Stockholm and Hamburg became the first cities to be named European Green Capital on Monday, Stockholm was commended for beach improvements, high recycling rates, its congestion charging system, an extensive public transport system and carbon emissions that were half the national average.
Stockholm wins EU green capital award
Stockholm and Hamburg became the first cities to be named European Green Capital on Monday, as the European Commission announced the winners of its new environmental initiative.
Stockholm will be European Green Capital in 2010, followed by Hamburg in 2011.
"I congratulate Stockholm and Hamburg for their efforts to give priority to the environment and quality of life," said Environment Commissioner Stavros Dimas in a statement.
"Four out of five Europeans now live in urban areas, and that is where the environmental challenges facing our society are most apparent. With their measures to tackle air pollution, traffic and congestion levels, greenhouse gas emissions, and waste and waste water management, Stockholm and Hamburg can act as role models for the rest of Europe," he added.
The commission praised Stockholm's goal of becoming entirely fossil free by 2050. It also pointed out that 95 percent of the city's inhabitants live within 300 metres of green areas "that improve the local quality of life, bringing recreation, water purification, noise reduction, and an enhancement of biodiversity and ecology."
Stockholm was also commended for beach improvements, high recycling rates, its congestion charging system, an extensive public transport system and carbon emissions that were half the national average.
In all, 35 cities across the European Union, EU candidate countries and the European Economic Area applied for the prestigious environmental award. Stockholm and Hamburg beat off the challenge of six other shortlisted cities: Amsterdam, Bristol, Copenhagen, Freiburg im Breisgau, Münster, and Oslo
More details on the Stockholm Presentation. Pay attnetion to the carrot and stick policy on page 14 of the pdf
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Temperatures 3 degrees higher in Bangalore
“Studies in microclimatology show that in cities there are temperature variations of up to almost three and four degrees, due to urbanisation and reduction in vegetation and natural tree cover. Everywhere you will notice that urban concrete absorbs radiation and then radiates that heat leading to increased temperatures,”
Source
I think this is not just Bangalore (small consolation)
IDS,
Hyderabad hit 39 yesterday. Gulbarga was also in the same league. Hyderabad usually hits 39 only by end April. Mysore hit 36.5 yesterday. Even Mercara hit 31. Something not quite right this year.
AGW/Climate Change starting to hit us? They have an ally in BBMP.
Srivathsa
Drive safe. It is not just the car maker which can recall its product.
3deg addition over GW of our making
Its not the absolute temperature but the incremental addition due to concrete/vehicles over and above the GW induced temp that we should plan to avoid.
Try this, on a two wheeler when you get onto New BEL road from the sadishvanagar police station side you will notice the temperature drop due to the IISC urban forest and the road side trees. The difference used to be felt very clearly even upto 10 years ago. Its a lot lesser now. But it used to demonstrate the impact of having green spaces around you. There are spots like this in a lot of areas. The road inside cubbon park is like that.
What is your favourite green street?
I agree
Quite Correct.
Old airport road is hot. When one turns off, just past HAL into ADA road, the wind is cooler & soothing. This is due to the abundance of trees on ADA road.
many favs for me..
Kasturba road..stretch next to the kanteerava stadium
Gandhi bazaar road
Nanda road
Sampige/Margosa road
cant we do anything?
Street greenery
Nanda road and Kasturba road had the benefit of parks on their side which produced cooler breeze. Margosa and sampige road on the other hand were green mostly due to street trees. They dont have urban jungles around them.
Nothing can beat urban jungles in every area, but street trees are a good alternative. We should ask the GoK to convert palace grounds and race course into a man made jungles as a compensation for all the tree cutting on the streets.
How others are doing it
How many of these can we adopt for Bangalore?
The Swedish government has proposed rises in diesel and vehicle taxes in a move designed to cut carbon emissions. The proposals are part of Sweden's commitment to cut carbon emissions by 40 percent in comparison with 1990 levels, one of the most ambitious targets of all the European Union countries [Source]
City parks could cool urban areas by 4°C
Creating more parks and green spaces in urban areas could cool cities by up to 4°C - possibly enough to offset the warming from climate change - say researchers. "If you look at infrared maps of cities, the woodland areas are 12°C cooler than city centres with no trees,"
Vegetation cools local temperatures when the water it has absorbed is evaporated from its leaves - much like the cooling effect of perspiration... Green roofing - roll-out strips of soil planted with succulents, commonly used in Germany - would have a similar effect
Source
Such facts are lost on BBMP
BBMP should be renamed BTW (Bangalore Timber Works). Even a land starved country like SIngapore has more forest area (5000 acres) than Bangalore and probably more trees as well. Our friends here are always looking for an excuse to cut down trees. And if they have problems, the Namma Metro is always ready with a helping hand.
Srivathsa
Drive safe. It is not just the car maker which can recall its product.
"We did what we could, when we saw how it was."
I think the statement today by Maud Olofsson Swedish enterprise minister summed it up best when she presented the approach for making Sweden's car stock run on non-fossil fuel energy sources by 2030
She finished her introductory comments with a smile and sent a message to future generations:
"We did what we could, when we saw how it was."