Court of Appeal blocks the construction of a third runway at Heathrow

On the 27^th of February the Court of Appeal blocked the attempts of the British government to build a third runway at the London Heathrow Airport by ruling in favour of the appellants in case R (on the application of Plan B Earth) v. the Secretary of State for Transport, [2020] EWCA Civ 214. Giving judgment, the three-judge panel emphasised that their judgement was not concerned with the political and social disagreements caused by the issue, but with the legal aspect of it. The legal answer was that the governmental decision to build a third runway was made unlawfully. 

The issues that the Court ruled on related to how the decision to implement NWR instead of ENR related to the Habitats Directive (EC Council Directive 92/43/EEC relating to the protection of natural habitats), the SEA Directive (EC Council Directive 2001/42/EC on the assessment of the effect of certain plans and programmes on the environment), particularly as to whether the Secretary of State breached the SEA Directive by failing to consider the Paris Agreement and other UK’s commitment to climate change.

Judges said that the UK government, which supported the NWR (North West Runway) proposal over the ENR (Extended Northern Runway) in their Airports National Policy Statement (ANPS), had failed to take into account what impact the move would have on Britain’s commitments under the Paris Agreement, as it would lead to increased CO₂ emissions from up to 700 more flights to and from the airport daily.

The Climate Change Act 2008 set a “carbon target” for the United Kingdom to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions by 80% from their level in 1990, by 2050. However, the “Climate Change Act 2008 (2050 Target Amendment) Order 2019” amended the target figure in the Climate Change Act from 80% to 100%. In 2015, the Paris Agreement brought about a stronger international commitment to mitigating climate change by restricting the increase in the global average temperature to “well below 2°C above pre-industrial levels and [to pursue] efforts to limit the temperature increase to 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels” and by creating a commitment to achieve net zero greenhouse gas emissions during the second half of the 21^st century. The UK ratified the Paris Agreement on 17 November 2016.

When the government approves policies such as the one authorising the third runway, section 10(8) of the Planning Act 2008 requires it to “include an explanation of how the policy set out in the statement takes account of Government policy relating to the mitigation of, and adaptation to, climate change”. Yet, the Secretary of State for Transport did not address this issue in his explanation. The Court highlighted that it does not follow from the Planning Act or the SEA Directive that the Secretary of State was obliged to act in accordance with the Paris Agreement or to reach any particular outcome. The only legal obligation was to take the Paris Agreement into account when arriving at his decision. As the ruling reads, “[t]he Paris Agreement ought to have been taken into account by the Secretary of State (…) and an explanation given as to how it was taken into account, but it was not.”

In the final paragraphs of the judgement, the Court stated that “The Airport National Policy Statement is of no legal effect unless and until the Secretary of State has undertaken a review of it in accordance with the relevant provisions of the Planning Act 2008”. The airport’s authorities have said they would appeal to the Supreme Court. On the other side, groups fighting for protection of the environment have described the verdict as “an absolutely ground-breaking result for climate justice.” As that the ruling read that “it does not venture into the merits of expanding Heathrow by adding a third runway, or of any alternative project”, but that it was only concerned with the formal process of approval of the ANPS, such statements can be considered to be of propagandistic nature.

It is worth noting that the same day that the Court granted this appeal, it dismissed another one relating to the same events, in R (on the application of (1) Heathrow Hub Limited (2) Runway Innovations Limited) v. the Secretary of State for Transport, [2020] EWCA Civ 213. In that case, the Appellant argued that the decision confined in the ANPS was not based on factual evidence and that the Secretary had breached Articles 102 and 106(1) TFEU by demanding a guarantee from the Heathrow airport that they would build the ENR if it were chosen.

Friends or foes – the troublesome Russo-Turkish relations of the 21st century

The relations between Turkey and Russia in the 21st century have always been key to stability in the region of the Black Sea and could be described as complex and to some extent troublesome. In 2010, both countries signed a package of deals regarding the common energy policy, trade, and visa-free travel – these arrangements gave way to strengthening ties between the two. However, the outbreak of the Syrian Civil War in 2011 ended this peaceful cooperation, as the interests of the two countries started to clash: Russia supported the regime of Bashar al-Assad, while Turkey stressed its support for the rebelling opposition. The Turkish-Russian relations further deteriorated in September 2015, when Russia embarked on its own military intervention in Syria in support of Assad. This escalation of tensions resulted in the shootdown of a Russian military jet Sukhoi Su-24 by Turkey on 24 November 2015 near the Syrian-Turkish border. Following the incident, mutual relations between Turkey and Russia deteriorated dramatically: Vladimir Putin, the president of Russia, decided to impose numerous economic sanctions against its neighbour and suspend the visa-free travel between the two countries. What a few years ago seemed like prosperous cooperation between the most important regional powers, now entered a period of uncertainty and political instability.

