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How many people have baby stuff left in the attic I wonder?

I do, or at least I did. It is a classic story. Along comes a child, planned or otherwise, and all of us are forced to buy baby baths, clothing and feeding equipment, and baby toys too.

We tend to hang on to it all, thinking or wondering whether another will come. Baby Clothing is often thrown away early, because of sanitary issues. The physical equimpent is probably last to go.

And ten even fifteen years later we look in the attic and what do we find? Puschairs. Toys. All sorts of equipment that could have been used by someone else.

It is refreshing to see that at car boot sales a lot of equipment is changing hands now, to realise cash.

The point is, it isnt just about the money. One more piece of baby equipment reused is one less that needs manufacture, and one less that needs disposal when long out of date.

In our case we had at least two pushchairs – so out of curiosity, I talked to a colleague that owns a store that sells baby pushchairs to find out what initiatives there are to help reuse the equipment, and whether the pushchairs could be handed on.

Car boot sales, freecycle, even ebay have a hand in this, but it is probably time that the baby equipment industry considered ways it can assist with recycling.

I am very impressed with the freecycle service for helping the environment by recycling.

I recently emptied my attic, and found ready takers on freecycle for all kinds of things from beer bottles, to toys, and an old petrol lawnmower.

There is so much stuff people throw away – which is too good to bin, but either they do not want to sell, or the goods are not new enough but still useful to someone.

I think everyone should be encouraged to use this service for recycling. Bravo to them!

One of the biggest heaps of waste these days is waste electronic goods.

For sure – Moore’s law has conspired against us. The power of computers and electronic goods is growing at an exponential rate despite the barriers that have had to be broken to do it.

Applications got greedier too, so many computer games need the fastest available hardware. It is alarming that software engineers no longer seem to be taught the discipline of minimizing use of computer resources, and even if they are, the operating systems make it very hard to do this.

Reality y is however, for MOST people, computers are fast enough and big enough for MOST of what they do, and have been for several years

For documents – accounts – looking at photos, and videos from youtube and so on, a several year old computer is quite good enough.

There is a reluctance on most people to accept old – there is a stigma.

So it is so refreshing to see a company such as Laptop Repairs Manchester and Warrington offering factory Reconditioned laptop computers as a fun brand.

Only by starting to reuse the growing pile of electronic and computer equipment can we ever start to reduce the rate at which we consume resources, and reduce the landfill from electronics

That is the real crux of the problem.

Almost every decision we take has conflicting consequences.

Particularly when choosing a material out of which to create something.

Take the decision between wood and plastic as might be found when choosing whether to make for example wood or upvc patio doors

First is the impact of creating the raw materials. The impact of transporting them to the country of use.Then the impact of using them. Then the impact of destroying them.

An instant decision say wooden patio doors have less impact because they are natural, and the material will decay.

But is it really environmentally friendly to remove or destroy wood.

And then come the “hidden issues” here we will consider just one.

Take the security issue. You are over ten times as likely to be broken into with wood as upvc. So that means you will replace them more often. Allow also for the decay – and you replace them faster still.

So the replacement issue can certainly sway a carbon footprint decision.

Sure upvc does not decay, but that may not be the only issue.

Sustainable development policy needs the best evidence it can get – but too often, we use indicators which show only what is easy to see on the surface.

The INSURE project (April 2004 – January 2007) aims to get beneath the surface, to the underlying ‘system dynamics’. For this INSURE has built a prototype ‘System Toolkit’ for analysis of sustainable development at the regional level, with four components. The ‘Baseline’ explores the scope of a sustainability issue: secondly, the ‘Mapping’ identifies the fuzzy and qualitative factors. Then, the ‘Model’ provides a full quantitative dynamic analysis, with transferable software for any region: and finally the ‘Indicators’ provide a framework for benchmarking and communicating the most significant factors.

With a ’20-step’ method and a more technical ‘advanced’ method, the Toolkit has been tested in a series of case studies around Europe. These show many practical applications to sustainability strategy, evaluation, training and communication. There is also a strong scientific agenda in exploring the conceptual foundations for analysis of sustainable development.

The system dynamics approach which underpins the INSURE has potential for a unifying and scientific representation of SD at the regional level. Instead of measuring the ‘symptoms’ through SD indicators, the project tries to get to the ‘causes’ with a more fundamental understanding of the region as a system. This shows how economic sectors, spatial development, environmental pressures and social trends are all inter-linked and inter-dependent. This kind of knowledge is essential for the challenges of SD from local to global.

In this way, the INSURE approach will contribute to increased awareness of the issues and choices of SD among stakeholders at all levels, particularly at the regional level around Europe.

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