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Moray Sustainability Handbook PDF

116 Pages·2007·2.17 MB·English
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MMMMMooooorrrrraaaaayyyyy SSSSSuuuuussssstttttaaaaaiiiiinnnnnaaaaabbbbbiiiiillllliiiiitttttyyyyy HHHHHaaaaannnnndddddbbbbbooooooooookkkkk h g u o R e T h t o e d e i r u u G t u F s ’ y a r o M 1 2 Index No Chapter Section Page Introduction Sustainable Development 5 Jargon Buster 6 1 Energy 9 Climate change 10 Energy efficiency 12 Renewable energy 15 Fuel Poverty 17 Building Sustainably 18 2 Environment 21 Trees and Forestry 22 The Great Outdoors 25 Environmental Organisations 29 Biodiversity 35 Natural Heritage Designations 37 3 Transport 39 Greener Driving 40 Public Transport 44 Cycling and Walking 46 4 Community 49 Health and Welfare 50 Volunteering 53 Children and Families 55 Politics 58 Community participation 63 Inclusion 66 Community Development 70 5 Economy 73 Business 74 Social Economy 76 Poverty 78 Green Tourism 80 6 Products 83 Resource Consumption 84 Food 87 Fairtrade 90 Eco labelling 92 7 Waste 95 Reduce 96 Reuse 98 Recycle 100 Disposal 103 8 Pollution 105 Water 106 Land 108 Air 110 Noise 112 Feedback 114 Feedback Sheet 115 3 Acknowledgements In 2003 members of the Moray Sustainability Forum started to research and write this booklet as we had identified the need for a simple guide to the complexities of sustainable development and a handy contact list for organisations in Moray. We received grant funding from Awards for All towards the estimated costs of researching, printing and distributing 4,000 copies. It is our intention for copies of this free booklet to be widely distributed throughout Moray to Libraries, Schools, Community Centres, Post Offices, The Moray Council Access Points and Tourist Information Offices. We would like to thank the Lottery Funding through Awards for All for their patience and support for this booklet. Without their financial backing this project would never have made it past the planning stage. We would also like to thank all the individuals and organisations who helped to research information, gather leaflets, give advice, contribute sections and proof read parts or the entire booklet. There really are too many to name but thanks to you all. However, particular individuals whose contribution must be acknowledges include: The Moray Council and The Northern Scot for their help and permission to use some of their photographs; Gary Templeton, Roy Anderson, Claire Ross and Kevin McDermott for their input; and Posthouse Printing and Publishing Ltd of Findhorn for keeping us right. We sincerely hope that you will find this booklet interesting, useful and thought provoking. Perhaps it could encourage you to implement your own sustainable strategies that will contribute to a better future here in Moray. On behalf of the Moray Sustainable Forum, Rod Lovie and Mike Bowker February 2005 Photos in this booklet courtesy of: The Northern Scot: page 9, 15, 39, 83, 88, 95, 105 The Moray Council: page 1, 11, 21, 28, 47, 49, 54, 73, 81 Additional copies of this booklet may be available from: MSF, C/o REAP, 177 Mid Street, Keith Banffshire AB55 5BL (cid:11) 01542 888070 4 Introduction Sustainable Development Making Moray’s future better without making others worse Development is needed to tackle poverty, Environment and Development, unemployment, homelessness, ill health, published in 1987 as Our Common Future. poor access to education and low quality The report, often referred to as the of life throughout the world including Bruntland Report, explained that: Moray. However, if the same “Humanity has the ability to make development happened throughout the development sustainable – to world that has already occurred in the ensure that it meets the needs Western Countries the environmental of the present without damage would be such that the human compromising the ability of race could not survive. future generations to meet their Traditional economics, regardless of own needs.” politics, identifies two types of resource It was the UN Conference on in society: Capital and Labour. In Environment and Development, contrast sustainable development commonly known as the 1992 Rio Earth encompasses three resources: economic Summit, which attempted to resolve the capital (roads, rail, mines, factories), apparent conflict between short-term social or human capital (labour, skills, economic growth and both social and community spirit, local knowledge. environmental justice by endorsing both culture), and environmental capital development and environmental (landscapes, habitats, plants, animals). protection through sustainable Economic growth has traditionally been development. Most attending countries, made at the expense of social and/or including the UK, signed up to Agenda environmental resources. Therefore we 21 - a practical, world-wide blueprint for need a different kind of development