Though media coverage in Canada has been sparse, European media have paid somewhat more attention to the agreements reached at the climate change talks in Doha, Qatar, which concluded on Saturday. While far from the ultimate agreement that many see as essential to reduce global greenhouse gas emissions, many of the components of the Doha agreement point towards the nature of a global agreement that now seems more likely to be reached in three to five years.

Foremost among the agreements is the extension of the Kyoto Protocol until 2020. This is likely to have little impact on Canada (think Canada-Europe free trade talks) but at least keeps some of the key elements of Kyoto alive. Foremost among these is the Clean Development Mechanism, though lack of new funding may mean that Certified Emission Reductions from the CDM have little value (think 50 cents a tonne) for the time being. The CDM is a mechanism under which organizations in developed countries can invest in projects in developing countries and receive carbon credits for the carbon emission reductions achieved.

The agreement also commits to a new agreement which will succeed but is not necessarily based on the Kyoto Protocol. Frameworks were also agreed for issues such as finance for developing countries, technology transfer, and measurement of emissions from forestry activities.

The full text of the agreements from the Doha conference is available at http://unfccc.int/2860.php#decisions

A special issue of Gallon Environment Letter will be published next week with a summary of the Doha decisions and reviews of some of the key research and other documents presented during the Doha conference. To subscribe to Gallon Environment Letter visit http://www.cialgroup.com/subscription.htm

Recycling of end-of-life resources into products that we don’t really need is not normally an activity that GallonDaily considers to be a component of sustainable development but a new initiative in Holland is so innovative and potentially educational that it may be worthy of an exception.

The Perpetual Plastic Project is a consumer recycling initiative that is bound to attract interest. Designed for exhibitions and events, the Perpetual Plastic Project is a portable system that enables people to recycle their used bioplastic drinking cups into such souvenirs as rings and key chain tags. Sponsored by Purac, a manufacturer of PLA bioplastic cups, and other sponsors, the system provides users with an opportunity to wash and dry their used PLA beverage cup, to shred it, and to insert the shreddings into a machine which melts them to form a plastic ‘string’, and then to pass the string to a 3D printer which ‘prints’ it into a souvenir item. It is easier (and more fascinating) to watch than to describe: you can see the whole process in action at http://www.perpetualplasticproject.com/Perpetual_Plastic_Project/Project.html

This would seem to be a fantastic way of demonstrating the potential for recycling of many types of plastic and for engaging users in an educational activity around bioplastics. People have not yet got tired of midway machines that flatten pennies into medallions so we have hope that the Perpetual Plastic Project may have a long life in fun education about plastics. Let’s hope that Purac or one of its several partners finds a way to bring this kind of interactive exhibit to events in Canada.

The Organization of American States is hosting a conference in Lima, Peru, today and tomorrow on the topic of Management of Socio-Environmental Conflict for the countries of Central America and the Andean Region. The conference will address themes such as citizen participation in public policy formation, prior consultation, early warning systems, and dialogue as a tool for conflict management.

The objective of the conference is to “strengthen the institutional capacities of governments in addressing socio-environmental conflicts through the exchange of information and the presentation of institutional mechanisms used to bring about solutions to these problems” in the Central America and Andean region. Conflict between indigenous people and communities on one side and mining companies on the other has reached serious levels in Peru and elsewhere.

Though the meeting is primarily for government experts, GallonDaily commends the OAS for taking a discussion initiative on some of the most appropriate tools for bringing together citizens and the resource extraction sector. We wish the initiative every success.

Interestingly, the conference is organized by an OAS department funded by the Government of Canada.

Details are available at http://www.oas.org/en/media_center/press_release.asp?sCodigo=E-449/12

A recently published study from Brown University researchers Marcella Remer Thompson and Kim Boekelheide in the peer-reviewed journal Environmental Research indicates that the risk of above median levels of lead, mercury and PCBs in the bodies of women of child-bearing age increases with increasing age and that decreased risk of above median levels is found in women who have breast-fed an infant, leading to the almost inescapable conclusion that the toxic substances are commonly discharged from the mother in the breast milk.

