Future Trends on Sustainable development

The 2030 Agenda, which is an agreement on a variety of plans on sustainability such as ending poverty, combat inequality and protecting the environment has been implemented for 2 years. It includes 17 Sustainable goals and committed to promoted sustainable development on the triple bottom line in all countries (Dugaroba and Gulasan, 2017). Six major trends have been identifying in the report as the potential sustainable development goals and would lead to the pathway of sustainability. These are poverty and inequality, demography, environmental degradation and climate change, shocks and crises, financing for development and technological innovations. I would like to discuss a few of the topic today (Dugaroba and Gulasan, 2017).

Poverty and Inequality is one of the main focus. This includes the reduction of poverty, access to clean water and sanitation facilities. It also includes the income inequality between countries which has been improved in the past years due to the rapid growth of large developing countries (Dugaroba and Gulasan, 2017). It has shown that 1.6 billion people are under multidimensional poverty in 2016. Economic growth is an essential in reducing poverty. However, it depends on related to the environment and also the quality of growth, therefore, a balanced growth between TBL is required.

Financing for development is another goal for sustainable. All sustainable development goals would require a substantial amount of funding (Dugaroba and Gulasan, 2017). There is no shortage of capital in the global economy, however, the challenge remains on maximising the effect of available resources. There is also a need for additional sources of finance is needed to invest into long- term sustainable development (Dugaroba and Gulasan, 2017). The report encourages all sources of finance to become mobilised and achieving sustainability in finance development which would benefit in achieving other sustainable goals.

I believe that these 6 areas should be the major focus on sustainable development in the short term. Most of the issues mention need to be managed (not necessary resolve) in a short term in order to reduce the impacts. I believe the issues or damages would accumulate and it would only be harder or becoming inevitable negative results if actions cannot be taken from as soon as possible. The report has provided a series of ways to improve the sustainability. For example, coherences in policies, different level of politics and collective action. I believed that as the number of people that concern increase, the faster a sustainability can be achieved in different fields.

Dugaroba, E and Gulasan, N. (2017, April 14). Six Megatrends that could alter the course of sustainable development. The Guardian. Available at: https://www.theguardian.com/global-development-professionals-network/2017/apr/14/six-megatrends-that-could-alter-the-course-of-sustainable-development (Accessed 28 May 2017)

The relationship between diet and environmental sustainability

The main diet for humans is meat and plant base. According to the David and Marcia Pimentel, 2 billion people are primarily on a meat-base diet and 4 billion people are on a plant base diet (D Pimentel and M Pimentel, 2003). The Journal of Frontiers in Nutrition has recently published a research base on the relationship between diet and environmental sustainability.

The report stated that a shift towards a plant base diet would reduce the environmental impact and the sustainability of phosphorus. Phosphorus is an important element to all life and also plays an important role in food production. It is one of the main ingredient of fertilisers to maintain productivities of crops. However, the phosphate rock is not a renewable resource and supply has started failing to meet the demand (Frontiers in Nutrition, 2016). Insufficient of phosphate would lead to eutrophication, degrade in water quality and algal bloom which would directly affect the drinking water and fisheries (Frontiers in Nutrition, 2016).

The Crops contains the footprint of phosphate would be consumed by humans in a direct and indirect path. Indirect consumption refers the crops consume by animals than consume by humans. The statistic has shown that plant is more efficient compared to animals in terms of phosphate where 1 kg of phosphate can produce 3333kg of potato while it can only produce 16kg of beef (Frontiers in Nutrition, 2016).

Dr Genevienve Metson and her team have done a research on whether human diet from meat base to plant base would provide be a possible solution. The result shows that there would be 8% increase in phosphorus excretion in the city while the phosphorus footprint of residents would decrease by 72% (Metson, Cordell and Ridoutt, 2016). It indicated that changing to a plant base diet would provide a significant reduce in phosphorus mining thus improving the environmental sustainability.

I believe that switching from meat base to a plant base diet would definitely benefit the environmental sustainability. However, the border issues behind plant base/ animal base diet would be food security in general. As mention in the article, the crop would be direct and indirectly consume by humans. Therefore, the sustainability of the crop would be an essential issue. There is a global threat in agricultural sustainability, and I believe remaining the sustainability of agricultural would be the priority.

David and Marcia Pimentel. (2003, September). Sustainability of meat- based and plant- based diets and the environment. The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition. Available at: http://ajcn.nutrition.org/content/78/3/660S.full (Accessed May 28, 2017).

