Tourism is on course to thwart humanity’s efforts to reach a zero carbon economy because of its high growth rates and carbon intensity. To get out of its carbon predicament, the tourism sector needs professionals with carbon literacy and carbon capability. Providing future professionals in the full spectrum of tourism-related study programmes with the necessary knowledge and skills is essential. This article reports on ten years of experience at a BSc tourism programme with a carbon footprint exercise in which students calculate the carbon footprint of their latest holiday, compare their results with others and reflect on options to reduce emissions. Before they start, the students are provided with a handout with emission factors, a brief introduction and a sample calculation. The carbon footprints usually differ by a factor of 20 to 30 between the highest and lowest. Distance, transport mode and length of stay are almost automatically identified as the main causes, and as the main keys for drastically reducing emissions. The link to the students’ own experience makes the exercise effective, the group comparison makes it fun. As the exercise requires no prior knowledge and is suitable for almost any group size, it can be integrated into almost any tourism-related study programme.
The increasing rate of urbanization along with its socio-environmental impact are major global challenges. Therefore, there is a need to assess the boundaries to growth for the future development of cities by the inclusion of the assessment of the environmental carrying capacity (ECC) into spatial management. The purpose is to assess the resource dependence of a given entity. ECC is usually assessed based on indicators such as the ecological footprint (EF) and biocapacity (BC). EF is a measure of the biologically productive areas demanded by human consumption and waste production. Such areas include the space needed for regenerating food and fibers as well as sequestering the generated pollution, particularly CO2 from the combustion of fossil fuels. BC reflects the biological regeneration potential of a given area to regenerate resources as well to absorb waste. The city level EF assessment has been applied to urban zones across the world, however, there is a noticeable lack of urban EF assessments in Central Eastern Europe. Therefore, the current research is a first estimate of the EF and BC for the city of Wrocław, Poland. This study estimates the Ecological Footprint of Food (EFF) through both a top-down assessment and a hybrid top-down/bottom-up assessment. Thus, this research verifies also if results from hybrid method could be comparable with top-down approach. The bottom-up component of the hybrid analysis calculated the carbon footprint of food using the life cycle assessment (LCA) method. The top-down result ofWrocław’s EFF were 1% greater than the hybrid EFF result, 0.974 and 0.963 gha per person respectively. The result indicated that the EFF exceeded the BC of the city of Wrocław 10-fold. Such assessment support efforts to increase resource efficiency and decrease the risk associated with resources—including food security. Therefore, there is a need to verify if a city is able to satisfy the resource needs of its inhabitants while maintaining the natural capital on which they depend intact. Original article at: https://doi.org/10.3390/resources7030052 © 2018 by the authors. Licensee MDPI.
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The carbon footprint for the downstream dairy value chain, milk collection and dairy processing plants was estimated through the contribution of emissions per unit of collected and processed milk, whereas that for the upstream dairy value chain, input supply and production was not considered. A survey was conducted among 28 milk collectors and four employees of processing plants. Two clusters were established: small- and large-scale milk collectors. The means of carbon dioxide equivalent per kilogramme (CO2-eq/kg) milk were compared between clusters by using independent sample t-test. The average utilisation efficiency of milk cooling refrigerators for small- and large-scale collectors was 48.5 and 9.3%, respectively. Milk collectors released carbon footprint from their collection, cooling and distribution practices. The mean kg CO2-eq/kg milk was 0.023 for large-scale collectors and 0.106 for small-scale collectors (p < 0.05). Milk processors contributed on average 0.37 kg CO2-eq/kg milk from fuel (diesel and petrol) and 0.055 from electricity. Almi fresh milk and milk products processing centre emitted the highest carbon footprint (0.212 kg CO2-eq/kg milk), mainly because of fuel use. Generally, in Ziway-Hawassa milk shed small-scale collectors released higher CO2-eq/kg milk than large-scale collectors.
