The last Ice Age ended about 11,500 years ago, and when the next one should begin has not been entirely clear.

Researchers used data on the Earth’s orbit and other things to find the historical warm interglacial period that looks most like the current one.

The journal Nature Geoscience, writes that the next Ice Age would begin within 1,500 years – but emissions have been so high that it will not.

“At current levels of CO2, even if emissions stopped now we’d probably have a long interglacial duration determined by whatever long-term processes could kick in and bring [atmospheric] CO2 down,” said Luke Skinner from Cambridge University.

Dr Skinner’s group – which also included scientists from University College London, the University of Florida and Norway’s Bergen University – calculates that the atmospheric concentration of CO2 would have to fall below about 240 parts per million (ppm) before the glaciation could begin.

The current level is around 390ppm.

Other research groups have shown that even if emissions were shut off instantly, concentrations would remain elevated for at least 1,000 years, with enough heat stored in the oceans potentially to cause significant melting of polar ice and sea level rise.

Source: www.bbc.co.uk

Nearly every year since a debate goes on in communities and households across the nation, is it more sustainable to have a fresh cut tree, a live tree or an artificial tree?

In the debate between fresh cut and artificial, environmentalists say the fresh tree is more sustainable pointing out that an artificial tree has a larger carbon footprint. Researchers at the North Carolina State University found Christmas tree production used less chemical than other agriculture endeavors, provided habitat for insects and animals and in some cases aided in slope stabilization. In addition the cost of shipping that tree (most are made outside the United States) adds to the artificial tree’s carbon footprint. Also, tree farms are good for the atmosphere, by removing carbon dioxide, one of the contributors to global warming.

Because of greenhouse gases released during production and distribution, an artificial Christmas tree would have to be used for 20 years to offset its carbon footprint, according to a study done by an environmental consulting firm.

The fresh cut tree also has a positive impact on the workforce, creating jobs both at tree farms and Christmas tree lots. Christmas tree farms are usually family run businesses. There are about 15,000 farms in the United States which grow 400 million trees and employ 100,000 full-time and part-time workers, according to the National Christmas Tree Association. Less than 10 percent of planted trees are cut annually, leaving 90 percent in the fields, improving the air we breathe.

Then there is what most environmentalist feel is the ultimate sustainable tree, the living Christmas tree. It has all the benefits of a cut tree plus you only pay for it once. But the living tree is not without its drawbacks. Keeping an evergreen tree potted means having to transplant it to larger containers periodically, which is an added cost. There are businesses that rents potted evergreen trees. But then there is the environmental cost of transporting the tree back and forth to the nursery.

Maybe in the end the only truly “green” aspect of a Christmas tree is its color.

Source: woodbridge-va.patch.com/

Located in southern Grenada, the carbon neutral development, the first of its kind on the island, has been established to create, integrate and manage all aspects of responsible sustainability against leading benchmark standards.

The environmental focus of the resort will target water recycling, energy efficiency through renewables, and bio diversity in the community. This is very much in line with the Grenada Government’s thinking and senior ministers are anxious to see such developments under construction as soon as possible. The eco resort has plans for a 56 bedroom hotel, an 85-berth marina, 55 apartments, a retail village, villa plots and marina residences.

Robert Hague, Emerald Knight Portfolio Manager, says: “There’s been a growing trend in this region towards eco-friendly and green hotel branding, and at the heart of this is a sustainability methodology which includes integrating environmental protection and new energy cost reduction programmes.

“Compared with Barbados and St Lucia, where development is reaching saturation point, Grenada has a shortage of quality vacation real estate, including marina villages, and prices have historically been lower than in other Caribbean islands, underlining the attraction for investors and holiday home owners alike.”

Emerald Knight says that the concept of sustainable tourism is far more than just a passing trend. Tourism has been identified in the National Strategic Development Plan as a key priority in the future growth and development of Grenada. The overall goal is an enhanced tourism sector optimising its contribution to the country’s socio-economic development and benchmarks against the best international standards.

Robert Hague adds: “The winning formula of protecting Grenada’s natural habitat whilst developing the island’s hospitality industry provides a fantastic opportunity for investors to benefit from this exclusive eco resort project. The quality of the site for the marina development is a very sheltered anchorage on an island with significant potential for marine tourism expansion.

