Restart Radio: The overlooked but fascinating world of standards

The LIFE programme – the EU’s funding instrument for environment and climate action – is set to host two virtual events this week and next week. The programme is hosting the events ahead of and during SERE2021, the 12th European Conference on Ecological Restoration. Organised by the Society for Ecological Restoration (SER) Europe and the University of Alicante, SERE2021 is taking place from Tuesday, September 7, to Friday, September 10. According to LIFE, the conference will feature discussions on the challenges facing ecological restoration in post-2020 Europe. It will also look at how ecological restoration can benefit damaged, degraded and destroyed socio-ecological systems.

Eating a plant-based diet is not just good for our health; it is good for Earth’s health.  In fact, “Shifting away from animal-based foods [could not only] add up to 49% to the global food supply without expanding croplands;” but would also significantly reduce carbon emissions and waste byproducts that end up in our oceans and as seafood byproducts.  If each and every person in the United States gave up meat and dairy products on one or more days of the week; ideally, all days of the week, we would save the environment from thousands of tons of carbon emissions.  In fact, in one year, animal husbandry creates as much carbon emissions as the entire transportation sector.

We write to provide an update on the progress we’ve made toward the College’s commitment to achieving carbon neutrality by 2030 through our ambitious Climate Action Plan (CAP).   Our last letter, in November, noted that our New England College Renewable Partnership’s solar energy facility went online, providing renewable electricity to meet nearly all of our purchased electricity needs and reducing campus CO2 emissions by more than 3,200 metric tons per year, or 17.5% of our carbon footprint.  We also noted that the centerpiece of CAP, the transformation of our fossil fuel-based infrastructure to a renewable energy-based “low temperature, hot water” infrastructure, had reached a design milestone, but cost estimates were considerably higher than anticipated due to pandemic-related market complications coupled with the complexities of the campus’s underground routing structure. Supply chain disruption also contributed to the College’s decision to delay the anticipated Spring ’22 Phase I start of this generational project. Despite these challenges, however, we are pleased and confident that the completion target of 2030 can be maintained.