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Het 3D-BioLOKAAL project wil een bio-based filament met karakteristieke lokale vulstoffen ontwikkelen, de eigenschappen van het filament bepalen en het filament inzetten bij de productie van innovatieve designproducten. Bijvoorbeeld voor geïndividualiseerde producten voor de souvenirmarkt of “business to business” relatiecadeaus en promotieproducten. 3D Bakery en Eric Klarenbeek Studio, Inktweb B.V. en Danvos BV, willen innovatieve 3D filamenten ontwikkelen gebaseerd op bio-based polymeren met vulstoffen uit lokale bronnen. Door de ontwikkeling van 3D technologieën en benutting van bio-based materialen, is de productie van bio-based filamenten de laatste jaren sterk toegenomen. 3D-printen met bio-based plastics kan de carbon footprint drastisch verminderen (meer dan 60-70% vermindering is haalbaar)(REF). Om het potentieel van deze systeeminnovatie in de circulaire economie volledig te benutten, is het belangrijk dat materialen lokaal geproduceerd kunnen worden en dat hergebruik van materialen ook zoveel mogelijk gestimuleerd wordt. De lokale productie versterkt tevens de lokale economie. BioLOKAAL onderzoekt vooral de mogelijkheden van zeewier als filament. De innovatieve composieten moeten een hoogwaardige en natuurlijke “look and feel” creëren voor het geprinte product dat voor de beoogde toepassingen zeer belangrijk is. De keuze van het materiaal is tevens belangrijk voor de boodschap die de ontwerper wil overbrengen. Bijvoorbeeld door materialen te gebruiken die aansluiten bij de lokale natuur, zoals zeewier van de Nederlandse kust. 3D printen maakt complex design mogelijk en maakt kleine productievolumes en de productie van geïndividualiseerde producten economisch haalbaar. 3D filament composieten op basis van PLA en bio-based vulstoffen zijn al (beperkt) op de markt voorhanden dus de technische haalbaarheid is bewezen. De filamenten die in BioLOKAAL nieuw ontwikkeld worden zijn vernieuwend vanwege het gebruik van lokale (rest)materialen en sterke gerichtheid op duurzaamheid in combinatie met specifieke visuele en andere tactiele eigenschappen die met filamenten gecreëerd worden.
Toerisme Vlaanderen is bezig met de ontwikkeling van een meetkader om de nieuwe strategische visie omtrent toerisme te ondersteunen. Hierbij zou de carbon footprint van inkomend toerisme een indicator moeten zijn. Er is op dit moment geen carbon footprint berekening van toerisme in of naar Vlaanderen beschikbaar. Toerisme Vlaanderen beschikt wel over voldoende data over het inkomend toerisme, maar niet over voldoende kennis m.b.t. het berekenen van carbon footprints en heeft daarom het CSTT benaderd. Gelijkenissen met Nederlandse data zijn groot, maar er moet een nieuwe “syntax” moeten worden ontwikkeld, om de data over inkomend toerisme naar carbon footprint gegevens te vertalen en in heldere tabellen om te zetten. Deze tabellen zullen geanalyseerd worden, waarna een rapportage kan worden geschreven. Het gaat hier om een nulmeting die in de toekomst relatief eenvoudig herhaald kan worden.Het eindproduct is een gedetailleerde rapportage over de carbon footprint van inkomend toerisme naar Vlaanderen over 2019.
The objective of Waterrecreatie Nederland is to improve water recreation in the Netherlands. One of the focus points that the foundation focuses on is strengthening sustainable water recreation. With this study, Waterrecreatie Nederland wants to map the current CO2 emissions of recreational shipping (here: sailing and motor boats), in order to be able to report and communicate about this, and also as a baseline measurement for future monitoring in this area.Societal IssueShipping has a substantial impact on several environmental systems, amongst others through air and water pollution, and its contribution to climate change. The role of recreational shipping in these issues is not well known, as measurements are scarce and often partly based on assumptions. Benifit to societyThis project tries to strengthen the knowledge base on the carbon (CO2) emissions of recreational shipping in the Netherlands, and to provide detail on fuel use, fuel types, distances, etc. That knowledge can help in making more informed choices on the future development of recreational shipping, with a lower impact on climate change.
