Posts Tagged ‘tool’
Simple Tools to Enable Decision-Making
Posted in Models by Kate Archdeacon on January 7th, 2011
Source: Nourishing the Planet: Worldwatch Institute
Photo: IRRI
From “Simple, Low-cost Color Chart Promotes Fertilizer Efficiency for Asian Rice Farmers” by Matt Styslinger:
Access to nitrogen fertilizers can mean the difference between success and failure of an entire year’s investment for an Asian rice farmer. But overuse of fertilizer can degrade the long-term quality of the soil and water resources on which they depend—and can eat away at precious little profits. But researchers have discovered that rice leaves themselves can give clues about how much nitrogen is needed for optimal yield.
A new 4-panel leaf color chart (LCC) that corresponds to actual colors of rice leaves has been developed for rice cultivation in Asia—the chart was created by the Irrigated Rice Research Consortium (IRRC) in collaboration with the University of California Cooperative Extension (UCCE). The LCC consists of plastic panels, each with distinctly different shades of green—ranging from yellowish green to dark green. LCCs can be used by farmers in the field to gauge how much nitrogen fertilizer is needed for efficient use, and to maximize rice yields.
The LCC is used at critical growth stages by simply holding a rice leaf against the panels. A farmer can tell whether the crop has received too much nitrogen or is nitrogen deficient, by comparing leaf color too LCC panels. This provides real-time guidance for when to apply, and when not to apply fertilizer. Any color outside the range of the four panels would signal extreme nitrogen deficiency or excess.
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This effective, low-cost tool helps farmers improve their nitrogen fertilizer management, improving their prospects for success. “Smallholder farmers benefitted from the low cost [about US$1 a unit] and the learning that was associated with it,” says Witt. “It wasn’t just the chart, but also learning when the plant really needs the nitrogen and observing leaf color. Once farmers used the LCC for two or three seasons,{they} adjusted their nitrogen management, and they developed an eye for the optimal green leaf color.Managing soil fertility and having adequate tools to be able to communicate soil fertility to farmers is essential to sustainable agriculture and food security.”
Read the full article by Matt Styslinger for Worldwatch.
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Integrating Sustainability Into Design Education
Posted in Models, Research by Rob Eales on September 9th, 2010
Source: Core 77
From “The designers’ accord educational toolkit: what does it really take to encourage sustainable practice?” by Valerie Casey:
How can we start thinking about sustainability as intrinsic part of good design, instead of an addendum? How can we embrace the potential impact of our craft to design new services, shape organizational behavior, and enable policy change, not just churn out artifacts? How can we assume accountability for what our designs influence, and not just the design itself?
These are the questions many of us have been asking constantly—and answering with only with limited success—for years. I am reminded of the confusion designers have around this topic each time I publicly speak about sustainability—the first comment from the audience during Q+A is always the same: “Tell us what to do!” We are a profession who spends our entire lives generating new ideas, challenging the status quo, and building glorious concepts from nothing, yet remarkably we are paralysed when confronted with the issue of how to meaningfully engage in the most important issue of our time.
One of the best ways we can advance our mission to practice sustainable design is to make sure the next generation of designers will graduate with a value system that reflects the new realities of our profession.
This is the challenge the Designers Accord sought to address when it started 3 years ago. The concept was simple: if designers, educators, and business leaders could openly share knowledge and experience about sustainability, we would collectively (and more quickly) build our intelligence around these issues, and then generate more innovative and world-changing ideas.
We all know that a single solution, technology, or person will not solve the humanitarian and climate change challenges we face. There is no silver bullet, but there is silver buckshot. One of the best ways we can advance our mission to practice sustainable design is to make sure the next generation of designers will graduate with a value system that reflects the new realities of our profession. With this in mind, two weeks ago the Designers Accord launched another means of sharing knowledge with the Toolkit to integrate sustainability into design education.
Read the full article by Valerie Casey on Core 77.
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Better Decisions, Real Value: Business Toolkit
Posted in Research by Kate Archdeacon on June 28th, 2010
Source: Forum for the Future
Forum for the Future is launching the Better Decisions, Real Value toolkit designed to help sustainability practitioners and finance professionals determine how sustainability can add financial value to their business. We believe that if companies are better equipped to assess this, they can make better decisions that create real value – for their investors and wider society.
The toolkit is the first output from over a year’s practical research with our Foundation Corporate Partners. We found that the complexity and uncertainty of sustainability created three barriers to determining the business case:
* the numbers are much ‘softer’ than decision-makers are used to;
* companies get stuck in a cycle of “no permission without a business case, no business case without permission”;
* financial tools are ill-equipped to deal with the ambiguities of how sustainability leads to value creation.
Our toolkit is designed so it can be used in any company or organisation to determine how sustainability can add financial value to the business. It includes a range of components.
* The Foundations tool helps you tackle the expectations gap by laying the foundations of the business case. It summarises the latest understanding of when there is (or is not) a business case, and why it is so hard to prove.
* The Entry Point guide offers a step-by-step guide to getting permission to explore your business case, helping you break out of the ‘no permission-no evidence’ cycle.
* The Pathways tool summarises the different ways sustainability can create financial value – from product differentiation, to staff motivation and risk reduction – with guidance on how you can collect evidence to make your business case.
* The Ready Reckoner tool helps you identify the pathways which are most important for your situation and calculate good-enough numbers to start the virtuous circle.
We are particularly keen to help our partners to use these tools, because we think it will help them create change and because we hope that by using the toolkit they can help us improve it.
Click here for more information about our Better Decisions, Real Value project. We will be making the tools available to the public on this page in July.
If you are interested in the Better Decisions, Real Value toolkit please email David Bent (d.bent@forumforthefuture.org) or call 020 7324 3662.
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Managing Ecological Trade-Offs: New Analysis Tool
Posted in Research by Kate Archdeacon on April 19th, 2010
Source: Stockholm Resilience Centre
From Seeing the Hidden Services of Nature
Following an intense study of agricultural ecosystems near Montreal, a new tool that enables the simultaneous analysis and management of a wide range of ecological services has been developed by Ciara Raudsepp-Hearne of McGill University’s Department of Geography, Elena Bennett of the McGill School of Environment, and (Stockholm Resilience) centre researcher Garry Peterson.
Risk of missing hidden ecosystem services
Environmental management typically focuses on nature’s resources like food, wildlife and timber, but can miss hidden ecosystem services such as water purification, climate moderation and the regulation of nutrient cycling. The researchers show that ecosystems that maximized agriculture offer fewer hidden ecosystems services than more diverse agricultural landscapes. The findings were published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Science on March 1, 2010. Landscapes that provide a lot of one services, such as pig production, can be costly because they have fewer of the hidden services, such as the regulation of nutrient pollution, which are also important to people, Ciara Raudsepp-Hearne says. They also show that in some areas high amounts of agricultural production can go hand in hand with the production of other ecosystem services. The researchers framework can be used to help identify “best-practice areas” and contribute to developing effective resource policies.
Trade-offs and costs must be recognized
Bennett believes Quebec manages its environment fairly well, but that there are still trade-offs and costs to be recognized. The big local message is that in terms of the landscape we have to be thinking about more than just one thing — we can’t just see corn, we have to see deer hunting, nutrients, and tourism, too, Bennett says. The area surrounding Montreal was selected because it is typical of near-urban agricultural landscapes in many parts of the world. I hope these methods can be applied to many other landscapes around the world, Peterson says, adding the tool will help decision makers trying to balance the goals of farmers, rural villagers and exurban commuters.
Read the full article.
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