Sustainable Development and Social Well-Being

Article PhotoAs we’ve noted before, there is a strong relationship between environmental crises and social instability. Similarly, developing world communities with healthy environments and sound practices (from farming sustainably to building greenbelts) often see faster gains in alleviating poverty. This connection between sustainability and social well-being is so pervasive, it applies even to refugees. So it should perhaps come as no surprise that two major recent studies have strengthened our understanding of that connection. The first is a report by WRI, Nature’s Benefits in Kenya: An Atlas of Ecosystems and Human Well-Being, which aims to use mapping tools and available data to show the links between ecosystem services and poverty: Through a series of maps and analyses, the authors focus on the environmental resources most Kenyans rely on such as soil, water, forest, rangeland, livestock, and wildlife. The atlas overlays georeferenced statistical information on population and household expenditures with spatial data on ecosystems and their services (water availability, wood supply, wildlife populations, and the like) to yield a picture of how land, people, and prosperity are related in Kenya. The report itself is exhaustive, but even reading through the journalist’s guide gave me several flashes of new insight into how people… (more)

(Posted by Alex Steffen in Climate Change at 10:31 AM)

Better Daylighting

solera : Image Credit: Advanced Glazings, Ltd.Lighting for buildings is a major part of their energy use. Increasingly, green building design is recognizing the importance of providing natural…

Greenpeace – Making Waves: Climate change refugees

Today is World Refugee day. A day to focus worldwide attention on the the estimated 40 million people world wide uprooted by violence and persecution. But there is also a new kind of refugee. The climate refugee. In the words of Antonio Guterres, UN High Commissioner for Refugees:

Climate change and environmental damage lie behind increasingly frequent natural disasters with dramatic human consequences. Different models of the impact of climate change all present a worrying picture of human displacement. East Africa offers a stark example. All predictions are that desertification will expand steadily, making it difficult for people to earn a living and provoking further migration. All of this is happening in the absence of international capacity and determination to respond.

Continue reading Climate change refugees…