The research found three statistically significant risk factors for above median levels of these three substances in females: age, eating of fish, and heavy alcohol consumption. Women in the study group of 3,173 American women aged 40 to 49 had a 30 times greater risk of having above median concentrations of these substances in their bodies than women aged 16 to 19. Part of this increased risk may stem from increased environmental exposure to these substances in the 1950s and 1960s than today. It is not known why heavy alcohol consumption leads to increased pollutant levels in the body. The only factor that led to a reduced risk of having above median concentrations of these three contaminants in a women’s body was a history of breastfeeding.

The study can be found at http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0013935112002885 – abstract is free; fee required for full article. A good summary is published by Brown University at http://news.brown.edu/pressreleases/2012/11/toxicants

A recent article by Dr. James L. Powell uses research of the peer-reviewed scientific literature to demonstrate that scientific uncertainty over human induced climate change has been at a negligible level for the last 20 years, contrary to common reports in popular media.

Powell, who is currently Executive Director of the US National Physical Science Consortium and who was appointed by both Presidents Reagan and George H. W. Bush to the National Science Board, conducted an analysis of the peer-reviewed scientific literature over the period January 1991 to November 2012. He found 13,950 peer-reviewed scientific articles by 33,690 individual authors. A total of 24 of the articles, 0.17%,  by 37 individual authors, 0.11%, rejected human-induced climate change.

In short, Powell’s literature search shows that 99.89% of scientists who have published  in peer-reviewed journals on the science of climate change since 1991 are in agreement that climate change exists and results to a greater or lesser extent from human activity.  Hardly the kind of massive scientific disagreement that many in the media have touted.

GallonDaily suggests that business should no longer promote climate change denial. Doing so suggests that such companies might not use scientific principles when it comes to designing or promoting their products.

The Powell study, including a discussion of the methodology used, can be found at http://www.jamespowell.org/ 

A global poll 6,000 10 to 12 year old children conducted in 47 countries found that environmental pollution is the top concern of this age group in developed countries, with natural disasters being the biggest worry for children in Africa and Asia.

The poll was conducted from June through August 2012 by the international children’s organization ChildFund Alliance, an alliance which includes Christian Children’s Fund of Canada and the US group Childfund International..

One in three (33%) children in developed countries cited pollution as their top concern, with half as many (16%) singling out global warming. Among children in the Americas, pollution was far and away the biggest concern, selected by 43 percent of respondents. Within developing countries, pollution was named as the top choice by 26 percent of children surveyed, while 23 percent cited natural disasters.

A summary as well as the full data report are available at http://www.childfund.org/media/press_releases/Global_Survey_of_Worlds_Children_Finds_Concern_Over_Pollution.aspx

A study from the University of Navarra, Spain, has identified excessive levels of mercury and arsenic in some infant cereal products. The researchers are calling for regulation of maximum levels of these contaminants in infant foods.

The study analysed 91 different products from 10 different manufacturers. The ingredients cocoa and rice were found to be the main sources of mercury and arsenic, respectively. Organic infant cereals based on cocoa showed the highest risk intakes of mercury, very close to exceeding European intake guidelines. Of the studied cereals, 32 out of 91 provide a risk of arsenic intake exceeding government guidelines.

It should be noted that this study relates to products found on the European (Spanish) market, not the North American market. In addition, mercury and arsenic are just two of many contaminants now being found in the human food chain. That does not mean that levels of these contaminants are acceptable, just that if one focusses on just one or two contaminants one may not be seeing the whole picture of environmental contaminants in food.

The mercury and arsenic study is published in the peer-reviewed journal Food Control and may be found at http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0956713512004641  abstract is free; a fee or subscription is required for the full text.

Yesterday, in association with the Los Angeles International Auto Show, General Motors announced that the Spark Electric Vehicle would be released next year in California, South Korea, Oregon, Canada, and other global markets. GallonDaily commends GM for including Canada in its initial product release.

