I came across a great article from Fast Company detailing the the Brew Dog Brewery in Scotland and their sustainability efforts. Anything involving Scotland is going to grab my attention, throw in brewery and sustainability and I’m definitely going to dig in for my details.
The brewery runs on a combination of wind power and gas from malted barley to help reduce their carbon emissions. Not satisfied with that, they have purchased 2,050 acres of land in Scotland in an effort to increase the amount of carbon sequestered. 1,500 acres of the land will be a native forest, with plans to plant a million trees over the next two years. The remaining 550 acres will become restored peatlands which have the potential to sequester a very large amount of carbon. With these efforts they will now be carbon negative – removing twice as much carbon from the atmosphere that they emit across their entire supply chain. The brewery is also building an anaerobic digester that can turn the spent grains that are a by-product of brewing into biomethane that can be used to heat the equipment. The digester can also be used to clean waste water and produce CO2 for carbonation. You can read the full article here. This is clearly a company moving in the right direction, going past carbon neutral to actual carbon negative, and hopefully providing a blueprint for others to follow in their footsteps. I certainly know one place I will be stopping on my next trip to Scotland.
I also came across an interesting piece from Axios, which centers around the idea that you can create urban enclaves where residents can meet most of their daily needs by walking or bicycling a short distance from their homes. Strategically clustering food outlets, medical offices, schools, banks, workspaces and recreational areas in close proximity to people would create these 15 minute cities naturally. By making more services reachable by foot and bike, we can help combat climate change and potentially create diverse and welcoming neighborhoods. Some additional ideas include things like investing in more co-working spaces, using nightclubs as gyms during the day, and turning schools into parks and recreation areas on weekends, allowing for the greater use of existing infrastructure. You can read the full article here. This time of upheaval may present a great opportunity to push forward with concepts like this, as we have the means to reinvent the way we live and work for the modern age. I know for myself, one of the things I miss most about living in a city like Toronto was the ability to simply keep the car parked and either walk to or take public transit to a wide array of shopping, dining and entertainment options. It’s one of my favorite things to do on vacation – not have to drive everywhere and enjoy what various cities have to offer.
On a final note, and a shameless self-serving plug. My daughter recently discovered the website Society 6, which allows artists to post their original artwork and the site facilitates selling that artwork as different types of prints, but also on just about anything you can imagine. I have included a couple of pics of some cool items featuring her work – a Furry Fish shower curtain and a Zentangle art print. If you are so inclined please check out the Kraken Corner on Society 6 (you can follow this link) as any sale she makes is slightly less money that she bugs me for. You have to love this day and age where a high school junior can create their own side hustles. In her case there is her art on the web, she is just finishing writing her first novel and she teaches coding classes. I’m not doing away with her college fund, but getting to watch her explore all these facets of things she loves to do is reward enough.
Until later,
The Free Range Viking
The Free Range Viking 