Emissions

Lockdown & Carbon Emissions: The Truth of 2020

Chrystal Carbon Footprint, Climate Change, Emissions, Environment, Global Warming, Recent October 27, 2020October 27, 20201.5 celsius, 2 degrees, Coronavirus, COVID, COVID-19, Met Office, ocean acidification, Sea ice loss, sea level rising, severe storms, the Earth is Healing, UNEP, UNESCO, United Nations, World Meteorological Organization

I’m sure I can’t be the only one who’s sick to the back teeth of the words ‘unprecedented’ and ‘uncertain’. The fact of the matter, despite my new personal aversion to such words, is that they’re on

The Truth about EV’s

Chrystal Carbon Footprint, Electricity, Emissions, Energy Usage, Transportation October 14, 2020October 14, 2020Cobalt, Combustion engine emissions, Electric Vehicles, EVs, lithium, MPGe

Electric vehicle being charged with love heart in the cable

It’s not surprising that there’s currently pretty hard working campaigning going on to discredit the energy efficiency and environmental benefits from introducing EV’s (Electric Vehicles). The smear campaigns focus on questioning the energy consumption and carbon footprint for the EV manufacturing process Vs the potential and hypothetical emissions savings by then driving such a vehicle. Talk to almost anyone on the street about their opinion on EVs and they’ll usually spruik concern about the precious metals required and manufacturing emissions. Not to say those concerns aren’t based on some sort of reality – but the naysayers have somewhat exaggerated the cons, and tried to hide to pros. Even the Union of Concerned Scientists have to acknowledge that manufacturing an EV will emit between 15% and 68% more carbon than producing a petroleum car of the equivalent size. But that’s only half the story. How do lifetime emissions differ?

Al Gore’s Climate Reality

Chrystal Climate Change, Climate Science, Current Events, Emissions, Global Warming September 1, 2020September 1, 202024 Hours of Reality, Acts of Leadership, Al Gore, And Inconvenient Sequel, Climate activism, Climate Change, Climate Reality Leaders, Climate Reality Leadership Corps, Climate Reality Project, Heated, The Climate Crisis

I am currently fortunate enough to be participating in the virtual training from the Climate Reality Project, which at the end will mean I’m part of the Climate Reality Leadership Corps. This program has been running for

The Truth About Carbon Offsetting

Ben Carbon Footprint, Carbon Offsetting, Carbon Sequestration, Emissions, Sustainability August 25, 2020August 25, 2020carbon capture, carbon dioxide, Carbon Emissions, Carbon Footprint, carbon negative, Carbon Neutral, Carbon Offsetting, Carbon Sequestration, Deforestation, reforestation

We’re often asked our opinions on carbon offsetting. It’s a tough subject to talk about because people generally have a preconceived idea that this is a solution to Climate Change. We’ll cut you off at the pass – it’s not.

The Good and the Bad of Carbon

Chrystal Carbon Footprint, Carbon Sequestration, Climate Change, Emissions, Fossil Fuels, Global Warming August 18, 2020August 18, 2020carbon cycle, carbon sinks, carbon store, fossil fuel energy, Greenhouse Effect, ocean acidification, the carbon cycle

Carbon is a necessary part of all life on Earth. Every living thing contains carbon, as it’s required to form molecules like proteins, as well as being present in the ocean, rocks and, of course, our air.

5 New Clean Tech Innovations

Chrystal Carbon Footprint, Electricity, Emissions, Energy Consumption, Energy Footprint, Fossil Fuels, Nuclear Energy, Renewable Energy, Solar Energy, Sustainability August 11, 2020August 14, 2020brine lithium, carbon capture, electro-swing adsorption, Gen IV modular nuclear reactor, heliofuel, heliogen, lithium, nuclear energy, oklo, Opus12, verdox

Woman in lab with clean tech battery. Clean tech innovations

There is no doubt in my mind that the human species can figure out a way to slow, or perhaps even stop, the Earth’s rapid descent into an uninhabitable, hot mess of a wasteland. Humans were the