Frontiers in Nutrition. (2016, November 3). How your diet can influence your environmental impact. ScienceDaily. Available at: https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2016/11/161103124536.htm (Accessed May 28, 2017).

Metson, Cordell and Ridoutt. (2016, Augest 26). Potential Impact of Dietary Choices on Phosphorus Recycling and Global Phosphorus Footprints: The Case of the Average Australian City. Frontier in Nutrition. Available at: http://journal.frontiersin.org/article/10.3389/fnut.2016.00035/full (Accessed May 28, 2017).

Sustainable agriculture in China

In continues to the topic of fisheries management, one of the conclusion was a large amount of food demand in China would be an essential situation. Fishery is not the main food resources of China, the majority of food resources comes from land – agriculture. It has been established that China is one of the top import and export countries for agriculture (Cook, 2017). Therefore, sustainable agriculture would be an essential skill that Chinese government should focus on.

There is major environmental damage in China at the moment with overuse fertilisers, soil pollution, water scarcity and loss of biodiversity (Cook, 2017). These issues than leads to more social and health issue, which affects the triple bottom line of sustainability. China has the intention to do sustainable food production, the researcher stated that the successful sustainability farming would benefit public health and environment for China in long term (Cook, 2017).

The report “multiple pathways: case studies of sustainable agriculture in China” has listed out the main learning and recommendations from studying the agricultural of China. It also how the modern development of China affects on the sustainability of farming, the environment of rural areas (Cook, 2017). The current policies of agricultural and the how to achieve more sustainable agricultural production.

 The report list out 5 main learnings of agriculture in China (Cook, 2017):

1.    No one blueprint model – sustainable agricultural depends on local climate and conditions which require specific approach thus policies would need to cover a wide range of framing model

2.    Promotion of sustainable framing – financial supports, investment and provide training

3.    Collective organisation – provides large range of resources and services to framer

4.    Certifications – increase market (depends on local market)

5.    Attract young generation – increase income, educations

6.    More resources focus in the research of sustainable agriculture – provide higher efficiency

I believe that sustainable farming is an essential pathway of agricultural for China. As mention before, there would be a growing population and urban development in the future. Food security would become an issue. I believe that the main reason behind food security is pollution, expansion of urban area and lack in labour which similar to the point from the report. The issue of food security would directly affect the triple bottom line of sustainability on a global scale, therefore, I believe that sustainable farming would be a solution to the future food security issue.

Cook Seth. (2016, April 05). Nurturing the shoots if China’s sustainable agriculture. Chinadialogue. Available at: https://www.chinadialogue.net/blog/8797-Nurturing-the-shoots-of-China-s-sustainable-agriculture/en (Accessed May 21, 2017).

China’s marine fisheries reform

There is a rapid and continues decrease in fish stock in the world. China as one of the countries with highest global catch volume, policies and regulations on fishery industries would have a huge impact on the global fish stock. A research team from local and oversea researchers on marine fisheries experts stated that china’s fisheries conservation plan has the opportunities of achieving a paradigm shift in marine fisheries management (Stanford's School of Earth, Energy & Environmental Sciences, 2017).

In the report published by Ling Cao and Rosamond Naylor, where they examine the history of policies and outcome on marine fisheries in China. They also demonstrate on how China’s design of fisheries management can benefit from the leading science. They have found out that China needs an institutional reform in order to achieve a better marine fisheries management. The researcher believes that new institution should be science base management, the main objective would be prioritising in securing fishing access, setting consistency regulations across provinces and providing educations on both professions and to the general public (Stanford's School of Earth, Energy & Environmental Sciences, 2017).

The researcher also stated that there is a cultural norm in china’s fisheries resources, they believe that understanding the cultural would lead to a better bond international community in marine science. The Chinese government is planning to include marine ecosystem protection as one of the important environmental agenda of the government. China has planned to improve through programs on fisheries and aquaculture while having better controls on coastal development and marine resources management (Stanford's School of Earth, Energy & Environmental Sciences, 2017).

I believe that since China has almost one-fifth of the global catch volume, it is important for the Chinese government to regulate or having a better design on marine management since it is a huge impact on environmental sustainability. I also believe that understand the different cultural norms or regulations on the marine management, it would not only benefit the environment of the ocean but also it can improve the social sustainability between countries.