The Spark is a five-door pure electric mini-car that GM claims will have a better range than its rivals, though no actual range figures have been released by the Company. So far GallonDaily is impressed, particularly by the recharging options which include 120v, 240v, and DC Fast Charge, which apparently will be able to recharge the battery pack to 80% of a full charge in 20 minutes.

It is important to remember that the current generation of EVs are essentially urban vehicles. It is unlikely that even the Spark EV will be able to travel from Toronto to Barrie and back, or Vancouver to Abbotsford and back, without recharging. Calgary to Edmonton return, or Montreal to Quebec City return, are not within current possibilities without on route recharging.

While GallonDaily is convinced that EVs have a role in replacement of gasoline vehicles, we also see it as important not to see electric mini-cars as a solution. If the electric mini-car becomes even more popular than conventional gasoline cars our cities risk becoming even more congested and energy use for transportation could in fact increase. Reducing the environmental footprint of transportation in cities means improving public transportation services and using public transit whenever possible. Despite their smaller environmental footprint, mini-cars are just as capable, perhaps more capable, of causing congestion and chaos in cities as existing vehicle designs. More responsible mobility in the context of Canada’s geography may mean personal transportation for low density inter-urban routes and public transportation for movement within the city. Current technology limitations mean that we are actually getting the reverse of this.

For GM’s press release about the Spark EV visit http://media.gm.com/media/us/en/gm/news.detail.html/content/Pages/news/us/en/2012/Nov/laas/1127-spark-ev.html

A study by scientists at Seoul National University and the University of Minnesota suggests that delivery of online purchases may have a lower environmental impact in suburban and low-density residential situations than customer pickup or conventional shopping. The research results indicate that pickup location systems, for example where buyers pickup goods from a subway location or a grocery store, may increase travel miles and emissions compared to a delivery system using a route designed for efficiency. The not necessarily intuitive reason for these results seems to be that delivery systems are most often organized for the most efficient routing while individual trips to stores and pickup locations are haphazard and highly duplicative.

GallonDaily points out that this research is by no means the last word on this subject and it may be difficult to reach conclusions that are uniform for all geographical settings. However, whatever the system used it is clear that much more needs to be done to increase the efficiency of delivery systems. For example, in a typical low density residential area, current delivery routes include at least school buses twice a day, one or more newspapers, mail, and a range of parcel and envelope delivery companies. Cooperation between delivery services could surely reduce these half dozen or more delivery services by at least 50%, with a corresponding reduction in fuel use and emissions.

The study results are published in the journal Environmental Science and Technology at http://pubs.acs.org/doi/abs/10.1021/es301302k – the abstract is free; a subscription or article purchase is required for the full text.

In developed countries one of the few places where one can still see black smoke belching from chimneys and smokestacks is around the port.  According to the US Environmental Protection Agency:

• Ships are responsible for approximately 15% of all global anthropogenic nitrogen oxide emissions and approximately 4–9% of sulphur dioxide emissions.
• Ships also emit 1.8 million metric tons of PM10 (particulate matter which is 10 microns or less in diameter).
• Ocean-going ships were responsible for just under 3% of global CO2 emissions in 2007.

A newly published study from researchers at the University of California Riverside indicates that reducing the speed of ships by about 50% (from cruise at 25 – 29 miles per hour to 14 miles per hour) reduces emissions of carbon dioxide, nitrogen oxides, sulphur dioxide, and particulates per mile by substantially more than 50%.

The study focuses on ships in port areas, where air pollutants from ships are still a significant contributor to area air pollution, but the pollution reduction opportunities might provide some worthwhile opportunities for importers seeking to reduce the environmental footprint of their products.

The sample size for this study was small. As researchers routinely say, more study of this apparently worthwhile pollution reduction opportunity is needed.

The US EPA data on emissions from ships are at http://www.epa.gov/international/water/marine/ports.html

The study Greenhouse Gas and Criteria Emission Benefits through Reduction of Vessel Speed at Sea is at http://pubs.acs.org/stoken/presspac/presspac/abs/10.1021/es302371f    – abstract is free; full article requires subscription or payment.