taking sustainable development forward which tackles poverty but does not into the 21st Century. This requires damage the environment. This is governments to establish and implement sustainable development. national strategies for sustainable The accepted definition of sustainable development, grounded in participation development comes from the report of with the public, businesses and charities. the United Nations World Commission on Useful Contacts and Websites Scottish Executive Sustainable Development Commission (cid:29) www.sustainable.scotland.gov.uk (cid:29) www.sd-commission.gov.uk (cid:11)(cid:11)(cid:11)(cid:11)(cid:11) 0131 244 7311 A UK wide body to review progress and Sustainable development issues and build consensus to progress sustainable grant scheme. development. Sustainable Scotland Network (cid:29) www.sustainablescotland.net (cid:11) 01786 468235 Brings together Scottish Local Authorities to advance sustainable development action. 5 Introduction Jargon Buster Concepts Behind Sustainable Development “The problem with land is that they stopped making it some time ago.” Mark Twain Natural Capital – our life support system This is the natural assets on which the earth, causing depletion of current and future generations depend. the earth’s natural capital as a We can only sustainably manage consequence.” ecosystems by not taking out more than WWF (2000) their regenerative capacity i.e. the The fact that industrialised countries are amount that they can naturally restore. living beyond their means will have This ensures that the earth can continue serious consequences. Future to produce a similar bounty for future generations will have to survive on fewer generations. However: resources and these resources will in turn “At some point in the 1970’s have a reduced regenerative capacity humanity as a whole passed the to create resources for subsequent point at which it lived within the generations. global regenerative capacity of (cid:29) www.panda.org/livingplanet Ecological Footprinting – our demand on our natural resources Sustainable development is not just the resources they are consuming. The joining of existing social, economic and organisation Redefining Progress environmental policy fields. It should be calculated the global footprint of nations viewed as a new way of providing for in 1999. There is only 1.9 hectares of our needs while staying within the biologically productive space available capacity of our ecosystems. To this end per person on the earth however the new ways of measuring sustainability average citizen has a footprint of 2.3 have been developed. Ecological hectares. This means that we are footprinting is one method of measuring exceeding the earth’s ecological capacity the impact of human activity and by over 20%. Northern countries like development. The footprint of an the USA have an ecological footprint of individual, country or region is an 9.6 hectares while Pakistan has one of indication of the amount of land each 0.7 hectares. This shows the huge would need in order to produce the disparity of resource consumption in the amount of resources they consume and world at present. to dispose of the waste they produce. (cid:29) www.bestfootforward.com This enables different societies to (cid:29) www.redefiningprogress.org compare how much of the earth’s Sustainable Development Indicators – measuring sustainability Policy-makers are familiar with their own development, the Scottish Executive has territory but feel adrift when faced with adopted three groups of priority issues: the immense breadth of ideas which resource use, energy and travel. These sustainable development raises. In order are intended to drive forward to measure sustainable development it sustainable development within the is important to agree on what is being responsibilities of the Scottish Executive. measured. To take forward sustainable (cid:29) www.scotland.gov.uk 6 Introduction Environmental Space – how much can we use? The concept of ‘environmental space’ is each year and for non-renewable another way of presenting this resources this is calculated by information. The amount of each natural considering the most pressing limiting resource that can be used each year factor regarding its exploitation. Friend’s without damaging the environment or the of the Earth Scotland has calculated that environmental capacity of the earth is Scotland would have to reduce its oil calculated. For renewable resources this consumption by 80%. is the amount that can be replenished (cid:29) www.foe-scotland.org.uk Ecodebt – are we exploiting others? The responsibility of industrialized by resource extraction. In other words, countries for the destruction caused by the impoverished countries of the South their production and consumption are subsidizing the rich countries of the patterns is called the ‘ecological debt’. North! While during the colonial period Natural wealth extracted