“The security of the investment proposal is the land which has been valued at $8 million. There are 200 units available and each investor will get a 200th charge of the company that owns the plot. The project has undergone a rigorous due diligence process to ensure that investors’ capital is protected, and there are clearly defined exit strategies.”

The minimum investment for this project is £25,000.

Find out more about this exclusive eco-resort opportunity here

The government has said the drop is due to it’s tough stance on illegal logging. However, in two states, Rondonia and Mato Grosso, rainforest clearance rose considerably in the past year. The three main causes of deforestation are clearance of land for cattle farming and agricultural crop production as well as logging for timber.

In the days following the announcement, the Brazilian Senate voted to approve controversial legislation to reform rules on the amount of land farmers must preserve as forest. In addition, the legislation eases fines for some past deforestation if the farmers concerned commit to reforestation programmes.

There is fierce debate in Brazil over agricultural laws – supporters of the legislation claim Brazil needs more land for agriculture, while environmentalists warn that any relaxation of the tough rules on land use could see a return to higher levels of forestry clearance and undo the work already done.

The bill also marks a difficult moment for President Dilma Rousseff, who has promised both to support economic development and also to uphold the pledges she made on the protection of the environment while running for office.

Emerald Knight is currently offering an opportunity to invest in a teak forestry investment project in Brazil, which is committed to protecting environmentally-sensitive areas. For more details, click here.

With a judging panel consisting of the leading lights in social and environmental responsibility, the winners of the 2011 Green Awards received their accolades at a lavish ceremony at London’s Natural History Museum.

The winner of the Gold Award for Best Sustainable Investment category, sponsored by Emerald Knight, was The Environmental Investment Partnership LLP. Runners up Global Environmental and Social Business grabbed the Silver, with Sindicatum Sustainable Resources being awarded the Bronze.

These winners were no doubt proud to be mentioned alongside other winners such as Unilever plc, Marks and Spencer, and model Gisele Bundchen, who won the award for Best Green International Celebrity.

The International Green Awards were launched in 2006 to popular acclaim among environmental and sustainability professionals. Since then the Awards have developed into one of the most important dates in the calendar, with more than 500 organisations taking part in 2010. Strong support for the Awards has also come from well-known green campaigners and those involved in government policy, including Baroness Young and Sir David Attenborough CBE.

Emerald Knight congratulates all winners at the 2011 International Green Awards and is proud to have been part of such a significant green event!

For details of the winners of the Green Awards 2011, click here

Bosco Verticale is a 27-storey tower development in central Milan, featuring 900 trees incorporated into the structure, as well as thousands of other flora and fauna.

The plants are designed by architect Stefano Boeri to work as an oxygenator, filtering out the fumes from the city. But the green technology doesn’t stop there: heating will also be controlled naturally by the trees, which feed off the unwanted water from the block and provide shade during the summer, while energy will be generated by sunlight and wind.

The buildings will introduce 10,000 square metres of woodland to the city, albeit in a strikingly vertical form. Architect Stefano Boeri conceived the project as a response to the urban sprawl and lack of nature in city landscapes. Located in the Isola district of Milan, the residential blocks are 110m and 76m tall, according to Inhabitat.com, and if built as stand-alone units, would cover 50,000 square metres of land.

Inevitably, this green revolution comes at a towering cost. Apartments in Boeri’s bush scraper will start at €750,000 and range up to €1.2m for a prime tree house property. But the cost is not deterring other countries from following suit, as Europe turns to real estate to reduce its pollution problems.

Valencia has plans to construct Torre Huerta, a veritable forest of tree-filled balconies and solar cell energy, while Barcelona’s helical Stairscraper, which boasts gardens installed in each apartment roof, is on schedule for 2015. Even London has seen proposals for a Farm Tower this year, as the Architecture Workshop in Rome launched a competition for the best agricultural and residential design.

As pollution and energy costs continue to hang in the air, are vertical forests the way forward for overseas property? Or are developers barking up the wrong tree?

For further details of our Teak Forestry investment, click here.

Under the current Climate Change Act, the UK government is committed to cutting climate change emissions by 80 per cent by 2050, but international aviation and shipping are currently exempted from the figures. If the government agrees with the committee’s recommendation, it could mean the restrictive targets for sectors like motoring and electricity generation as shipping currently lags behind other sectors in innovation to reduce emissions.