However, the year 2016 brought a normalization of ties between the two states, with Recep Tayyip Erdoğan expressing regret to Putin for the November shootdown in June 2016. Russia lifted its sanctions against Turkey in the following months, with their leaders meeting and telephoning each other more frequently than ever. What caused such a rapid and unordinary rapprochement in the Russian-Turkish relations? The answer may be found not far from the Turkish border: the prolonging war in Syria. As a destabilizing force both in the economic and political terms, and a source of uncontrolled flow of migration, the conflict started to be a serious disturbance for both Turkey and Russia. Another factor contributing to the rebirth of the Russian-Turkish cooperation was undoubtedly the conduct of the foreign policy of the US under the administration of Donald J. Trump. Both countries clashed with the US on several occasions since the very beginning of Trump’s tenure; furthermore, they supported each other in their respective disputes with the American government (Turkey condemned the US sanctions against Russia over the annexation of Crimea and 2016 election interference, while Russia backed Turkey in their detention of Andrew Brunson, an American pastor whom Turkey accused of spying).

Apart from a diplomatic cooperation between the two, Russia and Turkey began to grow closer in terms of the military relations. In 2017, the Turkish government expressed its interest in purchasing some of the Russian military equipment, including the S-400 surface-to-air missile system. This move made Turkey the second member of NATO (after Greece) which turned to Russia to buy its munitions. It was criticized by the US and some other NATO members, with the Trump administration pressurizing Erdogan to cancel the deal with Russia. Notwithstanding, Turkey went further on and official talks regarding the purchase of Russian military aircraft commenced, with future arrangements possible in the nearest future.

However, this good cooperation came to an abruptive halt in the last days of February 2020, when the Russian-backed Assad regime killed 34 Turkish soldiers in an attack near Idlib, northwestern Syria. The offensive caused a diplomatic crisis, with both Putin and Erdogan exchanging impedances and questioning any further cooperation between the countries in the region. As of March 6, a preliminary ceasefire had been agreed, although the Russo-Turkish relations undoubtedly face an uncertain and volatile future.

Japanese way of reducing waste

The connection between people and objects is deeply rooted in the Japanese culture. The pattern of not only using such objects but as well cherishing their value is already a common practice among the Japanese. Such practices can constitute a natural form of protecting the overwhelmed by plastic and non-reusable materials environment. The culture of reusing and recycling already have even been given a specific name: ’’mottanai”. The mantra of reduce, reuse, recycle is not only commonly implemented by the Japanese but should also be shared among other nations around the world. This could significantly help people to reduce the amount of plastic they use as well as contribute to the beneficial eco-friendly actions aimed at reducing consumption by exploiting certain items for as long as possible. The whole doctrine is rooted in the belief that if you value a particular object you will be less prone to waste it in the first place. In the spirit of that, the Japanese use their creativity and imagination to construct new, renewed objects from old materials. An example of that can be a
precisely repaired bowl which can be not only practical but as well aesthetically pleasing. What is more, the idea of second-hand clothes buying going more and more popularity every day. Nevertheless, as idealistic as this might seem Japan is still currently the second largest generator of plastic in the world. Its production of this devastating material exceeds the amount of plastic produced by the entire European Union. However, the fact that Mottainai is not a newly introduced concept but is deeply rooted in the Japanese culture could ease the process of encouraging especially young Japanese to change their ways of living. Another important element of the whole Mottainai idea is the ceremony of showing appreciation to the objects for their hard work. Marie Kondo, one of the organisers of such ceremonies claims that this allows people to feel a deeper connection with the objects they used to posses, creating an impression that they are not only thing but something beyond. Nevertheless, maintaining such practices among the people becomes especially difficult in modern times. People who lived through the war, learned by their past experiences are already encouraged to use less, therefore, the hardest social group that has to be encouraged to consume less is the youth, which unfortunately highly over-consumes. What is more, this innovative form of saving important materials will as well be addressed during the Tokyo Olympic Games ion 2020. Interestingly, the issue will not only be spoken about but as well brought into attention by designing medals, which will be made form 100% recycled materials, excreted form electronic devises. This will not only protect the environment but as well give people a sense of contribution in the process of protecting the environment. What needs to be acknowledged, while tackling the issues of climate change or the overproduction of wastes and plastic is that the pro-environmental campaign’s should be directed mainly at the youth, as they are the only ones who can change the course of the future. That’s why Japanese fourth largest Island- Shikoku focuses on educating the youngest about the dangers of wastes and pollution at the same time planning to become a zero-waste place by the end of 2020. Such actions should be the aim of almost each government in the world, considering the impact that all of us have on the environment. Overall, the
ways of protecting our Earth does not have to or even shouldn’t be conventional. As the ones created with the use of imagination and flair can turn out to be much more effective.

