Organic Habitat-3
4.5. Use and discard culture.
Raw materials.
Consumption.
Use and discard.
Finite resources.
Waste.
4.6. Technology.
Obsolescence.
Key principles.
4.7. Consumption.
Goldilocks.
Homo sapiens.
Use and discard.
Limited resources.
More consumption.
Excessive land.
Forests destroyed.
Fresh air.
Appropriate value.
Global warming.
Biodiversity.
Tree density.
Water cycle.
Conserve.
Fresh water.
Global demand for water.
Personal water.
Water cycle.
Calories.
Food waste.
Obese.
Vegetarian.
Energy.
How long fossil fuel will last.
Plastics.
Metals.
Resources.
Use and discard culture.
The industrial revolution caused dramatic changes, in many dimensions.
Machines amplified muscle power in a phenomenal way.
With machines we could produce enormous amount of goods,
which was inconceivable before.
Producing more goods created more wealth.
Countries which industrialised earlier, produced more goods and became wealthier.
To produce more goods, much more raw materials were required.
Industrialised countries conquered and colonised other countries.
The colonies were a convenient source of the large quantities of raw material,
required to produce goods.
One example is cotton, which was grown in colonies,
and converted with machines, into textiles in England.
The colonies were also a source of raw materials, which were used to convert into metals and machinery.
Another dimension of change caused by the industrial revolution was consumption.
The goods produced needed consumers to consume them.
Some of the new consumers were found in the colonies.
The citizens of the industrial countries, started to consume more and more goods.
Increased income in these countries, went hand in hand with increased consumption.
The per capita consumption of goods dramatically increased in industrialised countries.
The cheap availability of raw material fuelled this consumption.
It was generally conceived that resources were unlimited.
The unfortunate outcome of mindless consumption,
was the development of a culture of "Use and Discard".
Rapid technological changes, also created faster obsolescence, which compounded the problem.
For example, in developed countries it became a norm to buy a new car,
every few years, and discard the old one.
This was just one example.
A myriad of consumer goods were bought, used and discarded.
This led to a conspicuous increase in the amount of waste,
produced by humans.
The amount of resources available in the planet is finite.
We cannot continue to consume, at the current rate,
and hope that the planet will keep on providing resources.
If developing countries also adopt the same culture of consumption and waste,
it would lead to disastrous results for the planet.
The cities are the highest source of consumption.
Thanks to the "Use and Discard" culture,
it is also the highest generator of waste.
This twin evil of unbridled consumption, and generation of waste,
is one of the major negative factors of cities.
We need a major cultural change in future organic cities.
An organic city, like nature, recycles what it uses.
Technology.
Another factor that influences consumption, is technology.
The past two centuries has witnessed, a rapid progress in technology.
This by itself is a very positive factor.
A by-product of this rapid increase in technology, is rapid obsolescence.
A product which remained relevant for life time, is now obsolete in a few years.
A mobile phone, computer, a car, tv, etc. are discarded in a few years,
to buy the latest model.
The problem of higher consumption, is compounded by higher rate of obsolescence.
The discarded used products accumulate as waste in the planet.
We are rapidly becoming a garbage planet.
We need to completely rethink, the concept of consumption.
There are some key principles that we can learn from organic systems.
They do not pollute.
They do not waste.
They recycle, what they use.
These principles need to be designed, into future organic cities.
Consumption.
Planet Earth is incredibly lucky.
It is ideally situated in a goldilocks zone in the solar system.
It is the only planet that supports life.
The environment of our planet is a delicate balance of many naturally occurring phenomena.
The myriad forms of life on Earth, is actually intricate interrelated web of life.
All species of life exists harmoniously with the environment in a synergistic way.
No species dominates or damages the environment, in a irreparable way.
However, there is one prominent exception.
We the homo sapiens, - the humans.
Using our superior intelligence, we have learnt to dominate the planet.
Paradoxically we are damaging the environment, and potentially heading towards destructing it.
If we do not make a fundamental change in our thinking and behaviour,
the planet will no longer be hospitable to our existence.
Unbridled consumption, and excessive waste and pollution,
are the primary ways we are damaging and potentially destructing the environment of the planet.
In the recent past, every 12 years are so, a billion more people,
are consuming more goods.
Most of these goods are used and thrown.
We have established a one way relationship, with the limited resources of planet Earth.
We exploit natural resources,
produce goods, use and discard them.
Two centuries ago, for the planet with the population of one billion,
the Earth's resources might have given the impression of being unlimited.
The driving force for economic growth, was exploitation of resources.
Even with a population of more than 7 billion, this illusion remains.
