“The time is past when humankind thought it could selfshly draw on exhaustible resources. We know now the world is not a commodity.” — François Hollande, former president of France.

We live in a mainly linear economy, an economic model based on ‘take, make, dispose’, in which resources are extracted, products made and, in general, disposed shortly after. The opposite of a linear economy is a circular economy.

In a pure circular economy there is no such thing as waste, only renewable energy is used and resource use is optimized. …

“The potential of a circular economy is enormous, and that is why we focused on research and are willing to support anyone who strives to make the circular economy a reality in our city. Globally, we are the leader in this field.”

– Alderman Abdeluheb Choho of Amsterdam

Circular Economy is a topic that has gained attention worldwide in the last decade. Some see it as a new face for “sustainable development”, others see it as the panacea for the frantic consumption-driven society that we have.

Some countries have been experimenting in developing circular and innovative approaches towards different sectors. China was the first country to bring the concept of “circular economy” to the political spheres, when the Asian giant passed the Circular Economy Promotion Law in 2008. The EU commission adopted a Circular Economy Package in 2012. Some critics say that the other participants of the BRICS shall follow such initiative. However, between all that is happening around the globe, the Netherlands seem to be taking the lead, mostly because of the circular initiatives of its capital — Amsterdam. …

“The linear “take-make-dispose” system, which depletes natural resources and generates waste, is deeply flawed and can be productively replaced by a restorative model.” — Dame Ellen MacArthur

Circular Economy is a topic that has gained interest worldwide due to the recognition that security of supply of resources and resource efficiency is crucial for the prosperity of economies, businesses, and maintenance of natural capital.

Governments have started adopting targets based on building a more circular governance, companies are coming up with innovative business models based on practices like upscaling processes and sharing assets, and product design is slowly shifting towards a resource efficiency mindset. …

The conservation of natural resources is the fundamental problem. Unless we solve that problem it will avail us little to solve all others. — Theodore Roosevelt

The link between climate change and biodiversity has long been established. Although throughout Earth’s history the climate has always changed with ecosystems and species coming and going, rapid climate change affects ecosystems and species ability to adapt and, contributing to biodiversity loss.

As shown by J.M. Scott (2008), shortly after World War II, humankind entered in a phase of almost exponential population growth, going from around 3 billion people to 7.2 billion people nowadays. …

“Sea level rise is like an invisible tsunami, building force while we do almost nothing.” — Benjamin H. Strauss, Ph.D., CEO Climate Central

Coastlines face a number of environmental problems, most of it due to the fact that 40% of the world’s population lives within 100km of the coast. The extraction of oil on off-shore stations, the erosion of environmentally sensitive areas, loss of dune sand, overfishing, and many other environmental issues can be listed, but one that deserves special attention is Sea-level Rise.

According to IPCC’s Assessment Report 5 (AR5), it is virtually certain that Global Mean Sea Level Rise (GMSLR), the international indicator of sea level rise, will continue growing for many centuries beyond 2100, with the amount of rise dependent on future CO2 emissions. Therefore, Sea-level Rise is not a probable issue, but rather a future reality. What is left for us, along with many actions related to the transition to a circular economy and a carbon-neutral development, is to find ways to deal with Sea-level Rise. …

“As an island State, we are at greater ecological and economical risks associated with adverse effects of climate change.” — R. A. Bhagwan at COP 6

Climate change is the single problems common to all nations, regardless of location or size of economy. Yet, no other group of nations is more vulnerable to its devastating effects than the Small Island Developing States (SIDS).

“Limiting warming to 1.5ºC is possible within the laws of chemistry and physics but doing so would require unprecedented changes,” — Jim Skea, Co-Chair of IPCC Working Group III.

On October 8th 2018 the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), the leading international body for the assessment of climate change (for more info on the IPCC, view the last post about climate change related organizations), released a new its newest report — “Special Report on Global Warming of 1.5°C”. The study evaluates the impacts of global warming of 1.5 …

“Climate Change is no longer some far-off problem; it is happening here, it is happening now.” — Barack Obama

It took longer than expected, and arguably longer than what we wished for, but climate change is a growing concern that has been spreading to different sectors of society. The topic is reaching more people every day (let us not discuss at what speed rate), shining light on the growing risks of climate change. With information comes knowledge, which brings awareness and catalyzes action. …