ICIS Resources: ICIS Newsletter: June 2005



ICIS NeWS		Resources: ICIS News: June 05 in this issue: Editorial Spotlight Low Costs, High Impacts – Air Travel and the Environment Tsunami Thailand opens Tsunami Warning Center Bachelor towns Architecture Body In Motion - The Turning Torso, Sweden Business Exxon say no go to renewables Ben & Jerry's lick global warming SUVs Suck - Greenpeace protest Global Busted: Rainforest plunder in Brazil World Military Spending in 2004 tops $1 Trillion ICIS Calendar Books Contact ICIS ICIS CENTRE Hornbækgaard Hornbækgaardsvej 2 DK-3100 Hornbæk Tel (+45) 49 70 43 64 E-mail address: center@iciscenter.org Editorial Welcome to the Summer edition of ICIS’ Enews! Here at ICIS we have just embarked on a new series of courses for young designers that aims to help them develop the skills and knowledge necessary to meet the challenges of internationalisation, globalisation and networking, as well as the social, ethical and environmental demands of tomorrow. If you are a young, danish designer, you may be eligible to attend; read more here. In this issue, we look at the problem of budget travel and its impact on the global climate. There’s no doubt that the air travel brings benefits to society by generating employment, helping commerce and aiding in disaster relief situations such as the recent Asian tsunami. While airlines battle it out, dropping prices in order to draw in customers, its hard to resist the temptation of cheap flights to destinations around the globe. However, like its partner force, globalisation, cheap air travel comes at a cost. Read more below. We also have a round up of recent environmental news and information, from the UK and Europe including the development of a stunning new skyscraper in the Øresund region between Denmark and southern Sweden, which has been designed and built with the principles of sustainability in mind. Finally, look out for the next issue of the EneWs in October which will be in a new format and with more global outlook in terms of news, features and contributors. If you would like to include some news from your country, please forward snippets to me at trudy@iciscenter.org. Have a great summer! peace Trudy Spotlight Low Cost, High Impacts: Air Travel and the Environment Since the late 1940’s, when the first passenger jet was created, air travel has grown seventy-fold and is set to double by 2020. Its also getting progressively cheaper to fly and with the boom in budget airlines, its now possible to get return flights on ‘no-frills’ airplanes around Europe for under €75; sometimes they can be for as little as a bus ticket. While the kind of freedom and accessibility this kind of mass air travel creates is a positive thing, everything, including the globalisation which airtravel underpins, comes at a price. The question is what is the real cost of budget air travel to society? Earlier this year, British environmental organizations, Greenpeace and Friends of the Earth gave graphic reminders to the tens of thousands of Britons who jet off on cheap weekend flights that the huge surge in mass air travels is becoming one of the biggest causes of climate change. They warned that unless the boom in cheap flights is halted, Britain and other countries will be unable to meet targets for cutting back on the emissions of carbon dioxide that are causing the atmosphere to warm at unprecedented levels. Aircraft emissions go directly into the stratosphere and have more than twice the global warming effect of emissions from cars and power stations at ground level. Planes are estimated to pump out eight times more carbon dioxide per passenger mile than a train, and yet train travel is less subsidised, so that many UK rail routes cost more than the equivalent flights. THE FACTS ABOUT FLYING * Air travel produces 19 times the greenhouse gas emissions of trains; and 190 times that of a ship. * Aviation could contribute 15 per cent of greenhouse gases each year if unchecked. * One return flight to Florida produces the equivalent CO2 of a year's average motoring. * Cargo transportation is growing by 7 per cent a year. In 1970, 580,000 tons of freight were moved by plane; in 2002, 2.2 million tons. It is forecast to reach 5 million tons in 2010. * Flying 1kg of asparagus from California to the UK uses 900 times more energy than the home-grown equivalent. Aviation fuel is tax-exempt and there is no VAT applied to airfares. In addition, duty free on fares outside Europe and the cap that the Civil Aviation Authority sets on airport landing charges means that airports charge lower costs to airlines than they would otherwise. Removing these subsidies would go some way to reflecting a ‘true’ cost of air travel, without even including the cost of its environmental impact. However, this would of course, push down the demand by pricing people off planes and put a stop to the cheap flight bonanza. This would lead inevitably to fierce campaigns from the aviation industry and probably the public too. The UK government seems to be sitting on the fence on the issue, its commitment to tackle climate change and reduce carbon emissions sitting uneasily with its promise to facilitate the expected mass increase in air traffic. However, a group of UK business leaders including the chief executive of BAA, the world’s leading