The fact is that the Planet Earth has limited resources.
To make best use of them, we have to reuse and recycle resources.
Cities have become large centres of consumption.
Economic factors incentivise more consumption.
The growth of the individual and society, is associated with higher consumption.
When a person earns more, the surplus income goes into buying more goods.
This could be utility goods, comfort goods, entertainment goods, fashion goods,
luxury goods, etc..
Happiness is associated with more consumption.
We need to redesign the purpose of progress, and the meaning of happiness.
We humans inhabit the land mass of the planet.
Forest were the original major occupants of the land mass.
With the growth of human population, and advancement of technology,
forest are being destroyed to enable human settlements.
Apart from living space, another critical need for human is food.
To produce food for an exponentially growing population requires more and more land.
More and more forests are destroyed to create farm lands.
Forest play a critical role in maintaining a habitable environment.
By destroying forests, we are destroying the life sustaining component of the environment.
Consumption of excessive land for human uses,
is one of the major factors, that we need to review and rethink.
The planet once had 16 million square kilometers of forest.
We have destroyed 10 million square kilometers of these forests.
Only about 6.2 million square kilometers of forest is left.
The forest are not uniformly distributed.
We probably now have 3 trillion trees in the world.
Some countries like Canada has 9000 trees per person.
Some countries like India has only 28 trees per person.
The amazon river basin is the largest rainforest in the world.
It covers 40% of South America.
20% of the amazon rainforest have already been destroyed.
We continue to destroy about 50 thousand square kilometers of the amazon rainforest every year.
Deforestation is a worldwide trend.
Between 2002 and 2012, 2.3 million square kilometre of forest was sacrificed,
in the alter of human progress.
If we continue at this rate, 90% of all forest might be destroyed by 2030.
We human beings need 9.5 tonnes of air to breathe every year.
Air is one of the largest things in volume that we consume to exist.
Air is free, and we take it for granted.
21% of this atmospheric air comprises of oxygen.
It is important to have this level of oxygen in atmospheric air.
If it falls below this level, we will have difficulty in breathing.
We need 550 liters of pure oxygen every day, to live.
We must view fresh air and oxygen as a precious resource.
Forests observe carbon dioxide, and breathe out oxygen.
They play a critical role in maintaining the oxygen levels in the atmosphere.
Trees take a long time to grow and mature.
Trees can live for hundreds and even thousands of years.
The world's oldest living tree, is called Methuselah.
It is more than 4800 years old.
It is as old as the pyramids built by the ancient Egyptian civilisation.
How do we value a tree, which takes decades to mature?
Many man made structures can be built in a year or so.
We value them very highly.
But our economic system does not place a appropriate value to old growth trees.
This probably is a reason that trees are cut for human use,
which is perceived as having higher value.
Deforestation causes carbon dioxide to linger in the atmosphere.
As carbon dioxide accrues, it produces a layer in the atmosphere,
that traps radiation from the sun.
The radiation converts to heat, which causes global warming.
Trees remove carbon in the form of carbon dioxide during the process of photosynthesis.
They release some carbon dioxide back into the atmosphere during respiration.
Without human intervention the delicate balance in the eco system is maintained.
Human induced deforestation upsets this balance and contributes to global warming.
Forests make vital contributions to biodiversity.
Millions of species of life, are nurtured naturally in forest.
We know that all species of life, are related directly or indirectly to one and another,
in the web of life.
Large scale this destruction of forest, disrupts this harmony.
One example of our interdependence, with other forms of life, is bees.
Bees are natural pollinators, even in industrial agriculture.
Many areas are witnessing a drastic decline, in bee population,
impacting agricultural production.
There are 50 thousand to 100 thousand trees per square kilometre in natural forests.
Most manmade cities have negligible number of trees.
Even if we require land, for human habitation,
we could aim for a reasonable amount of tree density for the city.
Some forward looking cities are being designed with 30% (???) tree cover.
Forests intercept, retain and transpire precipitation.
Forests return most of the water that falls on land, back to the atmosphere.
It has an important role to play in the water cycle.
Deforestation results in the precipitation being lost as runoff.
This disturbs the water cycle, which has a negative impact on climate.
Deforestation has a direct or indirect link to consumption.
Growing more food, typically involves more deforestation.
Breeding more livestock for consumption, involves more deforestation.
Consuming more paper involves more deforestation.
Higher consumption of energy and many goods,
has indirect links to deforestation.
If we want to conserve, and improve upon the forests we have,
we need to practice sustainable consumption.
Another precious resource that is widely neglected, is fresh water.
97% of water in the planet, is salt water, found in the seas and oceans.
