Librezine 2022 Xmas Edition

xmas puzzle

New REleases

Best Environmental Books in the LRC

How Bad Are Bananas

Berners-Lee explores the carbon footprint of everything from bananas to social media and even space tourism. His findings can be quite shocking but simultaneously it’s an entertaining read. The figures can help us to manage and reduce our own carbon footprint and also brings companies, businesses and governments into account.

How to Break Up with Fast

Fashion Writer Lauren Bravo gets to grips with her own addiction to fashion and helps others to change their mindset on this toxic relationship. Discover how to embrace sustainable ways of shopping and dressing whilst keeping your style, and it not costing the earth!

No More Rubbish Excuses

Martin Dorey urges us to take an honest look at how much rubbish we are individually responsible for. He explains what happens to the contents of our bins from food waste to recycling, and offers easy solutions which we can introduce into our everyday lives.

The Uninhabitable Earth

David Wallace-Wells depicts a sobering perspective where the Anthropocene epoch, a geological unit of time used to describe the human impact on our planets’ history, takes centre stage. The book delves into the living nightmare that will soon become a reality exclaiming that “It is worse, much worse, than you think”.

CARBON FOOTPRINT

simple steps to offsetting

We are all aware of the climate change crises and the environmental impact it is having on our beautiful planet and its creatures. We are also aware that we can all make a difference if we work together and act now to offset our own personal carbon footprint. Here’s a few easy tips on the small changes we could all make to save earth and future generations to come.

Consider Your Transport

Many towns and cities are bringing in clean air zones which charge vehicles if they enter the area. This is to help bring pollution levels down, especially within urban areas, so residents can breathe better and healthier living standards are created. As this is brought into force it will make peo ple consider other ways of travelling which are ultimately better for the planet. The convenience of getting in your car will come at a cost and you will want to walk, cycle or use public transport simply because it’s cheaper. Greater Manchester is still under review at the moment but you can check the website for more details at: www.cleanairgm.com

Grow Your Own

It’s not called the ‘Good Life’ for nothing – growing your own vegetables not only helps with your health and wellbeing, it also helps you save money too. By eating less meat, planting seeds and nurturing your organic veg you are helping to sustain yourself and the environment in many ways. Plants absorb carbon dioxide and release oxygen from their leaves which in turn helps us to breath and assists with the water cycle.

Grow your own cont.....

Worms fertilise the earth and breakdown organic matter which ensures the soil is full of nutrients. Eating seasonally with the food you grow offsets the food you would normally buy from the supermarket. Check out some facts and figures relating to what we eat here: https://friendsoftheearth.uk/food

Recycle

Recycling is easy and has become a part of our everyday existence. Most things can be recycled from plastic, glass, tin cans, metal, cardboard and paper, food waste, garden waste, clothes, old tech products and cars. Many people don’t realise that they can be quite wasteful, many of us want to buy the latest phones, computers, cars, furniture or wear the latest fashion. It’s fine to be seen as ‘a la mode’ if that’s what you choose to do, but perhaps we should give or sell our second-hand things to become a bit more resourceful. Remember one man’s trash is another man’s treasure! Find some handy recycling tips at www.which.co.uk/reviews/shopping-sustainably/article/how-torecycle-in-the-uk-ajwEz4p63Qs6

Switch to Renewable Energy

In an ideal world all the energy we used would come from a sustainable source such as wind power, wave power or solar power but unfortunately we are currently living in an energy crisis where most of the UK relies on fossil fuels.

This year Ofgem raised the cap on energy prices to 54% which effectively means everyone in the UK is being held to ransom on the basics of heating and eating. I think we will all be forgiven for acting like Ebenezer Scrooge this Christmas as we battle with insulating our homes and keeping warm. Going green isn’t cheap but if you are interested in switching to renewable energy check out these companies for more details: www.ecotricity.co.uk or www.goodenergy.co.uk/

by zoe rothwell

Green Guardians

of the galaxy

WHO and HOW we can help with Climate Change

It is everyone’s responsibility to help prevent climate change. Whether it be through recycling, using sustainable transport, investing in renewable energy, protecting our trees and rain forests, it all contributes to protecting our planet. Trees are a crucial source in combatting climate change so let’s explore some of the benefits they have on our environment.

How do TREES help with Climate Change?

Trees have social, economic and environmental benefits from helping us to breathe, improving our health, cleaning our air, providing for wildlife, preventing the risk of flooding, reducing pollution, providing shelter and more significantly preventing climate change.

1) Trees Capture and Store Carbon

Excess carbon dioxide is building up in our atmosphere contributing to climate change.