airport company are advocating an emissions trading scheme for airlines. This scheme would force airlines to pay for excessive carbon emissions, creating an incentive to develop and invest in low carbon technologies. But some would say that the industry only stands to gain by joining a European emissions trading scheme. The history of similar systems suggests that carriers will receive most of their tradable permits free on entry to the system and only have to pay for a few. In addition, the prices may stay low due to pressure from energy-intensive European industries who already participate in the system, which will neither provide incentivies to either reduce emissions or encourage the development of new technologies. Another, perhaps fairer alternative would be to make airlines pay for every ton of emissions they produce and also to tax aviation fuel to bring the sector in line with other areas of economic activity. For consumers, there is a growing number of schemes that allow you to offset your own carbon emissions from travelling or any other activities. The groups use the money that you give to plant forests or buy carbon credits and retire them from the market, thereby preventing another interest from buying it and dumping that share of carbon into the atmosphere. Some organisations use the funds to build wind and solar energy farms and other environmental initiatives. Although these schemes will be increasingly helpful in mitigating climate change, as they raise awareness as to the extent of the challenge of climate change, they fail to provide an incentive to changing behaviour and maybe perceived as having more environmental benefits than actually exist. Without a doubt, the aviations industry’s environmental impact must be minimized and all stakeholders have a part to play. Government should increase taxation, consumers should make informed choices and consider offset schemes, airlines should step up to their corporate responsibilities and promote the development of new aircraft and communications technologies that can reduce noise and gas emissions. Sources: http://www.baa.co.uk/main/corporate/sustainable_development_frame.html http://www.ryanair.com/site/EN/about.php?page=About&sec=environment http://www.bized.ac.uk/current/leisure/2003_4/010304.htm “Revealed: The real cost of air travel”. The Independent, 28th May 2005 www.adamsmith.org/pdf/air-travel.pdf - The Adam Smith Institute http://www.airport-int.com - an online information resource designed to help decision makers keep up to date with the latest developments in Airport technology www.futureforests.com www.manaca.com www.worldlandtrust.org Tsunami Thailand opens Tsunami Warning Center Thailand opened a natural disaster warning centre in May, five months after the devastating tsunami killed thousands of people on its southern coast as well as other neighbouring countries. "It takes them 15 minutes to send out warnings, more than enough time to warn people of a coming tsunami," Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra said as the Natural Disaster Warning Centre opened live on television from a northern suburb of Bangkok. Although the tsunami warning system was not yet complete because it still required sea buoys to measure a tsunami's impact, it would be effective for now, Thaksin said. The centre, supplied with 30 million baht ($750,000) worth of communication equipment from a group of American software firms, is crammed with computer screens and linked to earthquake centres in Japan and Hawaii, Thaksin said. The centre, which would issue alerts on other natural disasters such as floods, forest fires, and hazardous chemical leaks, will receive and analyse earthquake information from provincial meteorological offices across the countrys. If it believed a tsunami was coming, a warning would be sent to all television channels, radio stations and mobile phones by text messages, officials said. Last month, Thaksin attended Thailand's first tsunami evacuation drill on the beaches of Phuket, one of Asia's premier tourist resorts, which involved navy helicopters, ships, and three warning towers which blared warnings. Fifty more towers would be completed soon and the Thai centre was ready to share information with other countries if a tsunami was expected, he said on Monday. Thailand's official death toll from the Indian Ocean disaster stands at 5,395. A further 2,822 people are listed as missing. ($US1=40.34 Baht) Bachelor towns In a picturesque village on Indonesia’s northern coast, Meunasah Mesjid is one of the area’s new bachelor villages that were created when a disproportionate number of women and children were killed last December. In some villages, up to four times as many women were killed as men. Out of Meunasah Mesjid 1,110 former residents, only 161 people survived and only 45 of those are females. At the time of the tsunami, many of the men were up in the hills, cutting trees for logs or in the paddy fields. In addition, some men work in the city and many were actually fishing far out at sea and survived as the tsunami passed underneath them. International aid organization, Oxfam conducted a survey of village in Indonesia, India and Sri Lanka and found that up to 80% of those killed were women. This has lead to social issues such as harassment, rape and forced early