The right spot...not!

The City of Athens has recently launched a new campaign entitled "Find the right spot", aiming at informing and creating awareness among our very civilized fellow citizens with regard to waste...

...apparently some people in Kolonaki are still unaware....

Wet, wet, wet

Rodia, an important eel-fishing place

Little Egrets on the way to Salaora Island

Some Dalmatian Pelicans chilling in Logarou lagoon

More beauty...

Just got back from Amvrakikos Gulf, another Natura 2000 and Important Bird Area site, where i had some work in the amazing wetlands. My friend Dimitris of the Rodia Wetland Center was kind enough to take me for a ride in his motorboat around the huge lagoon. Although there is a Management Agency, in which I partake, supervising and protecting these very important, massive, ecosystems of western Greece, the Ministry of Environment is still refusing to officially designate the protected area with proper legislation and funding. The area suffers from a lot of illegal activities such as poaching, hunting, dumping, building etc.

ΟΧΙ ΣΤΗΝ ΕΚΤΡΟΠΗ ΤΟΥ ΑΧΕΛΩΟΥ

Παρασκευή 2 Νοεμβρίου, 12.00, ΟΛΟΙ θα είμαστε στα Προπύλαια, ενάντια στο μεγαλύτερο και πιο καταστροφικό τεχνικό έργο διαχείρισης υδατικών πόρων της χώρας μας.

Blog Action Day

The view of the burnt Elliniko Hill, behind the beautiful Kaiafas Lake, a Natura 2000 site (GR2330005) that was also heavily damaged by the Peloponnese fires.

Today, is Blog Action Day and bloggers around the web are uniting to put a single important issue on everyone's mind, posting an issue of their own choice pertaining to the environment.

So, following this summer's destructive forest fires in Greece which burned over 250,000 ha of pristine land (with over 30,000 ha being in protected areas - Sites of Community Importance), took more than 60 human lives, and left our economy and infrastructure shattered, I would like to raise the issue of what were the primarily causes of this massive destruction?

Putting aside all the recent "conspiracy theories", I believe the answer is quite simple (and shaming):

The Greek State’s chronic indifference and negligence to protect its forests, the inefficient and weak forest fire-fighting system and protection policy, plus the equally important mechanisms to monitor and conserve the environment.

Elections 2007 - Campaigning

It's funny how politicians talk about their environmental consciousness and then all of a sudden you see flyers with their lovely face decorating the streets of the city (this politician in particular was also Mayor of Athens!)

Πυρκαγιές & Πολιτική (Burning down the house - Part 2)

(source: NASA August 25th 2007)

Havent had a chance to blog these last few days, been super busy at work (and super depressed), due to the horror we've all been witnessing with the fires all over the country that are still out of control after so many days. We gave out a press release yesterday, published in allmost every newspaper, regarding the things the Hellenic Society for the Protection of Environment & Cultural Heritage is asking from the Greek government, here it is (unfortunately only in Greek - for now):