Trees through photosynthesis absorb this carbon dioxide from the air and store it in their wood.

Photosynthesis is the process in which plants or trees use sunlight, to convert water, carbon dioxide and minerals into oxygen and energy in the form of sugar/glucose.

Some carbon from falling leaves enters the woodland soil and is stored. Older trees store a lot more carbon, this helps slow the rate of global warming and why we need to protect our forests. The amazon rainforest is often referred to as ‘The Lungs of the Earth’ because it contributes the most in the production of oxygen.

2) Trees Benefit Health

Trees absorb pollutants from the air and trap dust. As well as providing shade and reducing noise levels, trees boost our mental health. A nature walk or bike ride can help us relax and can be an alternative to driving. Vehicle pollutants contain greenhouse gases that cause climate change.

4) Trees Provide Shading

The shading from the trees provides a more cost-effective solution to keeping our environment cool. As well as keeping our many homes private, it reduces the need to use air conditioning which uses a lot of electricity and refrigerants contributing to global warming.

Planting Trees

There are many groups

3) Trees Prevent Flooding

One of the adverse effects of climate change is the increase in floods. Trees reduce flooding as leaves, branches and trunks slow down the rain hitting the ground. The roots penetrate water deeper into passages in the soil which store the water rather going directly into the rivers.

encouraging organisations to plant trees to help the fight against climate change. Trees are a costeffective solution and the faster we work to enforce this growth, will slower the rate of climate change.

by sohana patel

Visionary cities

singapore - the greener redeemer

Singapore has become known as a forward-thinking, environmentally aware city-state in the past couple of decades. Its lush natural world has been seamlessly blended with its urban city landscapes, creating a visionary biophilic city.

What?

Biophilic Cities is an organisation that works with cities around the world to assist in blending nature into urban environments. The website describes its mission as follows: “As a central element of its work, Biophilic Cities facilitates a global network of partner cities working collectively to pursue the vision of a natureful city within their unique and diverse environments and cultures. These partner cities are working in concert to conserve and celebrate nature in all its forms and the many important ways in which cities and their inhabitants benefit from the biodiversity and wild urban spaces present in cities.”

Singapore became an accredited member of the organisation in 2013.

How?

Singapore has been committed to becoming a more environmentally-friendly city. They created the Singapore Green Plan in 1992 that set targets to meet by 2002; they followed this with the second Green Plan in 2002. This second plan’s achievements included:

•The Pollutant Standards Index for clean air quality were well within the target;

•Recycling and Singapore’s one landfill have contained waste;

•Water diversification provided sustainable water supply;

•Traffic ceased to grow due to excellent public transport options;

The Singapore Green Plan 2030 targets include:

•Planting 1 million more trees;

•Reduce waste sent to landfill by 30%;

•Quadruple solar energy deployment;

•At least 20% of schools to be carbon neutral.

Who?

Much of Singapore’s ecoregeneration has been led by Dr Cheong Koon Hean, head of the urban development agency. She encouraged property owners to install rooftop gardens and vertical plant walls.

Why?

Though Singapore still has progress to make, it shows how other cities could incorporate nature into their planning and landscapes in the future.

Cities such as New York, London, Paris – any large, industrialised, high-pollution city really – could benefit from projects such as Biophilic Cities promotes. These types of developments could benefit not just our world’s health, but perhaps even our mental health.

And, as Christmas is approaching, it is in the spirit of the time to be charitable, generous and kind to one another – to whom is it better to extend these virtues than our very own Planet Earth?

by james casey

LRC ENrichment Activities

Room No A2 29

Movie Club – 6/12/22 – 4.30pm

Book Club – 12/12/22 – 4.30pm

Intro to Macs – 14/12/22 – 4.30pm

Movie Club – 10/1/23 – 4.30pm

Book Club – 9/1/23 – 4.30pm

Intro to Macs 11/1/23 – 4.30pm

Intro to Canva – 16/1/23 – 4.30pm

entertainment

Environmental Films and Documentaries

Interested in learning more about the Environment and Climate Change but don’t know where to start? Below is a small selection of films and documentaries that might interest you!

Don’t Look Up

Two astronomers discover a giant planet-killing comet is heading straight for earth and must go on a media tour to raise awareness to try to stop it from destroying the planet. The comet in Don’t Look Up is a metaphor for climate change and the film is a satire on how politicians, the media, and big businesses are dealing with the threat of climate change – either dismissing it or trying to exploit it for political or financial gain.

I Am Greta Greta Thunberg has become a household name over recent years and when people think of environmental activism, she immediately

comes to mind.