History of nuclear energy

No scientific discovery comes out of nowhere, it costs countless discoveries made by scientist all over the world. The same was with nuclear energy. It all has started in Germany, in 1895, where X-ray was first discovered by Roentgen. As the information spread around the world, more and more started to gain interest in this field. Only a year after a guy named Becquerel another phenomena, that was later evaluated by Marie Curie and her husband – spontaneous energy production, which was named radioactivity. Again, the process had begun, Ernest Rutherford started analysing radioactivity and noticed that there are two types of rays – alpha and beta radiation. He later discovered that the vast majority of an atom mass is concentrated in the genre – therefore expose nucleus, sometime after he also suggested the existence of neutrons and gamma radiation. Thanks to his work, he is called the father of nucleus physics.

The whole science is based on previous experiments and acknowledgements. Hahn and Strassmann decided to look closer at the paradox called splitting of an atom. It tended to release a tremendous amount of energy. Apart from the good aspect of that energy, some also found it as a way to produce bombs, based on the chain reaction. In 1942, the first one was created. Unfortunately, this has lead to the drop of Little Boy and Fat Man on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Japan on August 6th and 9th, 1945. The cities were devastated, with up to 250,000 people dead. It took many years for the world to realise the danger of it. The Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons (TPNW) was signed on 20th September 2017 with the supervision of the UN.

Fortunately, not only was nuclear energy used to kill, but also to help. The idea of nuclear power was discussed earlier and has been found brilliant but one thing was anticipated to be impossible to overcome – calling the reactor. In 1951, an experimental liquid-metal cooled reactor in Idaho called EBR-I was attached to a generator in 1951, producing the first nuclear-generated electricity. Firstly it was used just to power the submarines as it wouldn’t need to refuel. The Shippingport reactor opened in 1957 was the first commercial reactor in the USA.

Seeing the success of the first nuclear power plant, through the 60s and 70s, many nuclear reactors were constructed for commercial usage. Its greatest advantage is that they work well and produce cheap, emission-free electricity with a very low mining and transportation footprint. France was the first country to strongly push towards it and ended up with 75% of electricity being from uncle power.

World nuclear energy production through years 1965-2010

Nevertheless not everything was as perfect as it seems to be. From the late 1970s to about 2002 the nuclear power industry suffered some decline and stagnation. It was mainly due to labour shortages and construction delays. The world has realised that it is not as cheap as anticipate. A nail to the coffin of nuclear energy were the accidents in Three Mile Island (1979) and Chernobyl (1986). The latter one has caused 42 acute deaths and possibly several thousand with long term high possibility of cancer. Additionally, the reactor explosion caused 350,000 people to be permanently resettled. These disasters contributed to the restriction of standards and further costs.

After almost 30 years of stagnation, wide awareness about climate change and need to restrict carbon dioxide emission (it is in a great part released during the combustion of fossil fuels, such as coal, oil, and natural gas, to produce electricity). Furthermore increasing energy demand worldwide and the decrease of natural resources has also contributed to the idea of “nuclear renaissance”. Nowadays, more and more countries are looking favourably on nuclear energy and plan to increase the energy share coming from it.

In March 2013, famous climate scientist James Hansen co-publishes a paper from NASA computing that, even with worst-case estimates of nuclear accidents, nuclear energy as a whole has saved 1.8 million lives and counting by offsetting the air-pollution related deaths that come from fossil fuel plants.

Technological implications of the Sunday trade ban

Ever since Sunday’s trade ban was adopted, Polish retail industry has gone through massive changes. According to Retail’s Institute initial research for the first quarter of this year, the long-lobbied restriction turned out to be most detrimental for small and medium-sized shopping centers. Unsurprisingly, it helped the largest ones reach its full capacity. The most interesting in the current circumstances are, however, the companies looking for different loopholes as the ways which make them capable of functioning efficiently under the new legal agenda. Even though their previous actions focused mainly on rebranding stores into post offices which can serve consumers on Sunday, the idea of autonomic shops is coming more and more closer to Poland as technological advancements are taking place at a rapid rate.

