Climate for Change Bulletin 2nd May 19'

Scottish Water is working in conjunction with the airport to promote the use of refillable bottles and highlight how being properly hydrated by tap water when flying is both good for your health and the environment.

Passengers are being asked to take a refillable bottle to the airport and fill it with Scottish Water at a tap situated just outside the main Duty Free shop after security.

They are also being reminded there is an area before security where they can empty reusable bottles before refilling on the other side.

Douglas Millican, Chief Executive of Scottish Water, said that customers often cited missing the taste of the local water when travelling abroad and this gave them a free opportunity to take a bottle of local tap water with them.

Gordon Dewar, Chief Executive of Edinburgh Airport, said: “We’re very aware of the issue of single use plastics and the need for all of us to play our part in reducing their usage.”

Concerns over biodegradability of ‘eco-friendly’ plastic bags.

Biodegradable and compostable plastic bags can still carry full loads of shopping after being exposed in the natural environment for three years, according to a study by the University of Plymouth.

Researchers from the university examined the degradation of five plastic bag materials available from high street retailers. They were then left exposed to air, soil and sea, environments which they could potentially encounter if discarded as litter.

The bags were monitored at regular intervals and deterioration was considered in terms of visible loss in surface area and disintegration as well as assessments of changes in tensile strength, surface texture and chemical structure.

After nine months in the open air, all the materials had completely disintegrated into fragments but the biodegradable, oxo-biodegradable and conventional plastic formulations remained functional as carrier bags after being in the soil or the marine environment for over three years.

Researchers say the study poses the question whether biodegradable formulations can be relied upon to offer a sufficiently advanced rate of degradation to offer any realistic solution to the problem of plastic litter.

Deforestation and bad farming sow the seeds of disaster.

The vital function played by trees in the balancing of C02 and oxygen levels is now widely accepted with bodies such as Confor, the trade body promoting forestry and wood stressing that planting trees and making timber products is one of the cheapest, simplest methods of capturing and storing atmospheric carbon.

A report to be released in Paris next week will highlight a further challenge it believes deserves urgent recognition: that some 3.2 billion people worldwide are suffering from degraded soils. The Global Assessment Report on Biodiversity and Ecosystem and Ecosystem Services issued by the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES) will warn that deforestation and poor farming practices is exacerbating climate change and threatening the global food supply.

Some 3.2 billion people worldwide are affected by degraded soils

IPBES chairman Prof Sir Robert Watson said that the current situation is affecting almost half of the world’s population. “There’s no question we are degrading soils all over the world. We are losing from the soil the organic carbon and this undermines agricultural productivity and contributes to climate change. We absolutely have to restore the degraded soil we’ve got.”

This is despite the attention focused on the dilemma when 2015 was designated International Year of Soils by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, when Kundhavi Kadiresan, Assistant Director-General of the FAO said: “With rapid soil degradation, fast depletion of groundwater, excessive use of pesticides-fertilisers and extreme weather events all collectively putting stress on farming and forestry, it is time to recognise the fact that agriculture cannot remain the same, either in India or across the globe.”

The FAO has also announced that the Global Symposium on Soil Erosion (GSER19), later this month in Rome will discuss the latest information on the status of interventions and innovations in the field of soil erosion.

One of the speakers, Professor Jae E Yang of Korea’s National University in Seoul, is blunt in his diagnosis: “To lose soil is to lose food and life. We need a global platform to save this finite natural resource from erosion.”

New arts and energy partnership makes a play for greener future.

Culture and the low-carbon economy are terms that don’t often appear in the same sentence but a collaboration between a national arts and sustainability charity and a leading renewable energy supplier has been launched with the aim of helping Scotland’s cultural sector to go green.

Creative Carbon Scotland has announced a new partnership with renewable energy supplier Good Energy to develop knowledge, resources and green energy opportunities for the Scottish Green Arts community, which is matched poundfor- pound by the Culture & Business Fund Scotland (CBFS) programme.

Creative Carbon Scotland has been working with the Scottish cultural sector since 2011 to reduce the environmental impact of the arts and to explore innovative approaches to enable Scotland’s cultural sector to bring about the transformational change needed to address climate change.

Good Energy’s Helen Franks aims to work closely with Scottish artists

Its Green Arts Initiative is a growing collaborative community of over 225 cultural organisations committed to environmental sustainability.

Like other businesses, cultural organisations are highly aware of the fact that the climate crisis is an urgent issue and through changing their energy consumption, cultural venues can dramatically reduce their overall greenhouse gas emissions.

The new partnership with Good Energy follows recent work by Creative Carbon Scotland to help arts and cultural organisations reduce their energy demand through improved energy efficiency and buildings management and positive behaviour change.

Matched pound-for-pound by the Culture & Business Fund Scotland, Good Energy’s partnership will enable the design and creation of skills workshops and new online resources for the sector to support Green Champions working across theatre, dance, music, literature, visual arts, screen, and the creative industries, helping to upskill the Scottish cultural sector to tackle climate change.

The Culture & Business Fund Scotland programme is funded by the Scottish Government via Creative Scotland and managed by Arts & Business Scotland.

Commenting on the partnership, Helen Franks, Partnerships & Business Development Manager at Good Energy said: “This partnership with Creative Carbon Scotland will build on our successful track record in the arts sector. We look forward to working with Scotland’s thriving cultural community as it makes the transition to sustainable, clean energy.”

Ben Twist, Director and Founder, Creative Carbon Scotland, said: “With match-funding from the Culture & Business Fund Scotland, our partnership with Good Energy aims to build up knowledge and awareness to help those working in the cultural sector to make more sustainable energy choices.”

While Carl Watt, Head of Programmes at Arts & Business Scotland, said: “Like all sectors of the economy, the cultural sector needs to be doing what it can to help reduce Scotland’s carbon footprint.

“With that in mind, this partnership aims to share the knowledge cultural organisations throughout Scotland need to make more informed decisions about their energy use and supply.”

The Herald’s Climate for Change initiative supports efforts being made by the Scottish Government with key organisations and campaign partners. Throughout the year we will provide a forum in The Herald newspaper, online at herald.scotland.com and in Business HQ magazine, covering news and significant developments in this increasingly crucial area.

If you are interested in contributing editorially or interested in becoming a Climate for Change partner, please contact Stephen McTaggart on 0141 302 6137 or email stephen.mctaggart@heraldandtimes.co.uk