by the North the extraction of precious metals and at the expense of southern people has other resources was an openly violent contaminated their natural heritage and affair, today’s looting uses methods that sources of sustenance. Indeed, the are more subtle. International living standards enjoyed by the organizations such as the IMF, the World industrialized countries owe a great deal Bank and the World Trade Organization to the immense flows of natural and seek to dictate world economic policy in financial resources and labour (either order to maintain a system of dominance slave or underpaid) from the Third World. and control over the trade in financial These flows do not take into account the and natural resources. social and environmental damages caused (cid:29) www.foei.org Environmental Justice – taking sides The lack of sustainability in our often the environment is dismissed as communities is not just a problem of poor the concern of those who are not management. Imbalances are caused confronted with bread and butter issues. because some groups benefit while other But the reality is the people who have groups loose. This leads to injustices. the most urgent environmental concerns Some appear to be obvious while others are those who daily cope with the remain hidden and many communities consequences of a poor quality of life, benefit from some injustices while losing conditioned by their environment. By out on others. Most inequalities are being forced to live in circumstances, maintained because people get used to which would not be acceptable to better enjoying privileges and do not make the off groups in our society, they are being connection between their lifestyle and denied environmental justice. the injustice it causes to others. Too (cid:29) www.ejrc.cau.edu/ 7 8 Chapter 1 Energy Energy Efficiency Renewable Energy Fuel Poverty Building Sustainably 9 Energy Climate Change The Biggest Global Problem? Most scientists agree that our climate is larger quota it would get to pollute in changing rapidly and that this is not only the future. But even this was too much due to natural fluctuations. The major for the U.S. Senate who voted 95 – 0 cause is believed to be greenhouse not to sign the treaty unless India also gasses whose emissions have increased signed. Because India pollutes so little dramatically since the industrial it would only get a tiny quota and so revolution and the creation of the internal was seen to be exempt from the treaty. combustion engine. “I oppose the Kyoto Protocol The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate because it … would cause serious Change (IPCC) reported in 1990 that if harm to the U.S. economy.” we wish to save life as we know it on this George W Bush planet we must cut our carbon dioxide levels by 60% - 80%. For years low It is difficult to predict what the result lying pacific island states urged the of climate change will be. However industrialised nations to take action scientists have estimated that the result quickly before rising sea levels wiped out for Northern Scotland may be: their countries. • By the 2050’s average temperatures “ The wilful destruction, with will increase by up to 2°C with more foreknowledge, of entire countries hot summers and less cold winters. and cultures represents an Winter rainfall to increase by 25% unspeakable crime against and summer rainfall to decrease by humanity.” up to 30%. The President of Nauru. • By the 2080’s the sea level may rise However it wasn’t till 1997 at Kyoto that by up to 60cm and flooding in inland a hundred countries agreed to reduce areas may increase by20%*. their greenhouse gas emissions to 5.2% From Climate Change Scenarios for the below their 1990 levels within fifteen UK, April 2002 (see www.ukcip.org.uk) years. This meant that the more damage *From Scottish Executive Flooding a country had caused in the past, the Occurrence Review 2002 What Can We Do? Many ideas are included in more detail throughout this booklet. We can all make an individual contribution by: Energy: Ensure you are using energy efficiently and use renewable energy Environment: Plant a few trees or join an organisation which does Transport: Walk or cycle rather than use the car and car share when possible Community: Put pressure on political representatives to reduce greenhouse emissions Economy: Support local businesses Products: Buy local organically grown vegetables Waste: Compost vegetable waste and recycle more Pollution: Inform the authorities of instances of pollution 10

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Energy. 9. Climate change. 10. Energy efficiency. 12. Renewable energy. 15. Fuel Poverty. 17 It is our intention for copies of this free booklet to be widely distributed . territory but feel adrift when faced with . machines and tumble dryers. It will tell .. The John Muir Trust was formed in 1983
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