A Sustainable Future
The United Nations General Assembly has declared 2012 the International Year of Sustainable Energy for All.
In doing so it recognises that access to modern affordable energy services in developing countries is essential for the achievement of the internationally agreed development goals. The United Nations believes sustainable development helps to reduce poverty and to improve the conditions and standard of living for the majority of the world’s population.
But sustainability is about more than green energy for everyone. It also has economic and social dimensions that encompass the concept of stewardship. Sustainable living meets the needs of today without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their needs, and, that’s no small ask.
This month Open Forum will look at the global movement towards sustainability, which continues to dominate headlines and political agendas. Nobody builds a new office block or launches a new product these days without thinking about sustainability. With that comes a growing demand for ‘skills for sustainability’, as well as the need for public education and renewed infrastructure.
We will explore the ways individuals, organisations, politicians and societies are addressing the issue of sustainability around the world – from renewable energy to populations, economics, housing and food production.
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RELATED CONTENT
- From dust bowls to food bowls: the conservation farming revolution – by Dr John Kirkegaard
- Achieving sustainability – If not through education, where else? – by Leanne Denby
- What if most greenies are going in the wrong direction? – by Michael Mobbs
- Saving the Murray-Darling – the saga continues – by Patrick Callioni
- Feeding the world, all seven billion – by Noby Leon
- Democracy, community agriculture and sustainability – by Nick Rose
- Community engagement for a sustainable Australia – by Chris Riedy
- Third party certified sustainable seafood demand on the rise – by Patrick Caleo
- Loss of biodiversity impacts us all – by Susie Burke
- Younger generations worth protecting – by Ellen Sandell
Open Forum is an interactive policy discussion website hosted and moderated by Global Access Partners (GAP).
Alan Douglas
April 9, 2017 at 12:51 am
Graphene is a new, wonder substance we have been hearing a lot about recently. Basically it is a film of carbon one molecule thick which shows some very interesting capacities – electrical, chemical with about 200 times the strength of steel.
One which has recently been mentioned in the Guardian (4 April 2017) is its ability to act as a sieve. When holes of about 1 nanometer are punched through graphene it can filter out the salts from water. It appears that when ordinary salt (NaCl) is dissolved in water, the molecules of salt remain as salt. In other words they retain their minimal size which is slightly more than a molecule of water.
If a method of producing sheets of graphene with one nanometer holes punched through it (presumably by lasers) in large enough sheets could be made viable, they could be rolled into tubes through which seawater could be passed. Any place near the sea could then produce enough potable water to use for agriculture as well as human consumption.
The holes could be made in various sizes in order to sieve other impurities from liquids such as human and animal effluent as well as factory waste.
I would be very pleased to hear from anyone who has more information about graphene and its possibilities.