The Sustainable Restaurant Association is a not for profit membership organisation helping restaurants become more sustainable and diners make more sustainable choices when dining out. We help our member restaurants source food more sustainably, manage resources more efficiently and work more closely with their community. Our independently verified star rating system means diners can choose a restaurant that matches their sustainability priorities. We recognise restaurants as one, two or three star sustainability champions depending on how they rate against a wide range of criteria covering 14 areas of sustainability. So, whether a diner’s main concern is animal welfare or carbon reduction, the SRA and its members are committed to a change for the better. We also help keep sustainability on the news agenda at a local and national level, running campaigns on issues such as finding more sustainable fish supplies, food waste and energy efficiency.

Ways in which we’ve helped restaurants be more sustainable.

Since our launch in March 2010 we’ve provided restaurants with hundreds of practical, cost saving, sustainable solutions across our three sustainable categories. Here are just a few examples of the varied ways in which the SRA has helped our members:

• Society – Ping Pong, with 12 sites in London, wanted to engage with a local charity working with homeless people – we put them in touch with St Mungo’s and now they are working together.
• Environment – Quo Vadis, in Soho, asked to us solve their waste problem. The restaurant recognised it was sending too much to landfill. We introduced them to Harrow Waste. Now nothing goes to landfill, they have installed a glass crusher, cardboard and glass is separated from the rest and they are starting to recycle paper and plastic, saving thousands of pounds in the process.
• Sourcing – In early 2011 all 11 Leon restaurants introduced a new item on its menu – the fish finger wrap and wanted to be sure that the cod was from a sustainable source. Our extensive research proved positive and now the wrap is Leon’s bestseller – making it sustainable in every sense.

www.thesra.org/

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Well worth reading the SRA 2010 Report for more detail on the way it’s been working. KA

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The People & Planet International Photography Competition is open to amateur and professional photographers anywhere in the world. The competition aims to select 53 photos to be published in the 2012 People & Planet: Social Justice & Environment Diary & Calendar, which raise money for a group of Australian charities .

We’re looking for 53 images of people, places or things which tell a story about a social-justice or environment issue. Photos of almost any genre will be accepted, including portraits, landscapes, animals, objects, or any combination of these. We particularly like photos which tell “good news” stories about social-justice or the environment. With 53 spots up for grabs, this is an incredible opportunity to have your photos published and achieve international fame!
You can submit up to 4 photos per entrant. All submitted photos must be accompanied by 3-5 sentences describing the image and the social-justice or environment issues which are raised by the photo. Photos will be assessed jointly with the accompanying description.

The People & Planet International Photography Competition is open to everyone, and we particularly encourage people living in the developing/majority world to enter.

1st Prize: A$1,300
2nd Prize: A$350
Diary Cover Prize: A$350 

Entries close 31 May 2011

http://peopleandplanet.org.au/photo-competition/

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Image: Beekeeping by Hans_van_Rijnberk on Flickr under CC

Keeping bees in an urban environment can be tricky and unhealthy for the bees.  Now there is now a bee keeping hive for urban farmers that also concentrates on the health of your bees while making it easy to upkeep the hive.

Read the full article.

From “Biodiversity for Low and Zero Carbon Buildings: A Technical Guide for New Build (Book Review)” by Kimberley Mok:

With major declines observed in bee, bat, bird and other critical species, it makes sense that newer built environments now being designed with zero- or low-carbon status in mind should also integrate ways to boost wildlife diversity as well. That’s the premise of Biodiversity for Low and Zero Carbon Buildings: A Technical Guide for New Build by Dr. Carol Williams.

Dr. Williams, who is associated with the UK-based Bat Conservation Trust (BCT), points out that imperfections in the craftsmanship of traditional buildings allowed certain species to find ecological niches and roosting opportunities right alongside humans.  Not so with newer, ‘air-tight’ construction, hence the need to accommodate and integrate built-in habitats for now-threatened species ranging from certain bats, owls and peregrine falcons. Thus, the book is apparently the first of its kind to consciously target biodiversity enhancement in new developments, rather than retrofitting existing structures.

Unless biodiversity is considered early on in the design process, these ever more stringent demands for increased energy efficiency of buildings will lead to losses in the biodiversity that have shared our built environment for centuries. This book addresses this issue because if we do not, there will be very few, if any, future roosting opportunities for bats or nesting opportunities for birds in our buildings. Without these measures, key species will be adversely affected by new developments; not only meaning a failure to achieve truly sustainable building, but also an erosion of the quality of life we all hope to experience in our working and home environments.

