Hope as Nations United in Challenge of Climate Change

Global emissions are still a priority

It is now accepted that an alarming rise in global temperature is real and greenhouse gases produced as a result of our drive for energy is responsible.  The impacts range from shifting weather patterns, flooding and droughts to increased risks of spread of diseases and pests. Concerns around related global food security and water security are growing. Development of clean energy has never been more urgent. International skills and innovation in areas of renewable energy production, energy storage, clean transport and waste to energy are needed to drive the move away from fossil fuels. An exciting time as new business models and markets are emerging.

Standing united against climate change

So, despite this urgency, and pleas from leaders across the international community,  President Trump carried out his promise to exit the Paris agreement and the rest of the world is left wondering what this will mean for the future. America, the world's biggest economy and the second biggest emitter of greenhouse gases, now stands apart from the rest of the world on this issue.  Can the agreement survive the exit of such an important partner? It seems that any impact of the loss of this massive partner is outweighed by the urgency to tackle the problem of climate change and the sense of responsibility felt by the rest of the 194 countries who are facing up to their responsibilities by remaining united.

We stand together, almost, and are making some great advances. in 2015 the world produced almost 800 GW of renewable energy (almost 30% of the world's generating capacity) and its growing.

Why mature students do so well: A lecturer's view

Students returning to study after a break tend to lack confidence in their academic abilities yet, from my experience running the MSc in Environmental Sustainability and Green Technology, this group of postgraduate learners tend to outperform their younger peers. It seems that what these students lack in self-confidence about their study skills is more than made up for in terms of the life skills necessary to get the most out of their courses. They plan workloads, ask more questions and seek more feedback. They also bring experiences.

The term "mature" student is quite interesting. It doesn't really do justice to the diversity of people that it attempts to describe. Anyone who is returning to education after a gap is technically a mature student and with the introduction of the UK student loans for postgraduate students, more and more people are returning to education after a break, be that just one year off or decades out in the real world.  But that step back into academia is a big one and can be quite daunting.  The top questions applicants are asking are:

Intergenerational exchange encourages critical thinking

What days will I be taught?

This is often code for "Can I do this course and work?". Mature students often have jobs or businesses that they can do part-time and/or need to work to fund themselves and in many cases their families. Part-time study and flexibility within programmes is increasingly important. Many universities offer internships, for instance, at Keele students can work on a range of opportunities, earning while building a CV. 

 

How many places are there on the course?   

This is often code for "who will I be studying with?" and  "are they all youger than me?" and "is this competitive and am I good enough?". After being out of the university environment it can feel very daunting coming back. The fact is that there are more students now applying after a gap and it is not unusual to be "mature". In fact, many courses welcome students with some experience of working in an area.  The age range of students is vast and this is no bad thing. Critical thinking is something that we expect our students to develop and the benefit of of having a classroom with lots of varied opinion, experiences and background makes for a rich learning environment. Diverse groups have more to discuss!


So bring on the diversity! There is no such thing as too old to study. Welcoming students with varied backgrounds and experiences in terms of age, culture and academic subject has certainly made my classroom a better, more interesting place.

What a waste!

Smoke plume across Stoke-on-Trent from burning plastics

It is one week since I spotted the huge plume of smoke from the fire in Milton at Hanbury plastics recycling center. I was standing around five miles away when I took the image below. The sight of this cloud, that seemed to be quite still, was surreal. The cloud sat right across a heavily populated area and residents some miles downwind reported ash and dust falling. This site has been reported to be operating illegally with a stockpile of bales of plastic building up to dangerous levels. Stockpiling of waste with variable value on the market is not unusual, until the price of material rises. The trouble is that these sites are hazardous with a high fire risk. Fires in tyre dumps, scrapyards and waste facilities are particularly nasty producing toxic fumes with carcinogenic hydrocarbons, heavy metals, halogens and depending on the condition of the site, asbestos.

Food waste being processed for biogas production

It would be easy to be critical of the industry but to be honest, most of our waste handling is done with care and compliance. Encouraging, as we have a lot of waste. Even better if we can use this waste where it is produced without the need to ship it abroad and turn it into new products or directly into energy (cue picture of food waste being processed for anaerobic digestion at Biffa). What is great about anaerobic digestion is that it breaks down waste food to produce useful gas and fertiliser to help grow more food. Its interesting to note that food waste would break down like this in landfill and the methane, a powerful greenhouse gas, could have been released into the atmosphere. Very impressive process but worth noting the plastic bags you see on the picture. These have to be filtered out and disposed of. Plastic bags, like these that are used to line our bins, stick around in the environment for between 20 and 1,000 years. A big price to pay so that you don't have to rinse your bin every now and again.

Plastics are awesome, don't get me wrong. They are clean, re-usable, lighweight and cheap to buy. They enable safer medical treatment, efficient, lighter transport and stronger, longer-lasting materials. I would argue the true cost of plastics is seen in the environment in the long-term storage, disposal and reprocessing and pollution of our environment. The trouble is that the impact of our waste is hidden from us. We put it in our bins and it just goes away...to plastic heaven maybe?

The fire at Hanbury is still burning a week later and it probably will be for some time. Chemicals are still pouring into the environment from the burning pile of milk bottles, food cartons, plastic bags, etc. The smoke acted as a catalyst to get people talking about waste and where it ends up. I worry that we still are not talking enough about reducing the waste we produce. It worries me that shops are stuffed with plastic goods and goods wrapped in plastic in massive volumes. We need a rethink. We are smarter than this.