At only 15 she started a school strike for climate awareness and this evolved into a global movement with Greta addressing world leaders at COP24, the World Economic Forum, various parliaments, and many other places. This documentary follows her journey.

The Day After Tomorrow

Although this film leans way more towards science fiction than scientific, The Day After Tomorrow is an exciting apocalyptic blockbuster with the important message that people are transforming the climate and eventually this may lead us into a situation where we may not survive.

David Attenborough:

A Life on Our Planet

One of the best known, and arguably most well-loved, personalities in the environmental and animal documentary world, David Attenborough has spent the last 60 years educating us on the planet and its creatures. This documentary highlights the devastating changes he has seen over that time and offers some solutions that are available to restore the damage we have done to the planet.

Erin Brockovich

An unemployed single mother becomes a legal assistant and is integral in bringing down a power company accused of polluting a town’s water supply. A fascinating true story of an ordinary woman taking on a big corporation after discovering that they are poisoning the local land and water. The real-life Erin went on to become a prominent environmental activist and educator.

A Plastic Ocean

A journalist and diver team up with a group of scientists and researchers to explore locations around the world in order to document the state of our oceans and the scope of plastic pollution. Plastic has a huge detrimental effect on sea life and something as little as throwing plastic in the bin instead of recycling can lead to microplastics entering the food chain. A hugely important issue for today’s society, this documentary attempts to document the scale of the issue and offer solutions we can start now.

by clare izquierdo

World action to world problems

We all know that climate change is affecting our weather and crops, but are you aware of the impact this has on our planet? Read on to find out some surprising effects of climate change.

Melting Glaciers

Rising temperatures are causing icebergs in the southern area of the Artic to melt for longer than the usual summer period. This longer ice-free period is affecting polar bears, which are showing signs of declining body condition, lowered reproductive rates and a reduced survival rate of cubs. Many are unable to store enough fat reserves to survive the ice-free period. The loss of these animals has a devastating effect on the ecosystem. The disappearance of Greenland’s ice sheets will raise sea levels by 25 feet. Consequently, many countries are at risk of disappearing including:

•Kiribati located northeast of Australia

•The Maldives in the Indian Ocean

•Vanuatu in the South Pacific

•Solomon Islands in the Indian Ocean

•Samoa, South Pacific

•Fiji Islands, Pacific Ocean

•Most of the Netherlands

Deforestation

More than half of the world’s land-based plants and animals, and three-quarters of all birds, live in and around forests. They provide food and shelter for so much of life on Earth – from fungi and insects to tigers and elephants. When the forests disappear so do their inhabitants. Forests and trees store carbon and when they are cut down this stored carbon is released back into the atmosphere as carbon dioxide contributing to climate change and and 10% of global warming.

According to Global Forest Watch, the world lost 25.3 million hectares of tree coverage in 2021 and 101 million hectares between 2000 and 2020.

Increased Temperatures

Heat-trapping gases, such as carbon dioxide, methane, nitrous oxide and water vapor, have already warmed the climate by nearly 2 degrees Fahrenheit since pre-Industrial times starting in 1750. The global average temperature is expected to reach or exceed another 3 degrees Fahrenheit within the next few decades. These changes will affect all regions of the Earth:

•Droughts, particularly in the Mediterranean, North and South Africa, South America and Australia

•Reduction in food production and food shortages

•Heat-related illnesses such as heat cramps, heat exhaustion, sunburn, heat rash and heat stroke

•70 to 90% decrease in coral reefs

•Ocean oxygen levels will decrease to levels that won’t support most aquatic life

•At an increase of 1.5 degrees Celsius, 8 per cent of plants and 4 per cent of vertebrates will see their geographic range reduced by more than half •Extreme temperatures

•Increase in heavy rainfall, which will see higher flooding risks

Are We Doomed?

We are at the 11th hour

where action can be taken to reduce our impact on climate change. In December 2015, 195 states signed up to the Paris Agreement. This is the most important pact for international co-operation on tackling climate change and countries are taking steps to deliver on it. The UK, Norway, France and New Zealand are some of the countries that have legally committed to reaching net zero emissions by 2050 which we can all personally help with. So make a pledge today to do your bit. We all need to take action each day to protect our beautiful planet, not just for ourselves, but for generations to come.

by Janette Davies

Further reading:

greenwashing

your Troubles away

You may have noticed many brands throwing out the idea that they are environmentally conscious, using words such as ‘green,’ ‘eco,’ and ‘sustainable,’ making advertisements full of earthy tones and natural imagery.

