Archive for the ‘RDAG’ Category
A private category for RDAG outcomes.
Salisbury Aquifer Recharge and Recovery Scheme
Posted in Models, RDAG by CBiggs on August 7th, 2009
Location: Salisbury, Adelaide, Australia
The scheme started in the 90’s with progressive thinkers in the City of Salisbury authority trying to find a way to store water that could be used in summer and cut water costs. This original effort has expanded to include stormwater collection, wetland treatment and aquifer injection and retrieval.
One of triggers for the project was the prospect that a major water user (a wool processing facility) was considering relocation due to the cost of bringing over 1bn L of water per year from the river Murray which would have put hundreds of jobs at risk. In a joint project with the council, stormwater is now diverted from drains flowing to the sea and treated in nearby wetlands supplying the wool processor with an alternative local source.
Can you conserve biodiversity in the urban area?
Posted in RDAG by Virginia on June 18th, 2009
There are currently more people living in urban areas than there are living in rural areas. Due to increasing urban pressures, an increasing amount of natural land is turned into agriculture pasture or residential developments. Some argue, because of urban sprawl, that biodiversity conservation must be considered within cities as well as in the natural environment.
Since an increasing amount of natural land is continuously being turned into developments, a growing number of conservation biologists, social scientists and other trans-disciplinary scholars have advocated the need to spread conservation efforts into urban areas. They argue that neglecting the urban environment is neglecting a large potential of land that can facilitate in conserving biodiversity. Other arguments that are used in support of the integration of biodiversity into urban areas is that in doing so, can close the gap between society and nature that has formed in our society. Thus conserving biodiversity in the urban environment can both enhance the amount of conservation and also act as an education program to introduce and remind urban dwellers the presence of nature.
Despite the promising tenets of conserving biodiversity on urban land, there are several implementation problems. Firstly, any sort of conservation project situated in the urban area must take into consideration community concerns. An example of the importance of the community was seen with the relocation of the grey headed flying fruit bats from the Royal Botanic Gardens to Yarra Bend Park in Kew. There were concerns from the locals of the spread of disease, disruption due to bat noise and loss of agricultural produce from nearby small scale farms. After community consultation had occured, the project was able to be approved and has since been hailed as a success in urban biodiversity conservation.
Situating a conservation project amidst the urban environment also presents numerous management problems. These problems are presented as an increase in environmental weeds escaping from private backyards, increased number of cats and other domestic animals which prey on the conservation land and increased visitors which bring their own set of management challenges such as rubbish and degradation to the natural environment. These factors then contribute to a loss of quality to the overall conservation area.  All these elements combined transform into an increased costs of managing an urban conservation project compared to a rural or natural conservation project. Thus, it is more economically efficient to devote resources into conserving a prsitine, natural environment than implementing an urban conservation project.
Urban conservation projects may have numerous social benefits, however, in terms of economic efficiency and the limited budgets of most conservation projects, urban conservation projects may not be the most viable option.
Integration of Community Gardening and Biodiversity
Posted in Models, RDAG by Virginia on June 11th, 2009
Ecological restoration and community gardens have been begrudgingly kept separate from one another. The integration of biodiversity with community gardens has received very little attention, which is surprising seeing that they have both been important contemporary environmental initiatives.
In essence, both these initiatives are interlinked. Biodiversity concerns are due to habitat degradation because of an ever increasing land required for urban developments. Urban developments in turn forces the relocation of land that had been traditionally used for farming into increasing wilderness areas therefore exacerbating biodiversity problems.
The Alex Wilson Community Garden(AWCG) established in Toronto in 1998 sought to rectify the divergence of ecology and community gardens by attempting to consolidate the two goals into one project. In trying to achieve this, the AWCG planted exclusively native species whilst maintaining space for a community garden.
Alex WIlson Community Garden
The AWCG can be used as a model for future community gardens to demonstrate the importance and feasibility of integrating biodiversity values with community garden initiatives.
Vertical Farm – Resourcing space
Posted in Models, RDAG by Devin Maeztri on April 20th, 2009
The Vertical Farm project was initiated by lecturer, Dickson Despommier, and his students at Columbia University in New York City.
The Vertical Farm is a concept of a thirty-story urban farm producing fruit, vegetables, and grains with a greenhouse on every floor. Citing factors such as the need for reforestation and the future growth of world’s population, Despommier believes that cities must learn to feed themselves. Depending on the crops being grown, a single vertical farm could allow thousands of farmland acres to be permanently reforested.
With about 160 of these buildings, you could feed all of New York. Despommier
The Vertical Farm would use hydroponic methods to feed 50,000 people. By growing crops in a controlled environment there would be minimum risk of disease, weather related disasters, less likelihood of genetically modified “rogue†strains infecting crops, and all food could be grown organically, without minimum waste.
Features of Despommier’s design include solar panels, a wind spire, glass panels, a central control room (allowing for yearround,24-hour crop cultivation), circular design, an evapotranspiration recovery system and pipes (to collect moisture which can then be bottled and sold), a blackwater treatment system, and a pellet power system (to turn nonedible plant matter into fuel).
However, as Despommier concedes, it would cost hundreds of millions to build a full-scale skyscraper farm due to construction and energy costs. For more information visit http://www.verticalfarm.com/index.html.
This is from “Social Innovations in Victorian Food Systems”, case studies by Ferne Edwards.
Toronto Food Policy Council- An Example for the World
Posted in Models, RDAG by Devin Maeztri on April 16th, 2009
The City of Toronto created the Toronto Food Policy Council (TFPC) in 1991 in the absence of federal and provincial leadership on food security.
TFPC partners with business and community groups (including City Councillors and volunteer representatives from consumer, business, farm, labour, multicultural, anti-hunger advocacy, faith, and community development groups) to develop policies and programs promoting food security – the TFPC has been instrumental in putting Food Security and Food Policy development squarely on the municipal agenda in Toronto
ULTra Personal Rapid Transit System
Posted in Models, RDAG by Kate Archdeacon on January 21st, 2009
ULTra (Urban Light Transport) is a model of PRT that has developed beyond the concept stage and is currently being tested at Heathrow Airport’s Terminal 5. Personal Rapid Transport has been advocated since the 1950s as offering “on-demand, non-stop transportation, using small, independent vehicles on a network of specially-built guideways”. [wikipedia]
Emissions-based Vehicle Excise Duty
Posted in Models, RDAG by Kate Archdeacon on December 12th, 2008
A different way of taxing car purchase & use provides consumers with rational pricing signals, based on environmental impacts, and may provide incentives to purchase more efficient vehicles.
Read the rest of this entry »
“Ride the Wind” CTrain
Posted in Models, RDAG by Kate Archdeacon on December 11th, 2008
An entire train system’s power-use is offset by the supplier’s payment to a wind-farm.
London Congestion Charge
Posted in Models, RDAG by Kate Archdeacon on December 10th, 2008
The London Congestion Charge is a fee for some motorists travelling within those parts of London designated as the Congestion Charge Zone (CCZ). The charge aims to reduce traffic congestion and improve journey times by encouraging people to choose other forms of transport if possible.
Bicycle-Bus Transit Systems
Posted in Models, RDAG by Kate Archdeacon on December 9th, 2008
By installing bike racks on buses and integrating the two transport systems, the viability of both cycling and bus transit (both of which are lower emission than the car) is increased.
