The Sahara Forest Project

This is the Sahara Forest Project! Taken from: http://saharaforestproject.com/

On my journey, researching the harmonisation of humans and nature, I have come across many different projects and ideas on how to make humanity more sustainable, but the Sahara Forest Project is for me the most exciting of these!

This nicely follows up my post on solar power, as well as many of my other posts that outline some of the problems this project could solve. Deforestation, energy, water security, employment, food security, desertification and climate change could all be tackled in local areas where this project is carried out – pretty exciting stuff huh?

The Sahara Forest Project combines green technology such as saltwater cooled greenhouses and concentrated solar power to restore arid land to its former glory – long before humans arrived much of the Sahara (and others deserts) were in fact forests.

The concept was launched back in 2009 and in 2012 the project grew its first ever baby cucumber at their pilot facility in Qatar. This year the Qatar cucumbers were at a yield equal to the U.K. and barley and rucola was harvested for the first time, all while creating a positive impact on the area. 

The first cucumber from 2012!
 Taken from: http://saharaforestproject.com/concept/history.html

This years cucumbers grow from the seeds produced in 2012.
Taken from: http://saharaforestproject.com/concept/history.html

This years barley being harvested by hand to reduce emissions.
Taken from: http://saharaforestproject.com/concept/history.html

This is certainly a project to keep an eye on as it is still in its early days. Already another test site of 20-ha is being set up in Jordan with the possibility of expanding it to a 200-ha site if all goes to plan! Be sure to check out the website for more information on the technologies and projects. 

Harmonisation 2.0 - Energy

Oil, gas and coal still produce the most energy even though their negative
effects are so well documented. Taken from:
http://technologygreenenergy.blogspot.co.uk/2013/12/history-of-energy-sources.html

As I have shown in my previous post ‘Carbon Major: Major Problem’, energy companies are the biggest emitters of CO₂ both now and throughout the ages. This seriously puts the sustainability of our energy use in question. It is not just CO₂ emissions either; land degradation, biodiversity loss and water pollution can all be attributed to energy production, transport and use. Unfortunately we rely heavily on unsustainable energy – as the figure above shows, oil and gas use is still increasing even in the knowledge of what it is doing to our world.

I believe we must focus more of our attention on renewable resources. Solar energy, wind, hydroelectricity, biofuel and geothermal energy are readily available to be exploited with no large negative impacts on the environment – all we need is the technology. In a paper published this month by David MacKay he weighs the option of solar as a large energy producer by comparing its power potential with that of non-sustainable resources. Oil refineries produce 4000Wm^-2 while coal and nuclear produces between 146 and 31Wm^-2. This is a lot more than solar which can produce between 3 and 30Wm^-2 depending on location and technology used.

This is Le Mees solar farm in France. It produces 18.2MW and
provides for 8,000 families. Taken From:
http://www.theguardian.com/environment/picture/2011/may/26/solar-photovoltaic-france

However, renewable energy should not be dismissed – a renewable-energy world is possible. MacKay states that the U.K. uses 1.25Wm^-2 a value similar to what could be produced by renewable resources. Roof-top solar panels can produce 20Wm^-2 while solar farms in the U.K. can produce 0.5Wm^-2. Obviously this is not enough in itself but less high consuming countries such as those in Africa use far less than the U.K. and due to increase insolation can produce much more. This could increase the economy of third-world countries that currently struggle.

MacKay concludes that solar power could provide a large contribution to global energy. This will come with its own problems including the costs of producing, transporting and storing energy, and large amounts of land use, but must be better than destroying our planet as we currently are.

Harmonisation 0.0 – Sustainability

A balance must be maintained between social, economic and
environmental requirements for sustainability to be reached.
Taken from: http://www.keepoklahomabeautiful.com/sustainability

Before I delve further into the topic of harmonisation, there are some fundamental concepts that need to be defined; sustainability is the first of these. Sustainability is a word that comes up in conversation quite a lot these days but often is not entirely understood. When I asked my geology friend; “How would you define sustainability?” during our conversation on energy, he replied; “It is when you can take resources that can be replaced”. This is indeed sustainable, but sustainability has a much broader definition.
Sustainability itself stems from the term sustainable development which, in 1992, was defined as “Development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs” in the Bruntland Reportfor the World Commission on Environment and Development. The idea of sustainability has been refined since then and is the only logical answer for future change.
There is no universally agreed definition of sustainability, but here are a few that I found online:

·      “Sustainability is based on a simple principle: Everything that we need for our survival and well-being depends, either directly or indirectly, on our natural environment.  Sustainability creates and maintains the conditions under which humans and nature can exist in productive harmony, that permit fulfilling the social, economic and other requirements of present and future generations.”

·      “Sustainability is the capacity to endure. In ecology the word describes how biological systems remain diverse and productive over time. Long-lived and healthy wetlands and forests are examples of sustainable biological systems. For humans, sustainability is the potential for long-term maintenance of wellbeing, which has ecological, economic, political and cultural dimensions. Sustainability requires the reconciliation of environmental, social equity and economic demands - also referred to as the "three pillars" of sustainability or the 3 Es.”

·      “Sustainability is a state of dynamic equilibrium achieved by taking responsibility for balancing long term economic, environmental and social health --for ourselves, our communities, and our world.”

From these definitions and others I have read, I would now answer my own question as so;

“Sustainability is the harmony of humans and nature, where our social, economic and environmental needs are met without incurring negative impact on our world and therefore paving a positive path for future generations.”

With this in mind a better evaluation of attempts to become sustainable and therefore harmonised with nature can be attained.