More than 69% of the remaining 3% freshwater, is locked up in glaciers and polar icecaps.
30% of freshwater is ground water.
Only 0.3% of the freshwater is available in lakes and rivers.
That is how precious freshwater is.
Global demand for water has been growing sharply in the last century.
Total water usage by agriculture, industries and cities,
has increased from 580 cubic kilometers in 1900,
to 3900 cubic kilometers in 2010.
The major consumption of freshwater is for agriculture.
70% of freshwater is used for agriculture.
10 million hectares, of irrigated land in the world use 2900 cubic kilometers of water.
Industries use 980 cubic kilometers of water.
Cities and towns use 300 cubic kilometers of water.
The water used in industries and cities, result in waste polluted water.
Some crops are more water intensive than others.
Rice for example, is a water intensive crop.
It requires 5000 liters of water, to produce 1 kg of rice.
In comparison wheat consumes relatively less.
There are many ways, like drip irrigation, by which water use can be optimised for agriculture.
The personal water consumption of humans, vary widely from region to region.
People in Rwanda consume 15 liters of water per day,
compared to the people in US who consume 575 liters per day.
The amount of water in the planet is fixed.
Water moves in a cycle through the planet.
Heat from the sun evaporates water, from the oceans.
The water vapour rises to form clouds,
which move throughout the planet.
This comes back to Earth, as precipitation in the form of rain and snow.
Water collects in lakes and underground aquifers, which ultimately flows back to the sea.
Broadly this is the pattern of the water cycle.
We need to sustainably harvest freshwater, for human use.
Cities need to be designed to harvest freshwater, and recycle them.
We cannot afford to pollute precious freshwater, and discard it.
Food is a basic necessity for human beings.
We need 2000 to 2500 food Calories of energy per day, which we derive from food.
The population of the world has been growing steeply, specially in the last couple of centuries.
There has been a continuous increase in the demand for food.
The per capita production of food, per day was about 2200 Calories in 1961.
Now we produce 2900 Calories of food, per person, per day.
This amounts to 2.2 trillion dollars of food production in a year.
This gives an impression that we produce more than enough food for the whole world.
Unfortunately this is not true.
The availability of food varies widely from region to region.
In developing countries 10 to 20% of the people are under nourished.
800 million people go hungry every day.
Clearly the priority is to ensure adequate nourishment to all human beings.
Shockingly 30% of world food production goes for waste.
In developing countries wastage is due to,
lack of adequate storage capacity,
lack of appropriate storage, - like cold storage,
food lost to pests, are primary reasons for wastage of food.
In developed countries food is wasted for different reasons.
The food may not be up to certain standards.
For example, an apple may be rejected, because it does not have the right shape,
or it might not have the right look.
Food products have a limited shelf life.
Packaged food unconsumed after expiry date is discarded.
More food is cooked or bought than required.
The excess leftovers are discarded.
All this adds up to the enormous waste of food produced.
Food wastage is much more in developed countries.
About 100kgs of food per person is wasted in developed countries,
compared to 10 kgs per person, in developing countries.
The amount of food we waste,
would be more than enough to feed all the hungry people in the world.
Another disturbing aspect of food consumption, is excessive consumption.
Many people who have easily affordable food,
tend to consume more than the required and recommended amount.
A combination of excess food and low physical activity, leads to obesity.
It is estimated that 30% of the world's population are obese or overweight.
Unfortunately this results in serious health problems.
The goal of prosperity cannot be just to produce more food.
We just need to produce enough food, to have a balanced and nutritious diet,
which leads to a healthy life.
Another aspect of food consumption, is the composition of our diet.
One way to provide nutrition is to grow grains, vegetables, fruits and nuts,
and directly consume it.
This would constitute a vegetarian diet.
Another way is to breed livestock for food.
This would mean growing food to feed and breed the livestock,
and then consume it.
This would constitute an animal product, and meat oriented diet.
From the ecological viewpoint it is more energy efficient, to consume a vegetarian diet.
It requires more energy to grow food, to feed and breed animals,
then consume it for food.
It takes 10 kg of grains to produce 1 kg of meat.
More than 40% of the grain grown in the world goes to feed animals.
In the US more than 56 million acres is used to grow grains for animals.
Only 4 million acres is used for producing food for human consumption.
It is estimated that 1/3rd of the available arable land is used for producing food to feed animals.
It is estimated that the food grown to feed animals,
is sufficient to feed all the hungry people in the world.
Live stock contributes to 7% of greenhouse gas emissions.
If we need to have sufficient forest cover, in the planet,
we need to use less land for production of food.
