Hemp could become a key tool in the fight against climate change. Like timber, hemp is a biogenic material – it’s produced by growing plants. When used to make long-lasting building materials, they provide an effective and low-tech way to reduce carbon emissions because plants absorb carbon dioxide (CO₂) from the atmosphere as they grow. This then gets stored in solid form for the foreseeable future within buildings and cities.
I have estimated that substituting concrete with cross-laminated timber in all new building floor construction globally for the next 30 years, would reduce greenhouse gas emissions by between 20 and 80 million tonnes.
Yet, hemp grows much faster than trees, growing up to four metres within four months, giving it a greater capacity to absorb CO₂ per hectare of farmed land compared to any forest or commercial crop. Industrial hemp can absorb twice as much CO₂ compared to trees, with approximately one hectare of hemp estimated to sequester between eight to 22 tonnes of CO₂ in a year.
The Lions’ Gate Permaculture Garden
Callum Egan explains how his academic community transformed The Lions’ Gate at Napier University, Edinburgh, into a series of permaculture gardens to create a healthier, nature-focused form of educational workplace.
The short documentary film Leonel & Lesli by Paul Gray and the feature drama film Itu Ninu by Ita Jansen are both screening at the Garden Cinema in London in November as part of an event on New eco-narratives in Latin American film.
The film Itu Ninu by Napier academic Ita Jansen will be screening at UCLA. The event is organised by the Latin American Institute at UCLA.
The film is a Science fiction drama and tells the story of two climate migrants.
Blog on 20mph speed limits in settlements across Scotland as a move from 30mph. This follows the Bute House Agreement between the SNP and Green Party so that the Scottish Government has stated that all appropriate roads in built up areas will have a safer speed limit of 20mph by 2025.
Research by Dr Chris Guiver at Edinburgh Napier University has featured in SIAM news. SIAM is the Society for Industrial and Applied Mathematics. The work relates to the novel use of so-called adaptive feedback control in pest and weed management --- a timely 21st century societal challenge. The linked article summarises a talk given in Philadelphia by a Prof. Richard Rebarber, a co-author with Chris of the study.
