illustrate the environmental impact of e-waste. As far as messages go, this one ain’t subtle. The 3D pavement art opens a chasm of e-waste under the feet of attendees.
Source: ifixit.org
In the 1920s, a group of the largest lightbulb companies from around the world came together and made a plan to sell more lightbulbs: make them worse. The group, called the Phoebus Cartel, decided that their bulbs would last 1,000 hours, much lower than the 2,500 hours the bulbs had lasted before. Customers would then have to buy more bulbs. It was a foolproof plan, except for being unethical and shortsighted. The Phoebus Cartel shows the problems with a traditional linear economy that a circular economy solves. In a circular economy, the point is to look past sheer profit or growth and consider a sustainable future with wider social benefits.
FAMOUS FISHING BOATS By 1950, the port of Essaouira was the most important for Sardines in Morocco. Also for export of cereals. …
A 15-pound Congestion Charge in central London also applies between 0700 and 2200 BST, although exemptions apply. Cities and nations around the world have plans to ban, restrict or impose levies on combustion engine-powered vehicles to cut pollution. London on Monday widened the area motorists with older and more polluting cars will have to pay 12.50 pounds ($17.25) to drive in, as part of efforts to improve air quality. The Ultra Low Emission Zone has already been operational in the city centre and will now apply up to the North and South Circular roads, stretching to Tottenham in the north and Brixton in the south. The charge affects petrol cars that do not meet at least Euro 4 standards, which became mandatory in 2005, and diesel cars not at Euro 6 levels or higher, in place since September 2015. A 15-pound Congestion Charge in central London also applies between 0700 and 2200 BST, although exemptions apply.
Off the Massachusetts and New York coasts, developers are preparing to build the United States’ first federally approved utility-scale offshore wind farms – 74 turbines in all that could power 470,000 homes. More than a dozen other offshore wind projects are awaiting approval along the Eastern Seaboard. By 2030, the Biden administration’s goal is to have 30 gigawatts of offshore wind energy flowing, enough to power more than 10 million homes. Replacing fossil fuel-based energy with clean energy like wind power is essential to holding off the worsening effects of climate change. But that transition isn’t happening fast enough to stop global warming. Human activities have pumped so much carbon dioxide into the atmosphere that we will also have to remove carbon dioxide from the air and lock it away permanently.
Global food insecurity is a chronic issue that is likely to affect an increasing number of people worldwide in accordance with climate change, rapid population growth, and the increasing scarcity of arable land due to soil deterioration. To face the current growing challenge of environmental degradation caused by conventional farming practices (including the overuse of synthetic fertilizers and pesticides that have immense and adverse effects on humans, animals, and environments) a potential suitable solution is the use of plant-beneficial rhizospheric microorganisms or whole microbiome management techniques to improve plant growth, coupled with the use of entomopathogenic fungi as biological control techniques.
As society becomes more mindful of the effect it has on the environment and takes steps to lessen this impact, we are beginning to see the business world follow suit. While the majority of organisations have traditionally relied on a linear business model, it has become clear that this way of operating follows a pattern of ‘take-make-waste’.