Food Waste Action Week!

Next week (from Monday 1st March to Sunday 7th March) the organisation WRAP is launching the first Food Waste Action Week. They - and I quote - 'will bring together organisations from retailers to local authorities, restaurants to manufacturers, and beyond'. WRAP will be showing everyone that food waste is a problem, and will work with a variety of partners.

WRAP is an organisation that works with everyone to make the world a healthier, safer place. They are located in the UK but their work is global as the world's key sustainability charity. Their main four areas are: food and drink, plastic packaging, clothing and textiles, and collections and recycling. But they do more than that too.  You can see their (very good) website here. WRAP has a history of doing many food waste campaigns, including Love Food Hate Waste in 2007.  Some of their other work includes the Food Waste Reduction Roadmap, the Sustainable Clothing Action Plan, UK Plastics Pact and Recycle Now.  

In this first Food Waste Action Week, WRAP are going to spend it making the world aware of environmental effect of wasting food by promoting activities and sharing knowledge. They will explore practical ways to reduce food waste. Their goal is to halve food waste by 2030, helping the UN's Sustainable Development Goal. Click here to go to the website that will hold a webinar on 4th March about Food Waste Action Week. The website (the Guardians of Grub) also shows other ways to save food. 

Thank you for reading, and you can follow my blog by entering your email in the top right hand corner. This means, whenever I post, you'll get an email saying I have. See you next Sunday!

Violet

         xxx

Renewable Resources!

Last week, I wrote my blog about Renewable Energy so this week I'm going to give examples of them. Just to remind you; renewable energy is something that can be replaced at the same rate it's produced and can never run out. So, here are the examples:

Solar Power

You have probably heard of this one before. This type of energy uses panels, which are activated by sunlight and the cells produce the electrical current. (To explain, these cells are between two layers of a semi-conducting material, like silicone. These create an electric field because every layer has different electronic properties to the other, and these properties energise by photons from the sun. This is what produces the current that is needed to make electricity.) This electrical energy is converted and powers your home. Solar panels have many advantages, including that there is no pollution produced, it can be set up anywhere and doesn't make lots of disruptive noise, however there are some disadvantages. Energy can only be produced when the sun is shining, so really for only half a day, and they can be affected by bad weather.

Wind Farms

The process of producing energy with a wind turbine starts with the wind turning blades round a rotor. The rotor consequently spins a generator, which creates electricity. Wind power is very cheap, and creates very little pollution. Also, in the winter, wind is usually very strong and that time of year is when there is more demand for electricity. The negatives to these are the facts that wind doesn't always blow, and although the part of creating electricity is cheap, the process of building the turbines is very expensive. 

Hydro-electric and Tidal

Tidal energy is a type of hydo-electric power, but they are different things. Tidal uses the tide - note the name- to spin the turbine and then the generator to produce electricity (like wind turbines). Hydro-electric uses the energy of the moving/falling water, which is kinetic energy, turns it into mechanical energy and the generator turns it into electrical energy. These are mostly pollution free, however they are intermittent and dams built for hydro-electricity take a long time and are expensive to build.

Geothermal

This type uses the Earth's natural heat to create energy. Wells that are one to two miles deep are drilled into the ground, and steam or hot water is pumped out of the Earth. The pressure drops at the surface, and the water turns to steam to spin a generator. Advantages of this is that it is a constant supply, but it does produce some greenhouse gasses (but much less than coal and oil!)

Biomass

This is organic matter from plants or animals, and is another source that produces a few greenhouse gasses, like CO2. Biomass already contains energy, from solar power: when the plants photosynthesize, and creatures take this energy when eating plants. Burning it creates electricity, heat and transport fuels like biodiesel, but since it is burned as a fuel, it still creates air pollution.

Thank you for reading this blog (it is much longer than my usual ones!) and make sure you read my post last week to know what non- and renewable is in the whole. Hope to see you next week!

Violet

    xxx  

Renewable Energy!

 In my latest science lesson, we learnt about renewable and non-renewable energy, so I thought I'd pass the information onto you! Starting off with non renewable energy...

The definition of a non-renewable resource is something that forms at a rate much slower than it's consumed, so at one point it will run out. (Also, seeing by the name, when it has been used, it can't be used again). Coal, oil and gas are examples of these, and I'm sure you've heard of them. Along with the obvious disadvantages of using non-renewable energy, such as it takes millions of years to produce the resources that are used to generate electricity and the fact that they produce greenhouse gasses when burned, there are - of course - a few advantages. These include:

• It produces energy on a large scale 
• It is quite a cheap way to generate electricity
• It is a reliable source

Moving onto renewable energy; the definition of this is that it will never ever run out, and can be replaced at the same rate it is produced. There are many, many examples, including more known ones like solar and wind, and things like hydroelectric, geothermic and biomass. The positives of renewable energy are basically the opposite of the negatives of non-renewable energy:

• It will combat climate change by decreasing pollution. While most of the resources create no pollution at all, there are some that creates a bit - but way less than fossil fuels. They also sometimes cause it indirectly, meaning emissions are only created in the making of it and product miles etc, like when solar panels are made in factories.
• It will never run out. Since some sources are from the weather, like solar and wind power, they will never run out. Tidal and hydroelectric, which are to do with water, are similar. 

But, sadly, renewable sources have some cons too:

• It's more expensive and only generates energy on a small scale. 
• Since some of it is to do with weather, it is intermittent. This means it isn't always available. If the tide stays out, it can't turn the turbine to create tidal energy. If the sun doesn't appear out of the clouds, the solar panels won't work. 

You could try to ignore the cons, and say why don't we change all non-renewable sources into renewable ones? Well, did you know, for every nuclear power station you would need 2000 wind turbines to create the same amount of energy. That is a terribly high amount. 

I think I am going to do a part two of this next week, where I will give you examples of renewable sources and describe the pros and cons of each, and how they work. But thank you for reading this week, and come next Sunday for more!

Violet

         xxx

Urban Forest

The Vertical Forest

Have you heard of an urban forest? The definition of the words 'urban forest' is a collection of trees in a suburb or city. And that is exactly what the organisation Urban Forest are trying to do, create a Treetopia. For instance, the start of urban forest thinking was in 1986, in Vienna, when a building had 200 trees included in its design. Another example is the Vertical Forest - which you may have heard of - in Milan, Italy. 

Having urban forests (which can be anywhere; along streets, in parks, in gardens) has a huge beneficial impact to us, including a better quality of life, slowly stopping climate change and helping human health. However, the different 'types' have different uses. A line of trees is more useful in removing pollutants in the air, but a cluster of trees helps create the ecosystem service. Follow this link to read about whether all urban forests are equally beneficial.

The actual team, Urban Forest, are working in Manchester right now (in Whalley Range, Chorlton and Hulme) and their idea is to create a new woodland with the community, and boost biodiversity, habitats and well being where we live. Their website is here, where you can fill out a form to be given seeds, pots and soil to grow the trees (if you live in Manchester). 

Thank you so much for reading this blog. I hope to see you next week!

Violet

         xxx