Need or Greed…Sustainability or waste

What do people need to survive?

But what happens to our rubbish and sewage?

Researchers have devised a way of measuring our impact on the environment. It is called our ecological footprint.

The world has an area of 1.7hectares per person available.At current level of consumption, we are using 2.3 hectares.Londoners use 3 hectares and Americans use 8.4 hectares per person. (10 times greater than a similar sized city in India.)

Is there anything you can do to change the size of your footprint?

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What if your cell phone could charge just by being in your pocket?

What if you could pedal your way around in a Shweeb?

Imagine being able to drive your car to the airport, fly it over water and then land it on a faraway island?

Shenzhen’s bus can reportedly hold 1200 to 1400 passengers and could cut traffic jams by 20% to 30%. The partially solar-powered system can travel up to 50 mph — and it’s coming to China in 2011. It may also be introduced in USA.

Check out some eco-communities…Freiburg in Germany –The greenest city in the world? Sydney’s Olympic village – solar powered, eco friendlyDongtan in China – Eco CityHammarby SjÖstad, Stockholm, Sweden –

environmentally friendlyCouncil House 2, Melbourne – Green buildingsING Bank, Amsterdam –Zero Carbon emissionsBank of America Tower, Manhattan, NY. – greenest

skyscraper

What have they done that is different?Are there any ideas we could use for rebuilding in

Christchurch?

FACE THE FACTSRecycling a tonne of paper saves:30,000 litres of waterAbout 3,500 kilowatt hours of electricity

Recycling a tonne of steel saves:1.5 tonnes f iron ore40% of the water used to make new steel75% of the energy used to make new steel.

If you were designing a new house, what would you consider?

Energy sources?Building materials?Garden????

The United Nations declared 2010 to be the International Year of Biodiversity

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Biologists talk about sixth extinction wave. They estimate that the rate of species extinction is about 1,000 times higher than the natural background rate, mostly because of human activities: habitat loss, exploitation and climate change.

Amphibians, the first four-legged creatures that ever walked on earth, are now in big danger. Over one third of the amphibian species are threatened with extinction.

Frogs are dying because of habitat loss, climate change and a fast spreading Chytrid fungus disease. International campaign called Amphibian Ark tries to save disappearing frog species by keeping them alive in Zoos and release the species later back in wild.

Learn more from Amphibian Ark site and Frog Matters Blog.

Find out about NZ’s Native Frogs. Why are They endangered? What is being done to Save them?