Net zero . We hear this word being thrown here and there very often these days and I bet that even if you are not in the eco chamber bubble that I find myself in you would have heard of it. Now. Net zero means the achievement of carbon neutrality , and the goal is to reach that point by 2050. 29 years away. Seems a lot but actually for such a big transition is going to pass in a flash and most likely we will find ourself in 2049 (that is if we, as humanity, are still here then) having achieved very little of this target . At the moment it is mostly up to governments to ensure steps are taken, drafting legislative plans (which are most likely going to take forever to draft because inevitably real carbon neutrality goes against the immediate best interest of the big industries which are the ones with the money and the ones that will bargain their votes..) , and then figure out how to enforce them .. and it will take forever because there will be those invoking ‘democracy’ and ‘freedom’ (what is there more democratic and free that caring after the future I really don’t know) , those who say is not enough , and those who are of a self sabotaging nature and only looking a few cm from their noses and protect their now interest. . And then there are some big public institutions that really ought to help governments and even lead by example. I am primarily referring to universities, and I recently saw this great video about the university of Oxford ambitions for net zero. Taking into account not only the emissions associated with ‘the buildings’ but also with all of the activities that rotate around it.
At my interpretation of what ‘all of the activities’ would include, I’d say: the commute of the professors and researchers , the movements of the students , the fieldcourses, from travelling to accommodation, the orders of laboratory materials for research and practical lessons , the use of single use ppe, the travelling to conferences and meetings by the staff and students but also the travelling of guest speakers that arrive at the university, the food used at events .. and of course the buildings in themselves. It is a massive undertaking to calculate all of this , figure out how to make it better and then offset the rest . But it would be fantastic if other big institutions like universities would do it! I think of my uni , and the ‘Ca’ Foscari sostenibile’ initiative, which has a lot to improve on, as giving us a reusable bottle as a gadget and having some recycling bins scattered about is everything but enough .. we still have vending machines with plenty of plastic , there is zero incentive to pay for the offset on the travel or choose train over plane (actually , must choose the cheapest) , or choose sustainable brands or local workers when buying equipment (instead, it’s the cheapest of three invoices that gets picked) Now, I know the approach ‘we can all do our part’ is being criticised because it’s should be the ‘big players’ (like the big polluting industries) responsibility, but at the same time some institutions, especially public ones, ARE big players and they can make a difference, while politics hurries up, wakes up and shakes off those ‘conflicts of interest’ hanging over its shoulders like big parrots.. and just to finish, if you are interested here are the top universities for climate action ranked back in April , maybe doing more of these types of ranking and actually basing our choices on it can help?
1 Comment
Ms Webb
7/19/2021 01:56:23 am
HIRE A PROFESSIONAL HACKER TODAY FROM CONTRACT HACKERS!
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