marriages for the surviving women. Men may also face problems as they take on unfamiliar household tasks or look after their families. Some may become willing recruits for Acehnese rebels hiding up in the hills; one rebel commander who grew up in Meunasah came out of the hills a day after the disaster to hand out rice and fish – the first aid distribution in the village. The US Agency for International Development is building a 247km road from the capital Banda Aceh to Meulaboh on the west coast, which runs through Meunasah. With its objective of improving livelihoods, employment and the local economy, this project is hoped to provide gainful employment for many of the men of the village. Source Planet Ark – www.planetark.com Architecture Body In Motion - The Turning Torso, Sweden The new landmark building in Sweden and Denmark’s Øresund region, the Turning Torso is a stunning construction that twists towards the sky, inspired by the human body in a twisting motion. The 190 metre high building is situated by the Western Harbour in Malmø,an area that was rejuvenated by the Bo01, the sustainable “City of Tomorrow” programme of development, which is a leading example of a sustainable, densely built urban environment. Read more about it on www.ekostaden.com. Architect, Santiago Calatrava has designed the mixed use 54-storey tower, based on his Turning Torso sculpture that represents the twisting of a human torso. Turning Torso consists of nine cubes, with six floors in each cube. The two lowest cubes comprise 4 200m_ office space and 152 apartments cubes three to nine comprise 152 apartments. The construction twists 90 degrees from bottom to top and has been designed with energy efficiency in mind, using a energy efficient building envelope (windows and external walls). Energy supplied to the apartments is 100 per cent renewable: the electricity is mainly from a wind-power park in the Northern Harbour and heat is supplied by solar power and undergroud water reservoirs. In an attempt, to encourage sustainable lifestyles in the area, there is a recycling system that enables organic waste to be transported through separate pipes to a biogas facility as well as the now standard Swedish facilities for separating paper, metal, plastic, cardboard and recyclable bottles. Each apartment will be able to individually monitor their heat and hot and cold water use, encouraging the sustainable community of the Western Harbour’s ‘eco-city’. Sources: www.turningtorso.com www.sweco.se Business Exxon say no go to renewables Exxon have recently declared that they will not be making any bets on environmental sound renewable energy now or in the future. The world’s largest publicly traded energy company, also known as Esso have looked at the figures and decided that, despite the growing popularity of renewable energy sources amongst competitors such as BP PLC, and Chevron Corp, the only way the business will be viable is if it is subsidized. Scott Nauman, Manager of the Economics and Energy Division at Exxon says “Its an uneconomic niche and our business is not built around the expectation of a bunch of subsidies to make a profit. We want a business that is robust on its own merit.” Its ironic, then that the oil industry that has made so much for Exxons investors and shareholders is heavily subsided itself, with direct subsidies, tax breaks and the benefits from externalising the pollution costs onto the public. The oil industry makes huge public investments in roads and highways, federal subsidies to agribusinesses that use petroleum-based fertilizers and is underpinned by a lax regulatory system that doesn’t incentivise improvements to fuel economy. In addition, Exxon has taken the heat for being the prime force behind President Bush’s rejection of the Kyoto treaty and funds corporate political campaigns, effectively buying government influence. No one institution should have the right to determine government policy in a democracy. The companyhas been sued for violation of human rights in Indonesia and it is involved in the destruction of pristine frontier lands and waters such as the coastal plain of the Arctic Refuge. It is yet to pay the full clean-up costs of the Exxon Valdez catastrophe of 1999 ; the most damaging oil spill in global history. Sources: Solar, wind power fail Exxon Mobil’s economics test. May31st 2005, The Globe and Mail www.stopexxonmobil.org http://thinkprogress.org/ Ben & Jerry's lick global warming Ice cream makers Ben & Jerry’s are seeking young people to stop the melt and help lick global warming. Together with WWF and polar explorer Marc Cornelissen, the internationally-recognized brand is launching the Ben & Jerry’s Climate Change College in support of WWF’s international PowerSwitch! campaign. The three-year initiative will see six young people – aged 18-25 – each year become Climate Change Ambassadors after graduating from the Ben & Jerry’s Climate College. Successful applicants to the college will be fully trained through internships, workshops, and a visit to the polar region to witness the issue for themselves and support ongoing research into climate change. "Just like ice cream, if it’s melted it’s ruined," said Jerry Greenfield, one of the co-founder's of Ben & Jerry's ice cream, who attended the launch of the Climate Change College. “Like