Furthermore, China has a large population with large food demand, if the fisheries management is poor quality, it could lead to huge environment impacts of ocean thus leads to the insufficient food supply. The impact of poor fisheries management would lead to catastrophic results.

Stanford's School of Earth, Energy & Environmental Sciences. (2017 January 16).  How China is poised for marine fisheries reform.  ScienceDaily. Available at: www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2017/01/170116160537.htm. (Accessed May 21, 2017).

Big Data and environmental sustainability

Big Data refers to a large amount of data, where the data can be analysis in other to discover certain patterns that lead to better strategies for a business. Big data is mainly related to economic sustainability where business can use these data to predict the behaviour of their customer (SAS, 2015). This would allow them to understand the future need of the consumer in order to improve the overall service. Therefore, big data is usually related to economic sustainability.

There is much other application of big data rather than on business and economy system. Environment sustainability can also be benefit from the analysis of big data. Saurabh Tyagi has demonstrated the application of big data on environmental sustainability (Tyagi, 2017). Tyagi addressed that big data would be able to let business understand the impact of the operation process, by showing the efficiency and disposal of material (Tyagi, 2017). It can also pick up the inefficiency in the operation process which could lead to reducing impact on the environment also increase production thus profit for business (Tyagi, 2017).

Big data would able to provide a clear demonstration on environmental risk which refers to energy and food securities and climate changes. The government could also benefit from collecting the data for the specific facility in order to set regulations. It would further promote environmental sustainability amount businesses (Tyagi, 2017).

I believe that Big data is a very good tool that can be applicable to the field of monitoring and reflect. I believe that it would be a solution for long-term environmental sustainability since it can provide an instant feedback to government and business allowing them to response in a short period of time. In terms of business, I believe it would also improve the economic and social sustainability of the business since unnecessary inefficiency would be eliminated while increasing the reputation and profit of the businesses.

SAS. (2015). What is Big Data?. SAS. Available at: https://www.sas.com/en_us/insights/big-data/what-is-big-data.html (accessed May 14, 2017).

Tyagi Saurabh. (2017, January 24). What does Big Data mean for Sustainability? Sustainable brands. Available at: http://www.sustainablebrands.com/news_and_views/ict_big_data/saurabh_tyagi/what_does_big_data_mean_sustainability (accessed May 14, 2017).

Economic sustainability of environmental sustainable businesses

Environmental sustainability has become a minor goal that businesses want to achieve today in order to contribute to the environment, society and also as a point to attract more consumers and higher market demand. Some businesses takes environmental sustainability as a business opportunities, the provided service contributes become the process of sustainable. In the article written by Keefe Harrison and Nina Goodrich, the idea of difference in intent vs action is applied in environmental sustainability, which is “designing for recyclability vs ensuring the successful recovery of valuable materials” (Harrison and Goodrich, 2017).

In the article, there are two companies listed - the recycling partnership and sustainable packaging coalition are both focusing on ensuring successful recovery of valuable materials. Harrison and Goodrich share the idea of circular economy and the reason of these type of companies. These companies focus on deliver recycled feedstock to manufacturing to gain profit which restarts the cycle of the products (Harrison and Goodrich, 2017). It creates a Circular Economy which contributes to economy sustainability. The article propose that these companies should cooperate or vertical integration between businesses could occur in order to achieve a successful circular economy system which could maximize both profit and operation.

I believe that enhance circular economy is a good idea for recycling companies in order to achieve economy sustainability. As the businesses sizes growth, there are more opportunities and resources to be invest into research and innovation which would improve the overall service or good. These improvement would contribute to environmental sustainability.

Harrison K and Goodrich N. (2017, March 20). A Circular Economy: You’re not in it alone, so why go it alone?. SustainableBrands. Available at: http://www.sustainablebrands.com/news_and_views/next_economy/keefe_harrison/circular_economy_you%E2%80%99re_not_it_alone_so_why_go_it_alone (accessed May 14, 2017).

Combining passive and active systems in the built environment

Environmental, economic and social sustainability has been large concerns of a building. In a project on public buildings, the economic and social sustainability would be the main concerns for the clients. In recent years, more architects and clients understand and react to the importance of environmental sustainability of the built environment. In the previous student studio course, I had come across designing in a high performing building for a community centre and emergency accommodation. We collaborated with students from engineering and sustainable studies to complete the design of the building.

