The Sustainable Futures Report

In brief,  they want more drinking fountains in London so we don't have to throw away so many plastic bottles.  Someone's come up with a plastic container that you can eat. I wonder what you wrap it in.  Should you be entitled to a doggy bag in Scotland?  Your clothes are probably polluting the oceans, but some people have the balls to solve this problem.  Plastic Planet is a pressure group seekin...

The European Electricity Industry commits to phasing out coal. Meanwhile there are doubts about exactly how much gas can be recovered by fracking in the north of England. The Colombia mudslide - was this global warming in action? Air pollution is in the news again. Are our children safe and how realistic are the proposed measures against vehicle emissions? A nice piece of salmon for Easter? How mu...

Business ethics. Last month I was asked to address a group of business students at a local University. I thought it would be a useful recap of the main sustainability issues if I shared my presentation with you today. The slides are up on slide share, http://www.slideshare.net/AnthonyDay10/business-ethics-and-sustainability - and other links are on the blog at anthonyday.blogspot.com . The slides...

This week we're talking about meat and climate change. How is meat linked to climate change? Can what you eat have an effect on global warming? Yes, is the answer from the Humane Society of the United States and we meet Kristie Middleton and Dr Helen Harwatt from that organisation who explain how and why it's true. Find the full text along with extensive links and resources at anthonyday.blogspot....

In my conversation with Dr Jan Maskell she explained her progress from architecture and the civl service to qualifications in psychology, which is now the basis of her business. She told me why sustainability is important to her, and how it is embedded in her lifestyle at Lancaster Co-Housing. I also called in at the "No Surprises" Department to find out about a warm 2016, EPA budget cuts and a wo...

This week there's more about energy and about islands - in the middle of the North Sea and floating out there in space. How do you get your groceries? Ocado has a new idea and Ocado is not alone. Drones, robots, autonomous lorries? Are these the future? There's more on the effects of air quality and the WHO has produced a new report on a sustainable world for children, linked to the SDGs. Surfers...

Roses are red, violets are blue, but LILAC is a housing co-operative. More about this later. The future, and the past, seems to be electric with electric taxis in Beijing and a very special battery-powered classic. In the I-told-you-so department climate scientists reveal that their 1980s forecasts were not that far out, while others report a massive permafrost thaw. (Try saying that with your tee...

This week: is biomass energy really green energy? A new report throws doubts. The Lords Economic Affairs Committee has issued a report casting doubt on the government's energy policy, but other organisations have cast severe doubt on the Lords' report. Energy, shouldn't we be saving it? Maybe by insulating one home a minute, every minute until 2050? That's the message from the Green Buildings Coun...

This week: more on the Greenpeace/HSBC palm oil story - and a different perspective. High speed rail and solar trains, a journey to the North Pole and we're still waiting for a decision on Swansea Bay. Someone's invented a robot that eats pollution, and what is a single-event upset? As always, you'll find links to most of these stories on my blog at anthonyday.blogspot.com    

Is it a bird? Is it a plane? Is it a bee? Is it a robot bee? Or could it be a flying car?  Yes, it's Friday 17th February and here's this week's edition of the Sustainable Futures Report with me, Anthony Day,  with bees and robot bees, with flying cars and robots to help you park. Was Einstein right? There's more about diesel and  emissions tests and the implications of self driving cars for manuf...

 Cricket, (no the game, not the insect), could be at threat from climate change according to the MCC and the Climate Coalition. The government's White Paper on Brexit is published and Martin Baxter comments on the implications for the environment. News from Scotland about a lamp post which generates its own electricity and statistics from the SMMT about diesel cars. I also ask why marine anthropog...

In the sustainable news this week: a virtual power station, Ireland divests and how your business can achieve zero to landfill. Can you save fuel by just turning left? Al Gore's back. How green is your wood-burner? As green as your 4x4? Reduce, re-use, but there's more you can do before you recycle.  And when he comes to visit, what should you give the Trump who has everything? A ladybird?