With a focus on the sustainable building process and wildlife in the United Kingdom, the book is practical in its scope, providing plenty of tables and technical information on how to size and orient suitable building elements that each particular species could call home.  There’s also valuable information on prefabricated wildlife-friendly components from various manufacturers, plus a chapter on living walls, roof gardens and artificial lighting. Full of clearly annotated architectural drawings, colour photos and well-organised information, this book will be an excellent reference for architects and developers in the sustainable building industry.

Original article by Kimberley Mok on Treehugger.

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Image: Congress Avenue Bridge, by jessicareeder via flickr CC

University of Virgina professor Timothy Beatly premiered his new film, The Nature of Cities, at the Lewis Ginter Botanical Garden’s Gillette Forum on October 29th. The film is an interesting overview of various ways in which nature and sustainable architecture are being incorporated into European and American cities. Geared towards people outside the design and science community, it’s a great introduction to the concept of urban nature.  The film has several interesting vignettes, like a car-free development that is so eerily quiet you can follow the sound of waves to find a nearby beach. Or a week-long bio-blitz of a canyon in San Diego that allows kids who were previously warned about the ‘danger’ of the local canyon to explore it and identify the native plants and insects.

The most striking story in the film features the Congress Avenue Bridge in Austin, Texas, famous for its bat colony. The city has gone from trying to torch the bats under the bridge to setting up a protected area where crowds of people assemble to watch 1.5 million bats emerge in the evenings. Now, new bridges in Texas are being specifically designed to house bat colonies. Imagine if more of our buidings and infrastructure were built this way! It’s fascinating to see the shift in construction from environmentally harmful, to environmentally neutral, to environmentaly positive.

Source: How It Grows

From: “Help Save The Cassowary And You Could Win A Holiday To Tropical North Qld”, by Mia Lucy

The Best Holiday in the World competition has been set up by the Australian Rainforest Foundation (ARF) to provide funds to purchase a 250km stretch of rainforest Cassowary habitat in far North Queensland to allow safe passage and breeding for the Cassowary.  Saving the big bird is a massive undertaking. The ARF’s response to this challenge is Operation Big Bird, launched globally in August 2009. The campaign brings together all levels of government, community groups and individuals, scientists, traditional owners, land managers and the corporate sector to work collaboratively towards a common goal.

“The Cassowary is the gardener of the Australian rainforest and its survival is vital for the health of the habitat,” says Warren Entsch, ARF Chairman. We refer to it as a keystone species because its existence is critical for the survival, food and shelter of many other plants and animals. These magnificent birds disperse the seeds of more than 200 rainforest plants through their droppings. If the Cassowary disappears, rainforests like the magnificent Daintree will irreversibly changed. Also, keep in mind this bird is of immense cultural significance to the local Indigenous population,” he says.  The goal is an ambitious Cassowary corridor, linking critical areas of habitat between Cooktown and Cardwell, a distance of more than 400km covering a wide variety of vegetation.

“This will be the largest wildlife corridor ever established in Australia and will be a world-first pilot project demonstrating how an industrialised nation can sustain an endangered wildlife population in its midst.”

Landowners will be provided with incentives to undertake best practice stewardship of the habitat, including pest and weed control, appropriate fencing and revegetation. The potential advantages of an integrated cassowary corridor network are an overall increase in the bird’s foraging area, access to a mix of habitats, higher immigration rates of birds, increasing population size, reducing inbreeding and encouraging genetic variation.  The Australian Rainforest Foundation has been partnered by over 50 North Queensland tourist operators and resorts to develop a spectacular prize for the “Best Holiday in the World” competition.  “Anyone making a contribution to the corridor campaign will go into the draw to win what we know is the best holiday in the world,” said Warren Entsch.  “Tropical North Queensland is a playground for visitors and we want the winners to indulge in all it has to offer and not pay a cent.”

Read the full article by Mia Lucy.

Image: British Ecological Society

From “How to save marine life… with flowerpots” by Emma Bocking, 27th October, 2009

Although sea walls are a strong form of coastal defence they effectively wipe out rock pools which are important oases for marine life. Scientists in Sydney have found a solution involving flower pots…  As anyone who has ever been rockpooling before knows, these little pools of seawater can be a haven for marine life.  But when a natural shoreline is replaced with a vertical seawall, the gently sloping foreshore, along with its rockpools, vanishes.