Estimates suggest that shipping could account for up to 10 per cent of emissions allowed under the 2050 carbon budget, so represents a significant amount, and according to the committee the shipping industry has a long way to go in exploring ways to make use of natural power sources, improving fuel efficiency and allocating vessels more effectively. Some companies are already developing new techniques for improving the efficiency of their vessels, even exploring the use of kites or sails deployed while out at sea.

Global shipping emissions are said to be increasing by three to four per cent per year, and by 2050 could account for up to 25 per cent of the world’s greenhouse gas output. The International Maritime Organisation has agreed on a series of measures to increase the fuel efficiency of ships progressively.

The committee spent three months analysing some 150,000 shipping movements into and out of UK ports by vessels such as tugs, cargo ships, fishing vessels, ferries and cruise liners. They decided on a formula of making the UK responsible for 50 per cent of the emissions associated with ships entering or leaving UK ports, with the other 50 per cent being the responsibility of the country at the other end of each shipping movement. This resulted in a figure of the UK share being 12-16 millions of tonnes of carbon dioxide each year.

For more information on Emerald Knight carbon offset investments, click here

The OPP Awards judges said: ‘The quality of this company and its product is excellent … it is a very relevant product.’

Even better was to follow, with the company receiving a gold award for Best Alternative Investment Service. The OPP Awards judges, which included some of the most respected figures in the property, finance and investment worlds, heaped praise on Emerald Knight’s model of assigning a portfolio manager to each client in order to ensure they receive the most appropriate information and options for their individual circumstances. In addition, the judges were impressed with the range of products offered by Emerald Knight and the due diligence process undertaken by the company in order to make sure the investments offered are the ‘best in class’.

The judges were enthusiastic in their praise of the company and its methods: ‘Emerald Knight is at the forefront of the drive in alternative and socially responsible investments and is clearly highly attuned to the way in which investors are now demanding to know the ethical credentials of the products they are using. Everything it does is transparent and robust with lots of documentation. There is an investment manager allocated to every client. This is a first-class service.’

Rob Hague said: ‘This award is particularly special to us as we take great pride in making sure our clients are given all of the information they need in order to make informed and confident decisions about their investment portfolio, whether they are experienced investors or completely new to the socially-responsible investment world. By ensuring that our products are the best on the market, we can confidently offer them to our clients through our portfolio managers.

While it seems that a company fulfilling their obligations should not be a news story in itself, there are some important issues to highlight. Firstly, the fact that Emerald Knight is committed to making sure the projects on offer are the ‘best in class’ means that only the most robust offerings in the marketplace are accepted as Emerald Knight investments. This is a recognition of the fact that many investors in this type of Socially Responsible Investment (SRI) have not been involved in this market before, and need reassurance not only of the potential of investments, but also the safety and security of investments in the marketplace.

Of equal importance is the fact that Emerald Knight, due to choosing the best investment product available, is able to offer and deliver an investment on time during such tough economic conditions. There are very few investments anywhere on the market that can offer a 30 per cent return within 12 months – fewer still that can do so repeatedly for clients.

Emerald Knight Sales Director Rob Hague said: “We are extremely pleased to be paying out on this carbon offset investment once again. The project has proved to be an introduction to SRI for a large number of our clients, and at the same time as proving very profitable for them, has opened up the full SRI market to them. Many of our investors have gone on to reinvest successfully in SRI projects, both of the same type and in different spheres.”

“We are currently working on the last few opportunities in the latest tranche of this carbon offset investment, so anyone interested in a fixed 30 per cent return within 12 months can still get involved.”

For further details on carbon offsetting, click here.

The research, based on interviews with developers and the latest information about environmental technologies, shows the overall extra costs of building new homes to standards set in the Code for Sustainable Homes is falling year on year.

For homes built to Code level 3 standards, average extra costs have fallen by almost three quarters in the last three years – from £4458 in 2008 to £1128 in 2010.

Communities Minister Andrew Stunell said: “Building greener homes is vital if we are to meet our nation’s commitment to reduce carbon emissions and combat climate change – so today’s report is good news for the entire country. The progress that has been made does not only benefit developers building Code-standard homes, it also provides valuable lessons ahead of the transition to building new homes to zero carbon standards from 2016.

Source: PropertyTalkLive.co.uk