Have you ever wondered how much of their claims are true? And how much is smoke and mirrors?

Many people are becoming increasingly concerned with environmental issues, and companies and establishments are aware of that. Greenwashing is a term that describes when such companies will lie, bend the truth, or try to deceive consumers into believing they are more concerned with the environment, or more environmentally friendly than they actually are. Possibly twisting data, or hiding the facts about the impact of their products on the planet.

Now you know what it is, you may begin to notice how many companies actually mention the environment or anything relating to it in

their advertisements. But unfortunately for them people are beginning to question their claims.

Recently there has been a string of brands being accused of over exaggerating their environmental achievements, or hiding their failures. H&M, a fast fashion brand that is very popular, got exposed by an article in Quartz that accused them of purposefully manipulating statistics to make it seem like they are doing better for the planet than they are, this also extends to other fashion brands, car manufacturers and even political parties. All using the consumers and voters concern for the environment to sell their products or themselves.

Greenwashing is harmful not only because of its obvious deception, taking money from consumers who are hoping their contribution will benefit the Earth and not harm it, but also because it makes it difficult to know who to trust.

So how can we try our best to avoid falling for the manipulation of companies who want our hard-earned money?

If advertisements claim something, they are always more believable if they are backed up by the placement of certification such as ‘Fair Trade.’

This way we know that they have been more responsible with their production practices.

There is no harm in doing your own research on companies, how they operate, where their products are made, how they are transported. This should give you an indication of how much damage is happening to the environment vs what they are claiming.

Under the shadow of the statistics coming out of the Cop27 conferences, warning of drastic and harmful changes to our planet, many of us are increasingly concerned with what small contributions we can make.

To try to avoid falling for the greenwashing, look out for buzzwords that are placed in advertisements, but have no actual backing, words such as the ones above.

Lastly read as much about the topic of the environment as you can, there is no harm in being well informed and it will naturally make you a more conscious consumer.

So, there we have it, greenwashing is an unfortunate reality in the capitalist world of business and money making, but thankfully we also have the tools to educate ourselves so we don’t end up falling for it.

by IRAM HUSSAIN

spruce it up

This Christmas

Decorating Christmas trees is an ancient tradition and the brainchild of the early medieval English saint- St Boniface. Little did he know that his idea to decorate an evergreen pine tree honoring Christ’s birth would take off, go viral worldwide, and last until this day.

In case you didn’t know, it all started in the woods of Hesse, a central German state where St Boniface miraculously knocked down the mighty Donor’s Oak to prevent the German pagan tribes from sacrificing a child to the thunder god Thor. In his efforts to convert the German gentiles to Christianity, Boniface used the humble fir tree to teach them the basics of Christian faith – the evergreen symbolizing the eternal life and the tree’s triangular shape representing the trinity.

Saintly history aside, it would be unfair to blame the feisty 8th cent. missionary for the 21st cent. deforestation but the answer to this could be in continuing with the sparkly tradition and making our

choices more sustainable to protect our forests, therefore in marrying the two.

To some extent, this trend took off decades ago with the mass production of plastic Christmas trees, but now many people are turning to more organic options such as buying a potted fir tree or even making one out of driftwood. Let’s look at some intuitive ideas of how to make our Christmas trees less tinsel strewn and more eco-friendly.

Rent a Christmas Tree

Believe it or not, you can now hire a real Christmas tree, enjoy it during the festive season and return it in the New Year.

This is a growing trend and there are more and more companies offering this service. You can even rent the tree decorations to match your desired color scheme!

Grow Your Own Christmas Tree

Have you ever thought of growing your own tree?

You can buy a Grow at Home Christmas Tree kit and start it off indoors. Don’t’ expect results overnight, but with some green-fingered luck and patience, this tree seedling could turn into a tree of a true family legacy cherished by generations to come.

as for protecting our sand dunes or creeks, or you could contact a charity who will recycle your tree for a donation. You’re only a click away from finding out how your tree could be of benefit to your community and nature. Eco-friendly Christmas Decorations

Why not channel your crafty inner self this year and make your own festive decorations by using natural and recycled materials?

Donate your Christmas tree

If you still can’t resist the temptation of buying a freshly cut tree, go for the wonky, unwanted tree that doesn’t stand a chance of being sold. You could also donate your tree for conservation purposes such

You might only have to look a stone’s throw away, in your garden or a nearby forest and you will be surprised how much free stuff is out there. Pinecones, twigs, dried fruit and leaves can all be used to make your mum’s tinsel look like a knick-knacky Cinderella of Christmas past.

by Ivana Fletcher