Without rock pools the number and diversity of animals and plants species in the intertidal area plummets.  Two ecologists at the University of Sydney, Dr Mark Browne and Prof. Gee Chapman have come up with a solutions that is so simple you wonder it hasn’t been done before – flower pot pools.

It was Gee Chapman’s idea to use flowerpots as replacement tidal pools. When attached to existing sea walls, the receding high-tide causes water to collect inside the pots during periods of low tide and gives organisms like molluscs and starfish a habitat similar to naturally occurring rock pools.  The flowerpots themselves are very durable and built from a custom mould, in two different sizes.  Once a supplier was secured and the flowerpots prepared, Browne and Chapman were able to install 80-90 pots in a matter of days. Ten months on and the flowerpots appear to be holding up admirably to the rigours of Sydney Harbour.

Browne and Chapman’s work falls under the category of ‘ecological engineering.’ Browne explains: ‘We’re not trying to restore [the natural intertidal habitats]. The only way to do that is to rip out the wall, which is not realistic or practical.  ‘Instead we’re trying to rehabilitate these areas. While all engineering projects must take into account structural and aesthetic qualities, our projects are novel as we are seeking to add ecological criteria as a third pillar.’

This greener form of engineering has been around for a while in terrestrial environments – just think of green roofs – but has yet to be fully explored in the marine context. This flowerpot installation is a pioneer in the field.

If you live in a coastal community and are concerned with the ecological impact of its sea walls, Browne suggests that you talk to his research team and lobby your local council to try flower pots. He emphasises that sea walls are not safe places for people to start attaching flowerpots without permission.  This could, however, be a great opportunity to build a dialogue between council-members, ecologists, engineers and and the people in your community. Browne believes that the flowerpot installation is easily adaptable with careful local planning and wants to see the idea spread beyond Australia.

Read the full article by Emma Bocking.

Traditionally, [Earth Day] is a day devoted to making green accessible to all. It’s a day when each of us is invited to take small, individual steps toward reducing our carbon footprints, limiting our waste, or restoring the environment. See how easy it is – and how fun – to do your part to save the planet? (Worldchanging Team)

9. BUILD BRIGHT GREEN CITIES
We are now an urban planet. In general, urbanization offers many benefits. But we need to design cities that allow people access to their greatest potential within a framework of sustainable prosperity. Bright green cities are designed so that residents have access to public parks, basic goods, entertainment, services and jobs within walking distance. Bright green cities include transit systems and mobility options to allow people to get from one place to another comfortably and on time without the use of a private vehicle. Bright green cities feature carbon-neutral buildings that are healthy for the people who live and work inside them. They use strategies like zero-waste plans and producer takeback laws to channel materials in closed loops.

Problems This Helps Solve: Because people who live close together use infrastructure and space much more efficiently, cities may just be our most powerful weapon against global warming. As the human population continues to grow on a planet that remains the same, our urban centers will continue to grow to accommodate those people’s needs for shelter and employment. If we design our cities well, they will become places where people can live in bright green prosperity, enjoying access to a larger number of goods and services. And with people concentrated in comfortable, happy, healthy cities, these urban centers will become incubators for the best ideas and innovations of the centuries to come.

To read more of the article visit WORLDCHANGING

For over half a century, food policy has mapped a path for progress based upon a belief that the right mix of investment, scientific input, and human skills could unleash a surge in productive capacity which would resolve humanity’s food-related health and welfare problems. It assumed that more food would yield greater health and happiness by driving down prices, increasing availability, and feeding more mouths. In the 21st century, this policy mix is quietly becoming unstuck.

In a world marred by obesity alongside malnutrition, climate change alongside fuel and energy crises, water stress alongside more mouths to feed, and social inequalities alongside unprecedented accumulation of wealth, the old rubric of food policy needs re-evaluation. This book explores the enormity of what the new policy mix must address, taking the approach that food policy must be inextricably linked with public health, environmental damage, and social inequalities to be effective.

For more information visit Oxford University Press.

There will be an inaugural conference in June 2009. This will comprise an electronic conference and a symposium, where we will particularly explore the role of social science perspectives on themes linking environment, health and development, discuss different analytical approaches, and discuss ways forward for the network. The website gives details of how to join the network and how to apply for the symposium.
Coordinators:
Roger Few (University of East Anglia)
Andrew Collins (University of Northumbria)
Kate Brown (University of East Anglia)