This is possible if we orient our diet, to a more vegetarian diet.
Energy is a good indicator of our consumption pattern.
Fossil fuels are a main source of energy, in the last two centuries.
One way to measure energy consumption is using the metric,
tonnes of oil equivalent, or t o e.
This is unit of energy, defined as amount of energy realised by burning one tonne of crude oil.
This is equivalent to about 11640 kilo watt hour of energy.
The total world energy consumption was about 6100 million t o e, in 1973.
This more than doubled to 13600 million t o e in 2015.
Economic progress is closely related to higher energy consumption.
80% of this energy comes from fossil fuels.
Crude oil, natural gas, and coal are the main fossil fuels,
which fuelled the industrial revolution.
A major portion of this is consumed by developed countries.
Developing countries are also starting to use fossil fuels at an accelerating rate.
The world crude oil consumption in 2016 was 4300 million tonnes.
The total natural gas consumption in 2016 was 3600 billion cubic meters.
The world coal consumption in 2016 was 7300 million tonnes.
The electricity consumption in 1973 was 6100 Terra watt hour.
This rose to 24300 Terra watt hours in 2015.
66% of electricity is generated using fossil fuels.
42% of energy is consumed by industry.
27% is used by residences.
22% is used by commercial and public services.
These figures illustrate, how heavily dependent on fossil fuels,
our economy and our lives have become.
Burning of fossil fuels released 15.5 billion tonnes of carbon dioxide in 1973.
In 2015 fossil fuels released 32.3 billion tonnes of carbon dioxide.
This emission is the major contributor to global warming and climate change.
Fossil fuels were formed in nature, from decaying organic matter.
When this matter was buried deep under pressure, nature cooked it into natural gas.
This process happened over more than 100 million years.
There is a very limited and finite amount of fossil fuels in our planet.
They exists in the form coal, crude oil, and natural gas.
We started using fossil fuels in a big way in the 19th century.
Initially coal was the major driver of the industrial revolution.
It provided 96% of the fossil fuels.
Later it was joined by oil and natural gas.
Currently oil contributes 40% of the fossil fuel,
coal and natural gas contributes the rest.
The use of these fuels is accelerating.
Developed countries use much more of these fuels.
For example, the US with 5% of the population uses 25% of the fossil fuels.
How long will this 100 million old fossil fuels last.
Oil and natural gas will last for about 50 years,
and coal for about 100 years.
If we need to design for sustainable living,
we need to move away from fossil fuels, towards renewable energy.
Plastics is one glaring example, of conspicuous consumption, waste and pollution.
Plastics are polymers,
synthetically manufactured from fossil fuels like crude oil and natural gas.
In the last 60 years we have produced more than 8.3 billion tonnes of plastic.
Plastic is not biodegradable.
Most of this plastic is discarded as trash, which pollutes the soil and water.
About 8 million tonnes of plastic lands up in the oceans.
Scientists have discovered entire islands comprising of plastic waste.
Waste plastic in oceans, has a deleterious effect on marine life.
At this rate, by 2050 we will have 12 billion tonnes of wasted plastic polluting our planet.
Most of it will be in landfills, waterbodies and the ocean.
Plastic is a striking example, of the culture of use and discard.
A sustainable lifestyle requires that we discard the "use and throw culture".
If we need to use plastic, we need to recycle all of it.
When we think of something precious, we think of gold.
We are aware that there is a limited supply of gold.
It is priced very highly, and we consume it very sparingly.
In fact we hoard most of it, as wealth.
The same is not true for other metals like copper and aluminium.
Because they are relatively more abundant,
we get the false impression that there is a limitless supply of them.
There is a finite quantity of these and other metals in the world.
If we go on using and discarding, a finite resource, ultimately we will run out of it.
In fact all the atoms, in the periodic table, were cooked in stars billions of years ago.
The planet does not produce any of the elements, we use.
The amount of all materials in the planet, is finite.
If we are cognisant of the immutable fact, that all materials and resources of the planet,
are finite and limited, we will evolve a different way of thinking about natural resources.
Human beings are 200000 years old.
Civilisation is about 5000 years old.
In the last 200 years, we have consumed an incredible amount of non renewal natural resources.
For example in the next 20 to 40 years, we will run out of
Silver, zinc, indium, antimony, lead and copper.
We will run out of aluminium in 70 years.
In a couple of centuries we will run out of most of the materials,
that we have taken for granted, in our daily life.
Our planet is endowed with sufficient resources.
We just need to realise that they are finite and limited.
We need to learn to recycle the products that we use.
In this way, not only our generation,
but all future generations can have access to non renewable resources.