5 Big Businesses Turning Green

Chrystal Carbon Footprint, Carbon Neutral, Carbon Offsetting, Carbon Sequestration, Electricity, Emissions, Energy Usage, Sustainability August 4, 2020August 4, 2020Ambition 2030, Apple, carbon engineering, Carbon removal, Cornell University, Huvudroll, IKEA, Loop reusable packaging, Microsoft, Natura &Co, P&G, perovskite, Procter & Gamble, Project Gigaton, Starbucks, Terracycle, Transform to Net Zero, Unilever, Walmart

There is no shortage of companies who are suddenly using phrases like carbon neutral, net zero, climate positive, and carbon negative in their marketing and communications. But how much of that is buzz and how much is backed by action? As consumers, we have to get smarter. We have to understand that simply throwing a ‘green’ or ‘eco’ phrase onto some packaging does not make the product, nor the company, an environmental or sustainability warrior. We have to dig deeper than that, to look beneath the words to see that there’s substance. And happily we can report that plenty of companies aren’t just paying the climate lip service – 23% of Fortune 500 companies have actual, robust and ambitious climate goals. This is largely due to the fact that we, the consumer, ARE digging deeper, and ARE expecting more from the companies we hand over our cash to. Great work, swrmers! So dive in to find out what some of the biggest global corporations are doing.

Renewed Drive On Renewables

Chrystal Carbon Footprint, Climate Change, Electricity, Emissions, Energy Usage, Renewable Energy, Solar Energy, Wind July 31, 2020July 31, 2020Carbon Emissions, Carbon Footprint, Climate Change, Electricity, Electricity Grid, emissions, Energy Source, Energy Usage, Renewable Energy, solar energy

It would be easy to get lost in the barrage of negativity and bad news right now. But fear not, I have some good news for you today! We’ve done a round up of some of the places from across the globe who are holding steady on their course to a more sustainable future, even in these tumultuous times, by harnessing renewable energies. There are good, important and powerful (ahem) things happening in the renewable energy sector. Let’s take a quick trip round the world to see who’s doing what!

Does the Ozone Layer still have a hole in it?

Chrystal Carbon Footprint, Climate Science, Emissions, Pollution June 16, 2020August 14, 2020Air Pollution;, bad ozone, CFCs, chlorine, Chloroflourocarbons, good ozone, halons, HCFCs, HFCs, hydrochloroflourocarbons, hydrofluorocarbons, Kigali Amendment, Montreal Protocol, NOx, O3, Ozone depleting chemicals, ozone layer, Vienna Convention, VOCs, Volatile Organic Compounds

Sun beaming through a hole in the coulds

Ozone is a gas. A toxic, pale blue, odorous, irritative and explosive gas. But without it being naturally formed and making up part of our atmosphere, we’d be unable to survive on Earth. We’d literally fry from the sun’s ultraviolet rays. The thin layer of ozone, which sits in the bottom part of the stratosphere about 9-18 miles above the Earth, absorbs approximately 98% of extremely harmful UVB rays, which are the most damaging of the ultraviolet types (A, B and C). So, way back in the 80’s when it was discovered that there was a ‘hole’ in this protective layer of gas over Australia, Antarctica and the Arctic, a massive global response was initiated.
But what ever happened? Are there still holes up there? The ozone layer doesn’t get much air time these days. And is ozone anthropogenic or natural? Read on to learn all about it!

Top 10 Watch List – Quaranstream

Chrystal Climate Change, Climate Science, Emissions, Environment March 31, 2020March 31, 20202040, A plastic ocean, An Inconvenient Sequel, Before the flood, Blue Planet II, Climate change - the facts, documentary, Life after People, Merchants of doubt, miniseries, More than honey, Movies, series

Woman holding a remote control watching tv with a bowl of popcorn

By now we’re getting used to being alone. And by alone I mean you might be completely solo in your home, or you might be within your family or housemate unit. But either way, it certainly means no physical IRL contact with the outside world. So we’re relying heavily on social media, YouTube, exploring new indoor hobbies or reading. We’re going to throw some viewing suggestions at your this week. Read on for our Top 10 – related of course to climate change and our spectacular environment.