Shops without workers

But what exactly are autonomic stores? They are the establishments devoid of human labor- with fully automated processes. Amazon seems to be a true pioneer in the aforementioned regard, with  its test stores Amazon GO slowly but surely flooding the global markets. Their operating model is simple- a client simply takes a product from the self and later on proceeds onto leaving the store. He doesn’t even have to use the self-service register- the act of purchase is registered by cameras and sensors which are present in the establishment. Immediately after he leaves the shop a given amount of funds is debited from his bank account which means that the transaction was successfully booked by the system.

Only a few companies can afford to implement so advanced technological advancements, though. One of the other approaches to the Sunday’s trade ban problem is presented by an ecological entity Bio Family which equips its stores with a deceptively simple infrastructure of self-service cashiers. The innovative nature of this move is hidden in Bio Family’s idea of Open 24/7 Card which allows the clients to shop both during the Sundays and nighttime. Swiping the card into the reader gives us the user a possibility to enter the store and equip himself without the need of any further assistance. After choosing all the products the client is obliged to head into the self-service cashier where he makes the payment at the terminal. He may do it with the usage of the most innovative, convenient and quickest payment methods- Apple Pay, Google Pay or even BTC Wallet. Implementation of previously mentioned alterations allows the companies to maximize their profits which, in the current circumstances, is as important for them as it never was. It also allows them to gain a competitive advantage over other companies which is crucial for enterprises looking for a sustainable and long-lasting functioning on the market.

Smaller queues at any time

Positives of the aforementioned advancements are easily noticeable. First of all, they will significantly deal with the problem of long queues in stores, which, according to CSI polls, is the most frustrating element of shopping for the consumers. Apart from that, it today’s times of low unemployment and declining labor supply, such solutions have the potential to make the enterprises more financially viable- facilitating technological advancements will discourage them from giving pay rises to less and less motivated workers.

It’s worth adding that automation almost always carries outplacement-based consequences, due to the fact that machines are a much more profitable working option than low-skilled workers in the long-term. Using technology to grow and develop now, with panic and growing risks of an economic recession listed as the dominating macroeconomic factors, seems like a rational option for the stakeholders. Something tells me that it won’t take long for the autonomic stores to dominate the shopping industry- changes in supply standards have to go hand in hand with the civilization’s progress as well as the evolution of needs and preferences criteria, therefore adapt we must.

Jan Bartkowiak

Sustainable city as a solution to global sea level rise in Indonesia?

Sea level is currently rising and is expected to keep on rising due to the effects of increasing global average temperatures which leads to thermal expansion of water (it has greater volume at higher temperatures) and melting of the polar ice caps and glaciers.

Probably everyone has heard of it, some of us may even know some statistics, like the one that’s the sea level is predicted to rise by 80-100 cm within the 21st century. Not many of us, living in well-developed country which isn’t and probably won’t be affected too much, can imagine the scale and implications of the issue.

However, the residents of some island nations don’t have to imagine this, because they are already starting to experience these problems. One of such countries is Indonesia. Its capital city, Jakarta, is said to be one of the fastest sinking cities in the world. North Jakarta has already sunk by 2.5 m in 10 years and is continuing to rise by 25 cm every year. It’s predicted that some parts of the city may be entirely submerged by 2050. It definitely is a huge problem for the residents as their houses are flooded and broken down. Many of them don’t have a possibility or enough money to move out and start again. 

But the Indonesian government does have this opportunity and is planning to take it. The plan is to move the administration to a site in the Indonesian province of East Kalimantan on the island of Borneo. The aim is to finish the initial construction by 2025. This location of the planned city makes sense politically and economically as it is located much closer to the centre of the archipelago than Jakarta. Borneo is home to some of the most important forests and is already struggling with wildfires. Because of that some people are against it and fear that this plan could have disastrous implications on the environment. However, the government claims that the new city will be sustainable and its construction won’t cause any damage to the wildlife. The plan is that 70% of the city’s area will be green space and there will be an institute built specialising in reforestation, and a botanical garden. The satellite cities surrounding the city will be separated by green belts in order not to allow them to merge together, as it happened with the satellite cities of Jakarta in the past.

