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London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine
A new report, written by Professor Sir Andrew Haines director of the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine (LSHTM), has linked the production of meat to climate change.
The report finds that reducing livestock production could lead to major reductions in global CO2 emissions.
Recent UN figures suggest that meat production is responsible for about 18 percent of global carbon emissions, including the destruction of forest land for cattle ranching and the production of animal feeds.
As the world’s leaders meet at Copenhagen for Climate Change talks, the report calls for a 30 percent reduction in the number of farm animals bred for meat which will help the UK achieve its target of halving carbon emissions by 2030.
International research
LSHTM has also won £3.5m Leverhulme Trust research grant this week to address the global food security crisis by investigating the links between agriculture and health.
The research will be coordinated by the London International Development Centre, a collaboration between six University of London colleges:
- Birkbeck College
- Institute of Education
- London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine
- School of Oriental and African Studies
- Royal Veterinary College
- The School of Pharmacy
Kevin – www.studylondon.ac.uk
Helen with a sample of Vegetex
University of East London (UEL) research student, Helen Bailey, was on site to inspect the first road built using Vegetex, an inventive and environmentally-friendly material she created to build roads.
Helen’s innovative idea replaces up to 20 percent of the bitumen content in road surfaces with vegetable oil, a common ingredient used to cook the nation’s chips.
Using chip fat is a great way to recycle, reducing the CO2 emissions that result from creating bitumen while also reducing the need for the landfills used to dispose waste oil.
In recognition of her ground-breaking achievements, Helen was recently presented with the prestigious Fiona and Nicholas Hawley Award for Environmental Engineering by The Worshipful Company of Engineers.
The Vegetex project has also been shortlisted for an Institution of Engineering and Technology (IET) Innovation Award.
Kevin – www.studylondon.ac.uk
LSE staff at the National Recycling Awards
The London School of Economics (LSE) has won a Recycling Achievement Award at the National Recycling Awards for its ‘complete and comprehensive approach’ to recycling.
The School’s recycling rate has increased from 76 to 88 percent in the last year thanks to measures such as a food composting service and communal recycling stations for staff and students.
In the past year, the School’s New Academic Building has recycled 128 tonnes of waste. A further 36 tonnes of waste has been turned into energy, saving 71 tonnes of CO2 and more than 1,100 trees.
Kevin – www.studylondon.ac.uk
Dominic's Contortionist bike design
Royal College of Art MA graduate Dominic Hargreaves has designed an innovative full size folding bike.
The new graduate’s invention is called the Contortionist in reference to the way the full-sized aluminium frame collapses into the circumference of its wheels.
The design has already been shortlisted for the James Dyson Award for student designers, sponsored by the entrepreneur and inventor James Dyson. The design is only a prototype at the moment but has attracted considerable interest in the industry.
Dominic is also a graduate from Ravensbourne College of Design and Communication, where he undertook a BA in Product Design. The self-confessed bike fanatic admits to owning 14 bikes, although many of these are in pieces to help him discover how they work.
With cycling increasing in popularity it may not be long until we see these folding bikes being walked along London’s streets.
Kevin – www.studylondon.ac.uk
Video
Imperial College London
A futuristic £1 million rooftop ‘greenhouse’ has been created at Imperial College London to allow scientists to grow large quantities of plants for experiments ranging from developing new sources of biofuels to helping sequence the tomato genome.
The new Imperial GroDome is the only rooftop facility of its kind in London. It provides plant scientists with over 200 square metres of temperature and light controlled growing space for a variety of plant species, allowing them to carry out large-scale plant experiments.
The GroDome is the part of a development project to support plant science research at Imperial, which has also seen the refurbishment of laboratories and the installation of controlled environment plant growth rooms for smaller plants, as well as imaging labs and mass spectrometry facilities.
Kevin – www.studylondon.ac.uk
The Love London Green Festival will host hundreds of free events to help Londoners save the planet. The festival aims to make the city a greener, cleaner and healthier place to live.
The festival inspires local communities to get passionate about our planet with a variety of interesting and fun events. This year the festival will be based upon the themes of green places, green living and green innovations.
Many events will even show you how to save money by protecting the environment, whether it be growing your own vegetables or cancelling your gym membership and cycling to work.
Simon – www.studylondon.ac.uk
Greenwich Park will host the Equestrian and Modern Pentathlon events.
The London 2012 Games will be the Green Games. The Olympic Park is located in an area of untapped potential and sustainability is at the heart of all building and legacy plans. A 35-tonne recycling machine is already sifting and sorting 70,000 cubic metres of industrial and domestic rubbish from under the VeloPark and Olympic Village sites.
Elsewhere, the cleaning and clearing of the Park is already ahead of plan and so far more than 90 percent of demolition material has been recycled and new habitats have been created to relocate local wildlife displaced by building works. Hundreds of tonnes of materials have been reclaimed including lampposts, bricks and manhole covers that will all be used to create aesthetic and practical features for the Park including paths, benches, lighting and water features.
The green vision for the Games continues beyond 2012, when the area will be transformed into the largest urban park created in Europe for more than 150 years.
To find our more visit www.london2012.com
Simon – www.studylondon.ac.uk
New solar powered student accommodation is to be built near Wembley Stadium.
New solar powered student accommodation
The £25 million eco-friendly accommodation will offer 435 rooms and views of London’s famous football stadium.
The landmark building will be designed to the highest architectural standards. A wealth of facilities will also be built including a launderette, student gardens and extensive bicycle parking.
When completed in 2011, the building will join a growing number of contemporary student housing projects in London which include Nido’s King Cross towers. Nido residents have access to free wireless internet, 24/7 security and a variety of social events.
Simon – www.studylondon.ac.uk
Imperial College London
Imperial College London’s new £2 million geochemistry laboratories will help tackle climate change, combat pollution and develop a deeper understanding of Parkinson’s disease.
The Mass Spectrometry and Isotope Geochemistry (MAGIC) facilities boast a newly refurbished geochemistry laboratory, the latest equipment to analyse the chemical content of materials, and a large clean room facility.
Students using the new laboratories will investigate the chemical content of materials to further our understanding of humans, our environment, the Earth and the solar system.
Simon – www.studylondon.ac.uk
Cyclist in Canary Wharf
Londoners will soon be able to help themselves to one of 6,000 bikes at 400 locations across the capital.
A new cycle-hire scheme will be launched throughout London’s central zone and within the Royal Parks. The scheme is inspired by the successful ‘vélib’ programme in Paris, which led to a massive increase in cycling.
The Mayor of London, Boris Johnson, also wants to create 12 major cycle routes into central London by 2010. In the long-term, the Mayor will aim to increase cycle journeys in London by 400 percent by 2025.
The Mayor is a champion of cycling and believes that “a cyclised city is a civilised city”. The new cycle hire scheme will herald a transport revolution with more people enjoying the benefits of the most sustainable, healthy and environmentally-friendly transport system in the capital.
Kevin – www.studylondon.ac.uk
“London is a city where different cultures and thoughts meet. Living in this city, I never feel bored.