In order to achieve environmental sustainability, the aim of our building was to minimise usage of energy on thermal, lighting and material components. In the process, we propose many passive features such as angled window, cross ventilation design, hot air chute (combine with double façade system) and Trombe wall to achieve our thermal, lighting and ventilation goal. We focus on the HVAC system for our active systems, we propose water transition base HVAC system in order to reduce energy gain or loss during the transition. Active and passive chill beams system was the main HVAC system of the building which has smaller AHU and lowers energy consumptions.

While we were doing research for our actives systems, we came across the idea of combining passive and active system in order to achieve a more sustainable result or method. One idea we had was using underground energy since ground soil perform as a giant insulation at constant temperatures, we built a thermal labyrinth and geothermal water pipes to pre- situated our fresh air and water. In order to reduce the energy consumption of AHU, heater and chiller. Another system we applied in our design is Photovoltaic thermal hybrid solar Collector (PVT). The system combines solar heat pipe with PV panels, the panels were exposed to the maximum amount of direct sunlights with water pipes lay behind it to prevent the panels being overheated. The ‘heated water then connect to boilers in order to reduce the energy needed in boiling.

I think that sustainable design features should be further proposed to the society since the majority of society have the idea of being sustainable but still lacks in the action. When more sustainable features become popular and expose to the general public, the idea would be further spread into the society.  As it becomes more popular in building design, the built environment would be able to achieve a higher level of environmental sustainability.  

Plastic

Plastic is a commonly used material in our everyday life. It is in included in plastic bags, plastic bottle, most of the packaging of product and more, our life has become inseparable with the material. Although plastic is a convenient and durable material, it costs a range of environmental issues across its lifespan. Scientists and researchers have been focusing on reducing the environmental impact of this convenient material from different stages. Production of plastic and disposal of plastic are two of the main issues, Scientist now has proposed solutions for these issues.

The main component of any plastic such as Acrylonitrile butadiene – styrene (ABS) is Butadiene. Butadiene is traditionally manufactured with petroleum or gas (University of Delaware, 2017). A scientific team collaborated with three universities has found a greener solution to it. The team has successfully produce butadiene from Sugar, sugar was converted to furfural then later convert to Tetrahydrofuran -THF (University of Delaware, 2017). The team has successfully achieved 95% effectiveness in converting THF to Butadiene with the new technology called “phosphorus all-silica zeolite” (University of Delaware, 2017). This technology allows plastic being produced by a biofuel from natural biomass sources which is biomass – derived sugars in this case (University of Delaware, 2017).

Waste and disposal of plastic is another huge issue of plastic, In EU, one-third of waste sent to landfill and tonnes of plastic waste ends up in the ocean (European Commission, 2017). Disposal of plastic is becoming a global issue it courses huge environmental, social issues. The disadvantage of plastic as a durable material is that it is very hard to degrade, it leads to a series of water pollutions and damages to the ocean environment. Scientists have discovered that Galleria mellonella was able to eat and digest plastic bags which takes around 100 to 400 years to degrade (Ian Sample, 2017). The Team discover that the worms have a type of enzymes that is able to break down plastic. Further research would be focusing on the enzymes and real world application (Ian Sample, 2017).

I think that the researches and discoveries on reducing the environmental impact of plastic are important and necessary since plastic is a widely used material in our everyday life. I think that plastic wastage and disposal and the environmental impact behind such as pollution to ocean life is very crucial issues. I believe that the processes of manufacture, recycle and disposal treatment of plastic still have large improvement opportunities. 

University of Delaware. (2017, April 24). Process invented to make sustainable rubber, plastic. ScienceDaily. Available at: https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2017/04/170424170755.htm (accessed May 8, 2017).

European Commission. (2017, March 1). Plastic Waste – Strategy and Background. European Commission. Available at: http://ec.europa.eu/environment/waste/plastic_waste.htm (accessed May 8, 2017).

Ian Sample. (2017, April 25). Plastic- eating worms could help wage wat on waste. The Guardian. Available at: https://www.theguardian.com/science/2017/apr/24/plastic-munching-worms-could-help-wage-war-on-waste-galleria-mellonella (accessed May 8, 2017).

London

In January 2017, London’s reading of air pollution level has shown that it has bypass Beijing for more than 48 hours (Howard 2017). The air pollution of London is comparable with Beijing now. According to the Air Quality Index, London reached a maximum – 197 for PM 2.5 where Beijing’s maximum are 190 in the same time period. Although London has an overall better air quality than Beijing, However, the amount of some pollutant such as SO2 and Ozone shares similar data compare to Beijing.