Moreover, the city’s designers have a biomimcry approach which means that they draw inspiration from the natural rainforest while designing the city to create a lot of green spaces resembling of forests. Even a city which is in theory very sustainable and eco-friendly can contribute to the environmental problems as its construction leaves a huge footprint. What else draws the attention of environmental activists is how the city will produce energy – the primary idea was to use only renewable energy, now they’re planning three hydroelectric power plants, but alongside with them, three coal-fired plants. 

Although the city seems as a great solution and opportunity for the current residents of Jakarta and is in theory very sustainable and environmentally friendly, it may turn out otherwise if strict guidelines are not introduced and then restricted. The Indonesian government is sure about introducing the plan into real life and since the whole world is concerned by the environmental problems in Indonesian tropical rainforest, it will probably try its best to make it the most sustainable. 

Artificial Intelligence

Artificial intelligence, a concept which once appeared only in science fiction movies, is now present in almost all areas of human activity. It has helped us develop various technology, but as it evolved it proved to be useful in areas that seemed to be reserved for humans only. With the new coronavirus outbreak, artificial intelligence once again came into the spotlight, as scientists racing to develop a cure and a vaccine for the new virus use it to speed up the process and make it more effective. Despite the fact that artificial intelligence is not yet perfect and still needs to be developed, it definitely is an area which may significantly shape the world we live in.

Artificial intelligence is not only high-tech robots available for only a few people, but also things that most of us use almost every day. The various personal assistants, such as Google Assistant, Siri or Amazon Alexa all use speech recognition, big data and machine learning in order to make the lives of humans simpler. High chances are that you interact with artificial intelligence each time you pick up your phone – technologies such as Face ID or recognising the fingerprint all rely on machine learning algorithms. Artificial intelligence also has an influence on the choices we make as consumers – Amazon, for examples, uses AI to predict which products you are most likely to buy based on your previous choices. Afterwards, when you browse the internet, personalised advertisements displaying products similar to those you have bought or those that are connected to your various interests pop up everywhere. This is not a result of a random coincidence, but of the analysis done by advanced artificial intelligence systems.

Artificial intelligence is definitely something that will develop in the future. Certain events, such as the new coronavirus outbreak, can speed up that process. The development of a new coronavirus, the SARS-CoV-2, which causes the disease named COVID-19 and the outbreak at the beginning of 2020 led to a widespread use of artificial intelligence to prevent the spread of the disease, but also to work on a possible treatment for those already infected and to develop a vaccine which would successfully spread the epidemic. The authorities in countries most affected by the virus, such as China or Japan, decided to use scanners that measure the temperature of people passing by and raise an alarm when it suspects a fever. This technology not only made the work of people working at airports or train stations easier, but also contributed to diagnosing more people in a shorter time, which can help stop the epidemic. The technology also keeps track of all people who come out of e.g. a single underground wagon, which can be useful when one person is diagnosed as carrying the virus – the people who that person had contact with can be notified to pay more attention to their health. Chinese authorities also confirmed that technology combining measuring the temperature with facial recognition is being tested. This can lead to revolutionary diagnosing possibilities, but it also raises the question whether such systems are ethical and whether their use is a violation of human rights.

Artificial intelligence can also be used to predict the spread of new viruses, such as COVID-19. Due to a very large processing capacity of AI, it can carry out numerous calculations in a very short time, giving a result which would have taken humans a significantly longer time to arrive at. It turns out that the artificial intelligence algorithms could have also been used to stop the disease outbreak at a very early stage. BlueDot is a company that uses big data in order to prevent the spread and track various diseases. It has been used already during the SARS outbreak in 2003. Nine days before the World Health Organisation issues their first statement about the new coronavirus, a BlueDot algorithm detected “unusual pneumonia” in the area in and around Wuhan. It also was able to successfully identify the cities that were most likely to be affected with the new coronavirus first, as it analysed flight and train routes and therefore new about the areas which the new coronavirus was to reach first.

Artificial intelligence is undoubtedly an inseparable part of our future. It has already entered our everyday lives, proving to be useful in areas that affect our daily functioning. However, due to the recent outbreak of the new coronavirus, it has also showed its application in crisis-like events. The power of big data, machine learning and various algorithms allowed not only to correctly help prevent and diagnose cases of infection with COVID-19, but also quickly analyse its possible route of spreading and preventing that from happening. Some people still remain sceptical of the new technologies and while it does raise certain concerns, for example about the possible violation of human rights and freedoms, artificial intelligence is something that surely can help us build a better future.