1. Την δημιουργία χωριστού Υπουργείου Περιβάλλοντος, ανεξάρτητου από τα Δημόσια Έργα, με ρόλο συντονιστή της κυβερνητικής πολιτικής για το περιβάλλον, με ευρείες αρμοδιότητες και με θέση στην Κυβερνητική Επιτροπή. Η σύζευξη με τα Δημόσια Έργα, που δεν υπάρχει σε καμιά άλλη χώρα-μέλος της Ευρωπαϊκής Ένωσης, αποτελεί πλέον προσβολή και στο περιβάλλον και στη νοημοσύνη των πολιτών.
2. Άμεση απόσυρση της πρότασης τροποποίησης του δασοπροστατευτικού Άρθρου 24 του Συντάγματος, άρθρου που αρχικά υιοθετήθηκε το 1975 από τους αείμνηστους Κωνσταντίνο Καραμανλή και Κωνσταντίνο Τσάτσο και μόνο η παρατεταμένη συζήτηση για τροποποίηση του Άρθρου 24 έχει αναπόφευκτα αποστείλει τραγικά λανθασμένα μηνύματα σε κάθε άκρη της ελληνικής γης για την αποφασιστικότητα με την οποία η πολιτική ηγεσία θα προστατεύσει όλον τον δασικό πλούτο της χώρας (το ίδιο έκανε η εξαγγελία για την αναστολή κατεδάφισης αυθαιρέτων μέσα σε δάση, που ευτυχώς –προς το παρόν τουλάχιστον- ματαιώθηκε).
3. Την παραδειγματική τιμωρία οποιωνδήποτε αποδεδειγμένων εμπρηστών. Την πλήρη στελέχωση των Δασικών Υπηρεσιών και της Πυροσβεστικής Υπηρεσίας, την σημαντική αύξηση επένδυσης σε αποτελεσματικά μέτρα πυρόσβεσης, την εκπαίδευση και συμμετοχή του στρατού στην αντιμετώπιση των πυρκαγιών και την ενθάρρυνση της συνεισφοράς των ΜΚΟ και εθελοντών στην προστασία των δασών.
4. Την ταχύτατη κατάρτιση του Δασολογίου. Αποτελεί Συνταγματική Επιταγή που για πολλά χρόνια τώρα δεν εκπληρώθηκε από αμέλεια της διοίκησης και από έλλειψη της αναγκαίας πολιτικής βούλησης. Ζητούμε άμεση δέσμευση ότι το Δασολόγιο και οι Δασικοί Χάρτες, βασικά εργαλεία προστασίας του δασικού μας πλούτου, θα έχουν συμπληρωθεί μέσα στους επόμενους έξι μήνες.
5. Την κατάργηση οποιασδήποτε ευχέρειας της Διοίκησης να νομιμοποιεί, να αγνοεί και να αμελεί αυθαίρετα εντός ή εκτός σχεδίου ή εντός δασών. Να τηρηθεί και στην πράξη η αναμενόμενη κήρυξη όλων των καμένων εκτάσεων ως αναδασωτέων.
6. Την αύξηση ελεύθερων χώρων και του ποσοστού πρασίνου στις πόλεις που έχασαν γειτονικούς πνεύμονες πρασίνου, με στόχο την αναβάθμιση της ποιότητας του αέρα – η Αθήνα και η Θεσσαλονίκη θεωρούνται εν προκειμένω από τις πιο επιβαρημένες Ευρωπαϊκές πόλεις.

Άλλωστε η μείωση δασοκάλυψης έχει αρνητικές συνέπειες και για την ποιότητα του αέρα, οπότε πρέπει να μειωθούν οι εκπομπές αντίστοιχα από άλλες δραστηριότητες. Ως εκ τούτου ζητούμε:

7. Την επέκταση και ενίσχυση των μέσων μαζικής μεταφοράς – μετρό, τραμ, σιδηρόδρομοι – που δεν αυξάνουν τις εκπομπές, ως μερικό αντιστάθμισμα στην μείωση της δασοκάλυψης. Ζητούμε παράλληλα οικονομικά μέτρα ενθάρρυνσης της απόσυρσης των παλαιοτέρων αυτοκινήτων και την αποτελεσματικότερη φορολόγηση της κυκλοφορίας συμβατικών Ι.Χ. στα κέντρα των μεγαλουπόλεων.
8. Την τροποποίηση του Γενικού Οικοδομικού Κανονισμού ώστε να ενταχθούν σ’ αυτόν οι αρχές του βιοκλιματικού σχεδιασμού που πρέπει να εφαρμοσθούν και στην ανοικοδόμηση των τραγικά κατεστραμμένων χωριών. Ζητούμε επίσης να ενσωματωθεί στο Εθνικό Δίκαιο η Κοινοτική Οδηγία 2002/91 που αφορά την ενεργειακή απόδοση των κτιρίων και να εφαρμοσθεί πλήρως κατά την επόμενη τετραετία. Σημειωτέον ότι τα κτίρια είναι υπεύθυνα για το 40% των εκπομπών, η μείωση των οποίων αποτελεί πλέον επιτακτική ανάγκη.
9. Την άμεση εφαρμογή της Ευρωπαϊκής Οδηγίας για την ελάχιστη φορολόγηση καυσίμων με κριτήρια περιβαλλοντικού κόστους ώστε να επιβαρύνεται η χρήση των ορυκτών καυσίμων που αυξάνουν τις εκπομπές, όπως του λιγνίτη και του λιθάνθρακα.
10. Να μην επιτρέπεται, και πολύ περισσότερο να μην επιδοτείται, η κατασκευή συγκροτημάτων δευτέρων κατοικιών εάν προηγουμένως δεν έχουν μελετηθεί, αντιμετωπισθεί επιτυχώς και συζητηθεί δημόσια η αναπόφευκτη αύξηση κατανάλωσης νερού και ενέργειας που επιφέρουν. Οι επιστήμονες αναμένουν σοβαρή μείωση βροχοπτώσεων και αύξηση της μέσης θερμοκρασίας κατά τις επόμενες δεκαετίες, κάτι που όμως το πρόσφατο σχέδιο Κοινής Υπουργικής Απόφασης για το Χωροταξικό του τουρισμού δεν λαμβάνει υπόψη. Ζητούμε την απόσυρσή του για να επανεκτιμηθούν οι συνέπειες μιας πολιτικής που θα αύξανε την πίεση στους υδατικούς πόρους και στις εκπομπές, υποβαθμίζοντας συνάμα και για πάντα τις ακτές της χώρας.

Mountain high

Was up at Parnassos Mountain all day for work, enjoying the beautiful scenery and taking a breath after the last hellish days in Athens (with the fires and all)...to have my buzz killed a little while later, seeing the logging going on just above Elatos Resort.

Burning down the house

We are all watching as the last haven of our capital city is being burned to the ground. The fire began Wednesday afternoon 15 km away from the National Park of Parnitha (a NATURA 2000 site) and reached it yesterday afternoon. There is ash flying all over the city, and the smell is just so scary. There are way too many questions the government and the local authorities will have to answer to.
How timely this is, if one thinks of the Greek government's plan to amend article 24 of the constitution by inserting an innocuous passage which will allow development in order to meet "public needs", aka opening the door for uncontrolled development in forest areas. This along with the absence of a national cadastre, a forestry inventory and the recently proposed Spatial Planning Framework for Tourism, make all of us working in the environmental field all the more angry and suspicious of our country's "leaders".

Urban Contradictions

Saw this (could be a Tracey Emin piece for all I know!) while walking back to the car last night, after the amazing Goran Bregovic concert in the open air theater in Vyronas...

...and after a few meters, saw this. It was the first time we all saw some kind of municipal initiative in this country concerning dog shit, which happens to be everywhere in the city, since Greek dog owners dont bother cleaning up!

4ο Πανόραμα Οικολογικών Ταινιών

Σας περιμένουμε όλους εκεί! Για περισσότερες πληροφορίες επισκεφθείτε την ιστοσελίδα της ΕΛΛΗΝΙΚΗΣ ΕΤΑΙΡΕΙΑΣ.

New beginnings

OK today was my last day at work at CRES, I am leaving the Environmental Policy Dept., after 6 very interesting years full of renewable energy, and tomorrow I'm starting at my new position, at the Hellenic Society for the Protection of the Environment and Cultural Heritage, a very active Greek NGO, where I'll be doing mostly conservation work, a long awaited dream, and some general energy/environmental framework stuff. So lots of biodiversity stuff coming up!

UK: Microgeneration is on!

Swift 1.5kW Rooftop Wind Turbine - BowZED Housing Development, London

An array of 5 Swifts, atop TESCO, in Diss, Norfolk

Two Proven 2.5 kW turbnines, integrated with PV panels and signage for Sainsbury's, Greenwich, London.

