Going Green

Our  planet is made up from 2/3 water how water is moved through and around our planet is called the water cycle. this cycle of water is crucial to live on this planet, it runs our climates our ability to live and how we generate power.

There is a going problem with the current water cycle, the reason is that we are starting to run out of fresh drinkable (potable) water and with the rising sea levels contaminating some of our fresh water it making it harder for us and other species to live on this planet.

The water cycle starts by evaporating in the seas and oceans and the water vapour condenses to for clouds, made up from small ice particles, that move up and down within the clouds generating static electricity. the water in the clouds precipitates  back down onto the land and the ground. With climate change we are seeing more heavy rain leading to the leaching of soils, mudslides as happened in Japan and flooding that we have seen in Europe this week. The Jet stream is amplified this summer causing more extremes in weather of much heat and drought in some places and huge deluges of rain in other areas. So much rain that rivers can't cope and bust their banks. Philip and Paul also talked about the canal systems in England to move potable water from the wetter regions of the country to the drier south east area.

The climate change is clearly seen in northern USA and Canada as the temperatures nearly reach 50C. Houses in this part of the world are deigned to retain the heat. The houses and the people within them cannot survive these temperatures as hundreds die due the heat. We also look at capturing the Carbon Dioxide produced when making beer, capturing this and growing Algae, which in turn give off oxygen gas. 

The Carbon Dioxide from the fermentation of just one six pack of beer takes a tree two full days to absorb.

A craft beer producer in Sydney Young Henry's has teamed up with a University to help develop and New system. We talk about how this could be adapted to other industries. Finally we look at how Climate change can increase the summer insect season and lead to lots more insects, which as vectors can then transmit more Malaria and Dengue Fever to more and more people, perhaps as many as 8 Million or more so a year.

Are there any alternatives to maize, wheat and rice?  Does it have to be Insects, algae and the more familiar soya? Why do we need different foods?

Let’s look at growing Beef and growing an insect and growing Soya. Grass -> 10% turned into beef - 90% wastage But its not quite so true Much of the feed would go to waste.
Insects made of chitin. Inedible!!

We look at  a whole range of food which are good to eat and help save the planet.

Is a Vegetarian butcher called a greengrocer?

This week we are looking a rather damning indictment on the Government that we as a country are less prepared for global climate change than we were 5 years ago. The Climate change Risk Assessment is carried out every 5 years and is a lengthy report that reviews how well the country is prepared for global climate change. The report is then looked at by the government and its committees and policies are made that will bear brought into effect on the review date in 2022.

We are going to have a look into this report and see what we need to do.

Lithium is our way out for power. Lithium Batteries are made from Lithium Carbonate and there are huge deposits in Cornwall and Scotland. The Cornish reserves give us 260mg per litre flowing at a rate of 40-60 litres per second. But we know that mining is environmentally costly. The World's highest grade Lithium in Geothermal waters gives us a low environmental footprint that's enough for a phone battery every few seconds

The Demand is soaring for batteries for renewables. At the moment most of the Lithium comes from Australia, Chile and Argentina but is expensive and unfriendly to extract and uses loads of water, Cornwall may save the World. To give some idea of the amounts needed for cars the Tesla uses 12kg of Lithium per car and we know that the demand is increasing exponentially.

Methane has a bad reputation as a green house gas.   It burns well.  It stores well,  Called Natural Gas   Methane is emitted during the production and transport of coal, natural gas, and oil. Methane emissions also result from livestock and other agricultural practices, land use and by the decay of organic waste in municipal solid waste landfills   Its a green house gas 25 x as potent as CO2   But it lasts on average 9.1 years in the atmosphere compared to Carbon Dioxide 100 years

Carbon Dioxide is the evil green house gas. But it is part of a cycle, taken up by plants and converted into sugars, proteins and fats. These are then eaten by animals and once digested turn either into more animal ( about 10%) or respired directly into Carbon Dioxide. Eventually all the animals are eaten or die and this is then turned back into Carbon Dioxide and the cycle starts all over again.
The problem for us is using all the fossil fuels which take carbon taken out of the system millions of years ago and converts this into Carbon Dioxide.
This is a Green House gas which traps some of the Earths Heat and causes the Global Warming.

Solar panels convert the Sun's light energy directly into electricity. The Photovoltaic Panels usually fit on the roof and are connected to an inverter which changes the 12V Direct Current made by the panels into AC electricity used by the mains. In some situations the excess  electricity can be stored in batteries and then passed to the inverter when the light levels are low ( at night) to provide "free" electricity when the Sun's power is not available.
There are other panels which convert the suns power to directly heat water for the home.
So why doesn't everyone use them? 
Is is the cost which is not inconsiderable?
Are there other reasons?
Philip and Paul discuss solar panels and their use.

Welcome to the Going Green Podcast: The Conscious Choice, episode 1.
The day of recording was Earth day, and so me and my son made the conscious choice wanting to talk about going green and other climate change topic. I talk about climate change a lot with my students, and exam boards like to ask questions on the subject. so to help broaden students we will discuss current topics and show you how easy it is for you to Go Green

Watch rather than listen at youtu.be/bg8SIBhiCoQ