The air pollution limit has been broken within 5 days of 2017, the number of NO2/ m3 should not exist 200 micrograms in anywhere in London for 18th times. However, this limit is quickly violated when Brixton Road reaches the 19th time. In 2016, 60% of monitored sites has broken the limit and one of them reach the number of 1000 times. Paul Morozzo (clean air campaigner for Greenpeace) stated that government has not only failed to regulate on the usage of diesel cars but also encourages customers to buy diesel cars (MacCarthy 2017). Morozzo believes that car companies should only concentrate on hybrid and electric alternatives instead of diesel. According to Alan Andrew, The air pollution is an issue that requires consideration or solutions on a national scale (MacCarthy 2017).

Despite air pollution in London, London is considered as a candidate to the first zero-emission city. The recent Urban Mobility Index report by CEBR examines how cities approaching a low carbon future. According to Qualcomm, London is committed to a low emission future through many strategies and schemes such as bike share scheme and low emission zones (Sustainable Brands 2017). It has also invested in ultra- low emission vehicles and it serves for people in London.

I think that air quality is an important aspect in a sustainable city, it affects environmental and social aspect in sustainability. It leads to different issues such as the health of both human and environment. In my opinion, London is taking a lead in Europe to push the idea of sustainability by investing in low emission vehicles. Despite Morozzo stated that only improving and innovate on public transportation system cannot solve the problem. I personally consider that improving vehicles’ sustainable performances in public transportation is the first step. The innovative design can then be easily applied to other vehicles.

Howard, E. (2017, January 25). London's air pollution has been hitting levels worse than Beijing. Available at: http://energydesk.greenpeace.org/2017/01/24/london-air-pollution-worse-than-beijing (accessed May 1, 2017).

Sustainable Brands. (2017, April 27). London Driving UK Forward Towards Low- Carbon Circular Future. Available at: http://www.sustainablebrands.com/news_and_views/next_economy/sustainable_brands/london_driving_uk_forward_towards_low-carbon_circular (accessed May 1, 2017).

MacCarthy Libby, London Surpasses Annual Air Pollution Limits 5 Days Into 2017; Mary Poppins Is Not Amused. Available at: http://www.sustainablebrands.com/news_and_views/behavior_change/libby_maccarthy/london_surpasses_annual_air_pollution_limits_less_wee (accessed May 1, 2017).

Sustainable Company

Business refers to a commercial operative. The main purpose of companies or businesses in any scale is to maximise profit and increase market shares. In terms of sustainability, business would prioritise in their individual economic sustainability. As the scale increases, large scale businesses would have dramatic impacts on the economic sustainability of a country or even the world. Businesses also have impacts on social and environmental sustainability while this fact is regarded by many businesses. The products, reputations and promotions of a business are all connected to social and environmental aspect as well.

In recent years, there are more businesses, both large and small scales start to address to environmental issues and social challenges. However, it would require a shift in their thinking. The introduction of science-based sustainability goals provides a guideline for businesses. Business would need to overlook the entire ‘system value’ (Sutton 2017) in order to determine the break- even points between different aspects.

According to the scientific framework, the standard for a sustainable company has risen, creating less harm is not enough. The report suggests that business would require a fundamental change in their operation and think in order to achieve this difficult goal (Sutton 2017). It is important for a business to understand their impact on environment and society and their actions should be considered. By adopting a science into business strategy would provide a clear understand the social and environmental challenges in a business model. One of the difficulties for business to achieve better is that the benchmark for a sustainable company is undefined (Sutton 2017). According to Martin Rich, there is no clear definition of sustainable companies and he encourages that business should focus on ‘tomorrow’s required practices’ instead of the best current practices.

I think that it is important for a business to understand their impacts on the environment and the society. I believe that large businesses should be the pioneer in transforming into sustainable practice since they have the largest impacts. These impacts are not included in reducing carbon emissions and creating no pollution. I believe the messages that carry out their customers are the most important where the large business as a role model and affects the individuals. I believe that would be an important factor as a sustainable company.

Sutton Jeff, (2017, May 2), Measuring True Impact: Why Science Is Redefining Our Definition of a Sustainable Company. Available at: http://www.sustainablebrands.com/news_and_views/new_metrics/jeff_sutton/measuring_true_impact_why_science_redefining_our_definition_s (accessed May 2, 2017).