everybody in the world, I believe that global climate change is an incredible problem and we need to do something about it." “It is this belief that has led us to create the Climate Change College, giving young people the skills to return to their countries to inspire businesses and citizens to start addressing the issue of climate change.” The project’s main objective is to help these young people develop the practical skills to help fight climate change and prevent the polar ice caps from further melting. This group of international ambassadors will be recruited from the UK and the Netherlands. After completing their college and field mission in 2006 the ambassadors will campaign and spread the message with support from Ben & Jerry’s and WWF. Sources: www.benjerry.com www.lickglobalwarming.org SUVs Suck - Greenpeace protest In May this year, Greenpeace launched a direct action against the production of gas-guzzling SUVs at Range Rover’s assembly line in Solihull, UK. 35 Volunteers used safety shut-down buttons to cut off power to the assembly line before handcuffing and chaining themselves to unfinished vehicles along the 150m long assembly line and branding it a climate crime scene. It's the first time anywhere in the world that protesters have shut down a factory making Sports Utility Vehicles. The Range Rover is one of the least fuel-efficient 4x4, doing a criminal 12 miles to the gallon in urban areas. The new Range Rover Sport, which "has been tuned primarily for on-road performance," does fewer miles to the gallon than the Model T Ford built 80 years ago. Land Rover aggressively markets its range of 4x4s - like Discovery and Range Rover - in towns and cities throughout the UK. It spends £3 million on advertising in London alone. Land Rover's parent company Ford has also stood in the way of government action to tackle climate change both in Europe and the US. Greenpeace executive director Stephen Tindale is one of the volunteers currently chained to Range Rover chassis. He said: "We've taken direct action to stop Land Rover making these gas-guzzling urban 4x4s. The company used to have a reputation for making working vehicles, but now they market themselves as the car company for people who love the wilderness while simultaneously producing cars that threaten our environment with catastrophic climate change." Range Rover's parent company, Ford, is losing money and shedding jobs in America because sales of their gas-guzzling models are falling, whereas Asian companies are thriving by making fuel efficient vehicles. With a climate crisis developing and oil at over $US 50 a barrel, car-makers who want to save jobs have to stop making gas guzzlers. There's no future and no jobs in making cars that wreck the climate. Land Rover and Ford have the technology to develop far more fuel-efficient vehicles but they choose not to. It's time for Land Rover to stop making gas-guzzlers and time for governments around the globe to tax them off our roads. Source: www.greenpeace.org Global Busted: Rainforest plunder in Brazil BRAZILIAN police have arrested 86 environmental officials and businessmen accused of involvement in a £200 million scheme to get rich from illegal deforestation, just two weeks after the government announced the Amazon jungle was disappearing at a increasingly furious pace. Among those arrested was the head of forests at Ibama, the federal agency charged with protecting the environment. Ibama's executive manager in Mato Grosso, the agricultural state where almost half of last year's deforestation took place, was also detained as was the state's environment secretary. Officials said the three, along with dozens of other officials and businessmen in five additional states, had worked for up to 14 years to put together an elaborate network of forgers, corrupt officials and false companies that enabled them to cut down trees in areas where deforestation is prohibited. The group created shell companies to which they granted illegal deforestation permits and false credits as well as a network that produced forged documents authorising deforestation in restricted areas. The group also produced the papers transport companies need to carry endangered timber along federal motorways. Dozens of businessmen paid bribes to secure illegal permits that enabled them to deforest endangered areas with impunity. All told, the gang was responsible for ripping up 43,000 hectares of jungle, enough timber to fill 76,000 lorries, Brazil's environment minister, Marina Silva, said. All this comes in the wake of increasing political tension and disatisfaction with the president Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva’s record on green issues, that caused the Green Party to leave his government coalition last month in protest at the government’s inaction. The environment ministry estimates that over 26 thousand square kilometers of jungle were cut down by loggers and farmers in the year to August 2004: the second highest annual total since records began and bringing the total loss of Amazon forest to 17.3%. ICIS View: It looks like this operation comes as a response to the deforestation figures and may be merely a desire for the current government to retain its supporters. Howerver, this kind of fight against corruption is unprecedented in Brazil’s history and