The first two painted cards above are ‘Christmas’ versions of large paintings I have done in the last few years, and the third one is an updated watercolour version of a 2005 computer painting, below, which included the old blue bridge (just below the Legislature).
Downtown on the Farm
watercolour and crayon
©2024 Charlene Brown
Urban farming can minimize the carbon footprint associated with mass production and distribution of food, by localizing produce supply. The concept may help to make healthy food both affordable and accessible to those who need it, addressing issues of urban food insecurity.
Rooftop or vertical gardens represent a very efficient use of space producing tons of fresh, healthy food as well as removing CO2 from the air.
Urban agriculture can include horticulture (often
hydroponic, rather than soil-based), beekeeping and, at ground level, small
livestock production (generally limited to poultry and eggs, but sometimes
extending to pigs, goats and sheep), and aquaculture.
Banff
Avenue
watercolour Christmas card
©2024
Charlene Brown
Banff Avenue
watercolour Christmas card
©2024
Charlene Brown
I painted another realistic(ish)/abstract(ish)
pair of cards, this time the view of Banff Ave. from the bridge over the Bow
River, and mailed the second one to the only person I knew would prefer it to
the first.
'Fighting Back'
is based on a combination of internet images of the Great Green Wall in Niger, Senegal
and Mali. This African-led initiative, only
begun in 2007, has made amazing progress on the ambitious plan to grow and/or
restore an 8000km belt of biodiversity across the continent from Senegal on the
Atlantic to Djibouti on the Red Sea. This formerly lush region, known as the
Sahel, had already fallen victim to some of the challenges that humanity
could be facing this century ─ desertification, drought, food
shortages, migration and international terrorism.
Land use is one
of the best tools available to lock away tons of carbon dioxide and achieve our
climate goals. But it’s also crucial for growing food. Can these two future
demands co-exist?
It may be
possible to increase food production, protect habitats, lock away tons of
carbon, and expand renewable energy production to keep warming below 1.5 °C —
all of that, without any of these land-based changes infringing on each other’s
space.
A scenario
developed by Shell Oil shows the fairly drastic land use changes that would be
needed in order to keep temperature increases to below 1.5 °C by 2100. Much of
this change would rely on the undeveloped land across the planet to capture
carbon and produce clean energy — which would mean expanding solar and wind
farms across this territory, capturing huge amounts of carbon in soils and
habitats through nature-based solutions like reforestation and soil protection,
and some amount of carbon capture and storage.
Apparently even
the biggest changes required to meet the climate target (nature-based
solutions, which require by far the largest areas of land) wouldn’t encroach on
food production. In fact, by 2100 according to the model, 61% of global
cropland would also play host to some kind of nature-based solution. One
standout example was biochar (defined in Glossary page 60), which could provide
the largest carbon sequestration from a single nature-based solution in
farming, the researchers found. Other examples are conservation tillage,
planting nitrogen-fixing legumes, and agroforestry. As well, cropland would be able to expand
into pasture land, formerly used for livestock production, that will decline
because market pressures would apply higher costs to the production of
high-emissions food.
To meet climate
targets, a greater area of carbon-sequestering forests would need to be
protected, and forests would need to be expanded through reforestation schemes,
as well. According to the model, that would also be possible with the available
land.
The goal of on-going
research is to upend the idea that we need to protect either nature, climate,
or food. Instead, it has been shown to be possible to fit the land for major
human needs, while protecting and restoring land.
· * Excerpted
from an article by Emma Bryce in Anthropocene online, November 22, 2024
·
Consolation Lake
watercolour Christmas card
©2024
Charlene Brown
Three Sisters
watercolour Christmas card
©2024
Charlene Brown
I started painting Christmas cards in September because I had travel plans for October and November (which I have since blogged about) and knew I wouldn’t have a lot of time available before Christmas. So, at the time, I was pretty impressed with my Christmas readiness.
Now, not so much,
because I have done very little else to get ready. This is partly due to the
travel interruption I wrote about in blog posts on October 9 and October 16 (and have also written about in a couple of time-consuming travel insurance
claims.)
Awareness of the consequences of global
warming is gradually showing up in university curricula everywhere, mainly in
environmental and physical science programs. This won’t be enough. Climate
change courses should be made mandatory for every student, in every discipline.
Climate change impacts us all, and we need everyone’s skills to address it, from
art to business to health.
This is especially important in northern
areas, where average temperatures are increasing even more rapidly than in temperate
regions. I attended university in the city illustrated above, about sixty years
ago. We hadn’t heard about global
warming at the time and if we had would have considered it a fine idea, unaware
of the associated threats to health, extreme weather events, wildfires and
flooding, forced displacement, pressures on mental health, and increased hunger
and poor nutrition in places where people cannot grow or find sufficient food.
Some universities are even developing degree
programs related to climate change.
Examples are the Institute
for Climate and Sustainable Growth at the University
of Chicago, which will offer
undergraduate and graduate degrees with a focus on climate systems engineering,
and Columbia University, where a dual
degree in urban design and climate has been added.*
*excerpted from Carbon Almanac Network dailydifference@thecarbonalmanac.org 1 November 2024
In 2021 it was estimated that weaning energy systems off fossil fuels would result in 9.5 million fewer fossil fuel jobs world-wide. But in most regions, new renewable energy jobs would more than make up for these losses, with 17.4 new alternate energy jobs.
It was said that manufacturing and installation of alternate energy systems could potentially account for about one third of the new jobs.
· * Excerpted from an article by Sarah Deweerdt in Anthropocene magazine
Another visualization
of the changes in energy employment since 2019 is shown in the graph below by
the International Energy Agency. Note: 2024 employment estimated.
It takes a 1°C
(yellow) anomaly for a month to cause coral reef bleaching, but black areas in
the map above mark Arctic Ocean anomalies more than 5°C above the average
historical temperature in the warmest month! These extreme marine heat waves
herald imminent loss of summer Arctic Ice and even more rapidly rising global
temperatures in the near future. As white Polar ice melts and is replaced by
dark blue water, the albedo effect will accelerate runaway global warming: loss
of Arctic summer ice will increase sunlight absorbed at the surface from 40% to
90%.
There is little time
left for either coral reefs or Arctic ice if we don’t reverse CO2 increase
immediately!