The Iskra AT5-1, 5 kW, turbine in Worksop, Nottinghamshire

A pair of AT5-1s powering the new Environmental Education Centre in Rushcliffe Country Park, Ruddington, near Nottingham

Phase 2 of the DTI’s Low Carbon Buildings Programme (LCBP) opens, it is the successor to the old Clear Skies program. Grants are available for the supply and installation of any combination of the following technologies:

• Solar photovoltaics
• Solar thermal hot water
• Wind turbines
• Ground source heat pumps
• Automated wood pellet stoves
• Wood fuelled boiler system

So hurry up and order your own home wind turbine, while supplies last!

More Bush bull on ANWR

The coastal plains of ANWR's 1002 area (photo: USGS)

Here we go again. Bush aims to open up ANWR, specifically area 1002 (see January 8th post), to oil and gas leasing by 2009, according to the administration's proposed 2008 Budget released yesterday. I wonder if he's ever even bothered to read the report "Cumulative Environmental Effects of Oil and Gas Activities on Alaska's North Slope", published by the National Research Council in 2003.

2007 wishes for ANWR and the bears

ANWR map from http://arctic.fws.gov/shademap.htm

Finally the political momentum may be going the other way, at least ever since 2000 when Bush called for opening the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR) during his presidential campaign and the House of Representatives repeatedly passed bills in favour.
Legislation introduced in the House last Friday by the Democratic Party, would make the oil-rich 1.2 million-acre coastal strip of the ANWR a permanently protected wilderness and end repeated efforts to open the area east of the Prudhoe oil field (1002 Area on map) to energy companies.
The efforts on ANWR are coinciding with the Department of the Interior’s decision, on December 27 2006, to propose listing polar bears as threatened under the Endangered Species Act, in response to a suit filed in 2005 by three green groups.
Retreating ice in the Arctic and how it affects polar bears has been described as the “canary in the coal mine” in terms of climate change. It has already led to starvation, cannibalism, and drowning among the world's 20,000 to 25,000 polar bears (4,700 of which live in Alaska and spend part of the year in Canada and Russia). Check out the PBI’s pages for more on the research carried out
It looks like 2007 may actually turn out to be the International Polar Year.

The London Array is OK!

The UK government has finally approved Europe's largest off-shore windfarm to be developed off the coast of SE England. The London Array will consist of 341 turbines located 12 miles offshore. The DTI has also approved a second major scheme in the Thames estuary, to be built in Thanet. The 2 windfarms will deliver 1.3 GW of green electricity - enough to meet the needs of a third of homes in Greater London. The scheme currently depends on an onshore power substation being approved to be built in Swale, Kent, and an inquiry to discuss revised plans is due to start next month. It has to be noted that the estuary wind farm scheme has been altered to protect a little-known bird called the red-throated diver, even a conservation officer with the RSPB said that other developers they've worked with haven't always given the same priority to birds.

Other huge projects such as that of the Isle of Lewis have faced srong opposition by local communities and the RSPB is concerned that the wind farms would affect golden eagles and other birds, and damage sensitive peat land.

The perfect Christmas trip

Pay a visit to the Exploratorium, this December, and take a trip to the field sites surrounding the North and South Poles. Its a celebration for the start of the upcoming 2007-2008 International Polar Year, featuring a special series of Webcasts highlighting the scientific work done at the Poles.

Abrupt ice retreat there - Giant mosquitoes here

Sea-ice 2000
Sea-ice 2040
Images: UCAR

The "inspiration" for today's post came to me after a terrible night of constant mosquito attacks. I don't know if anybody else in Athens has noticed lately. But it's been way to warm for December with mean daily temperatures of 14 degrees Celsius and relative humidity reaching almost 100%. Greece is turning into Puerto Rico - no doubt.

As if all that wasn't enough to stress me out, today I stumbled upon another freakish announcement from the the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR), that the recent retreat of Arctic sea ice is likely to accelerate so rapidly, due to GHGs, that the Arctic Ocean could become nearly devoid of ice during summertime as early as 2040.

The Community Climate System Model was used for this analysis. The scientists conclude that different rates of GHG emissions can affect the probability of abrupt ice loss. After another 15 leading climate models were tested, they found that if emissions of CO2 and other GHGs were to slow, the likelihood of rapid ice loss would decrease and summer sea ice would probably retreat at a much slower rate.
"Our research indicates that society can still minimize the impacts on Arctic ice", Marika M. Holland, the study's lead author, said.