we hope is truly indicates that the government are serious about fighting corruption that hinders the the fight to save the rainforest. Source: www.insnet.org World Military Spending in 2004 tops $1 Trillion World military spending rose for the sixth year running in 2004, growing by 5% to $1.04 trillion on the back of US budgetary allocations for the ‘war on terror’. Stockholm’s International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) recently released figures that showed that the US accounted for almost half of this global figure, more than the combined total of the 32 next most powerful nations. US military spending increased to 3.9% of gross domestic product (GDP) last year, but remained well below its Cold War peak of more than 6%. At the same time, the gap between the world’s rich and poor has never been wider. Malnutrition, AIDS, conflict and illiteracy are a daily reality for millions. The Millenium Development Goals are an international plan that if fully supported will eliminate severe hunger and poverty by 2025. However, a lack of funding and political will is undermining current progress. “To put the limited political commitment needed into perspective, for the same amount of money that goes to the four largest military contractors, the U.S. alone could fund the plan to end global poverty. More telling of current political priorities, the U.S. could fund the plan and still have by far the most expensive and powerful military on earth.” THE COSTS OF POVERTY The cost of eradicating poverty is 1% of global income. Effective debt relief to the 20 poorest countries would cost $ 5.5 billion equivalent to the cost of building EuroDisney. Providing universal access to basic social services and transfers to alleviate income poverty would cost $ 80 billion, less than the net worth of the seven richest men in the world. Six countries can spend $ 700 million in nine days on dog and cat food. Source: www.borgenproject.org ICIS Calendar Era 2005 World Design Congress 26th-28th September Copenhagen This autumn, over 1,400 participants from around the globe are expected at a Pan-Nordic event, The Era 05 World Design Congress. The congress was jointly commissioned by the International Council of Societies of Industrial Design (ICSID), the International Council of Graphic Design Associations (ICOGRADA) and the International Federation of Interior Architects/Designers (IFI). The conference aims to provide a forum in which designers and decision-makers within the industry and the political environment can discuss and define the challenges of the future. Topic areas will include multicultural global concerns, cost-benefit based solutions, sustainability, community problem-solving and many others. www.era05.com INDEX 2005 Summit for Creative Leaders – 25th-28th September, Copenhagen The Index Summit will bring together 25 of the world’s creative leaders as well as business leaders from the Øresund Region to develop solutions to five pressing global issues related to: Body, Home, Work, Play and Community. www.index2005.dk SBO5 Tokyo World Sustainable Building Conference, 27-29th September 2005, Tokyo A large number of building researchers, practitioners, officials, industry representatives and students from all over the world will gather at this conference to exchange the latest knowledge and experience regarding "Sustainable Buildings". www.sb05.com Sustainable Innovation ’05 10th International Conference, 24th – 25th October 2005. Farnham Castle International Briefing and Conference Centre, UK The focus of the event is on the global 'state of the art' in sustainable product/service development and design. In addition to providing an update on worldwide developments in the field, the event will analyse the obstacles and opportunities for progress. An interesting feature of the event will be the Living Laboratory, showcasing new sustainable product/service concepts.Sustainable Innovation 05 is being organised by the UK’s Centre for Sustainable Design in conjunction with the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) and O2, a global network of sustainable designers. www.cfsd.org.uk Books One Planet, Many People: Atlas of Our Changing Environment UNEP 2005, ISBN: 92 807 2571 8 Price: US$150.00 plus shipping (delivery within Europe US$20 each, delivery Outside of Europe US$30 each) One Planet, Many People: Atlas of Our Changing Environment provides a comprehensive, visual presentation of scientifically variable information, on changes in the global environment-both the good and the bad-acquired and assessed through state-of-the-art remote sensing technology. It is intended for environmental policy makers, non-governmental organizations, the private sector, academics, teachers and citizens. This colorful and approachableatlas contains photographs, satellite images, maps and narratives that provide insights into the many ways people around the world have changed,and continue to change, the environment. The main purpose of this hard-cover, 332-page, large-format atlas is to document visual evidence of global environmental changes resulting from natural processes and human-induced activities. www.earthprint.com Contact ICIS ICIS NeWS: info@iciscenter.org Sign up for short ICIS NeWS regularly (by e-mail) ICIS news editors: Karen Blincoe & Trudy Follwell