This week I'm talking about floods. About flood prevention, specifically the Foss Barrier in York. There's something in the air in London and other large British cities. There's something in the air in France and there's certainly something in the air in Colombia.  President Trump has reversed President Obama's ban on the Keystone XL and Dakota pipelines but have we come to the end of the pipeline...

This week I've been able to talk to Martin Baxter, Chief Policy Advisor at IEMA. We have come a long way from "Brexit means Brexit, a red white and blue Brexit". This week Mrs May set out 12 points which would be the foundation of her negotiating strategy. It's clear that her intention is for the United Kingdom to leave the customs union and no longer to be a member of the European single market a...

You've heard of carbon capture and storage and you've probably heard that no one has yet made it work on a commercial scale, but have you heard of carbon capture and utilisation? Maybe that's the future. If you want to get away from it all, how about a VW camper? Yes I know they stopped making them in 2013, but they've just brought a new one out. Looks the same, but very different. Could be just w...

I'm starting this year with an interview with Clive Wilson talking about the Sustainable Development Goals. Who is Clive Wilson? What are the Sustainable Development Goals? Links to the podcast on iTunes and Stitcher are at susbiz.biz   Check out Clive's Sustainable Development Goals page on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/SDG2030/?fref=ts&ref=br_tf    

Yes, here it is! Episode 38 of the Sustainable Futures Report for 2016. I know it's not quite Christmas but you can open it now. Go on - you know you want to. This year I've written 37 episodes of the Sustainable Futures Report averaging 3,000 words each. That's well over 100,000 words. Here's an overview of the topics covered. You can go back to the ones you missed or the ones you'd like to hear...

This week I bring you information about smart cities and cybercrime, (How safe is your data?) about Britain in a spat with the EU - no, nothing to do with Brexit - grass mills from Ecotricity, the sale of the National Grid to foreign stakeholders (well, part of it, anyway), new terrorists on the block, how the contribution of wind to reducing carbon emissions has been underestimated in England and...

 This week, a detailed look at the future of transport and sustainable transport in particular. News from OPEC and will they really drive the price of oil up? And while they are all pumping out the black stuff - less of it than before - the Chinese are digging out more of their black stuff - coal. The winter outlook for electricity supplies, is it as rosy as we thought? Some commentators predict t...

In a wide-ranging conversation with me, Anthony Day, Tim Balcon makes the point that CSR is not Sustainability. While more and more people "get it", as a result of unconscious incompetence there are still many organisations that are no nearer to adopting a sustainable approach than they were 10 years ago - even though they may claim to be sustainable. Businesses must recognise their role in societ...

Only four more pods until Christmas and the episode for 23rd December will have to keep you going until 6th January. In the last report for the year I'll be looking back at the topics covered in 2016's 37 episodes. In the meantime, though, the message from Marrakech; Trump, the climate and the moon; is this wet week the time to look at natural flood defences, even bringing in beavers to dam the fl...

This interview was recorded on 4th November, before the result of the American presidential election was known. Manda Scott studied to be a vet, has become a successful historical novelist and is now taking time out to study economics for the transition. In a wide-ranging interview we spoke about compulsory voting, where the money comes from, better selection of lawmakers, reframing ideas, the end...

This week, are we on the threshold of the greatest shake-up of environmental regulation we've ever seen? Last December COP21 resulted in the Paris Agreement. The United Nations now say that enough nations have ratified the agreement to make it legally binding. Legally binding on whom? Maybe we'll learn more at COP22, which is now running in Marrakech. How are we actually going to achieve the emiss...

This week we follow up on a number of stories and introduce some new ones. You'll hear Donald Trump on Climate Change and his environmental awards. This time next week we'll know exactly what he's going to be doing with those awards. But first, Client Earth had another day in court, and Spain is set to get hotter - much hotter. On the energy front, Big Energy Saving Week had little impact, Ceres P...

This week there's been a lot in the news about climate change, about transport and, as always, about energy. We'll look at the decision to build a third runway at Heathrow, talk about decarbonising the transport fleet with connected cars, self-driving cars, BEVs, PHEVs and ULEVs. And if you're prepared to let someone else drive, how far can Clare Gilmartin take you? What's the future for tidal pow...