The study "Future Abrupt Reductions in the Summer Arctic Sea Ice", Authors: Marika M. Holland, Cecilia M. Bitz, and Bruno Tremblay, has been published in the December 12 issue of Geophysical Research Letters.

Climate Truth in Chaos?

Photos from the I Count - Stop Climate Chaos event where 25,000 packed into an unseasonably sunny Trafalgar Square.

I was reading today Mike Hulme’s article on BBC Online, where he talks about how the rhetoric of climate change catastrophe is in danger of tipping society onto a negative, depressive and reactionary trajectory.

He argues, on the occasion of the massive Stop Climate Chaos event last month in London, and I quote, that the increasing use of the word “catastrophic”, "chaotic", "irreversible", "rapid" - has altered the public discourse around climate change and that it is not is not the language of science. Its not just campaigners anymore, but politicians and scientists too, that are actively ignoring the careful hedging which surrounds science's predictions? Catastrophic language will not be visible in the next assessment by the IPCC and the current scenarios of future climate change are significant enough without having to invoke society into behavioral change.

But isn’t that what we scientists should try to invoke?

I mean, shouldn’t we try and convince people, by publicly presenting scientific evidence (because most people today, that have no climate scientific background for example will never read the IPCC report or visit the CRU or Tyndall Center’s websites), that they have to alter some of their daily behaviors? To try sustainable living, in order to contribute less to climate change from a household point of view – because everything starts from there.

For example, we can conserve energy at home via energy efficient appliances, or seek alternative means of transport (public transport, carpooling etc) - to go to work, or try recycling; composting; use of renewable electricity and so many other simple measures one can take and turn them into a habit for them and their kids.

Now the industrial sector is a whole different ballgame, simple arguments are not enough because there is serious money involved. They need either massive incentives or penalties in order to comply with emissions reductions legislation etc.

So don’t get me wrong, I’ve had the utmost respect for Mike Hulme and his work ever since I started studying climate change, but I think we do have to be militant to some degree about climate change, now the line where it turns into a soap-opera is thin, but maybe we shouldn’t be so judgmental of the climate campaigners or NGOs and join them instead.

There is a light that never goes out

The Sun-jar
The Glowbrick

On the occasion of Morissey’s gig the other day and since I've been thinking lately how much energy we are wasting almost every night that we leave on a small lamp for my girlfriend’s young daughter who doesn’t want to sleep in total darkness, low and behold today’s post!
An average lamp that’s on for about 45 mins consumes 6500 watts, which means we are wasting a lot every night. So this got me looking for eco-friendly lamps on the internet. I came up with these solar powered - cool looking gadgets, that feature an appropriately soft light for the little one to sleep with. The design is super simple, a solar cell, battery and LED lights.

Smog-eating chemical

The unit cell of Anatase - one of the mineral forms of TiO2

Richard Meier's church in Tor Tre Teste, Rome, that features the TiO2 coating

The chemical industry (e.g. Italcementi Group, Millennium Chemicals) has come up with a revolutionary coating, of titanium dioxide (TiO2), that can be applied to the surface of buildings or as an ingredient in plastics, fabrics, ceramic tiles and road paving materials. TiO2, particularly in the anatase form, is a photocatalyst under UV light that allows the pollutants in the air to react with the oxygen in the air and coverts it to a form which then falls onto the ground and is washed away by the rain. So, in addition to keeping walls clean, it has the potential to cut breathing problems by cleaning the air around buildings. According to Italcementi, tests in urban settings determined that some pollutants could be reduced by 20 to 70 percent. The reduction of pollutants is greatest within about 8 ft. of a surface that has been treated, the company said. This means that a pedestrian on a street with traffic would inhale fewer pollutants while passing treated buildings. It has already been tested on Meier's church and more trials are under way on a pavement in Southampton Row in central London, and at Sir John Cass’s school in the City.

Sources: The Sunday Times, The New York Times