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Over every Christmas period the UK sees a massive increase in the amount of waste it has to dispose. The Christmas tree may look brilliant and just what the children are looking for but can you imagine what happens to the millions of trees each year? For every present there is usually a tonne of packaging to get rid of that ranges from plastic to the really annoying foam that is put inside every “breakable” present and with every Christmas dinner there is always the left over food (once you have had your turkey and stuffing sandwich on boxing day).

Waste disposal teams across the UK not only don’t stop work over Christmas but actually work a lot harder to ensure you waste is disposed of correctly.

Waste Disposal teams near me always come round the second weekend in January to collect the unwanted trees and usually a donation to a local charity, which personally is a great way i think to raise money for a good cause as well.

The local “tip” usually has massive queues when it re-opens on the 27th but like me people just don’t want the food / packaging lingering around the house for any longer. The wrapping paper is a difficult one though as the natural instinct is to roll it up in a ball and throw it in a black bin bag, the black bin bags usually get very full though and very quickly.

With many governments trying to cut carbon emissions, why aren’t they dealing with the $50 billion problem of methane leakage coming from patchy gas and oil wells as well as tanks and pipelines.

The level of the methane problem can be put into scale when it can be compared to half the global warming power of all coal power plants in the USA.

Methane like C02 effects the climate, but what is more worrying is that methane is 35 times more potent.

Surely governments should put major resources into resolving this issue, otherwise just cutting C02 emissions alone will not be enough.

We all here on the news everyday about the effects of climate change, and how we all need to reduce our C02 emissions, but how exactly to you go about doing that. There are obvious things such as switching to a car which releases less C02, but what about all the other little things that you can do to help. Well I have included a list here to help, which are not as big a change as switching your car, and might help to ease you in to reducing your carbon footprint.

• Change your light bulbs to energy efficient ones.
• Fit draught excluders in your home to keep the heat in and the cold out.
• Fit radiator reflectors.
• Try cycling to work a couple of days a week, and you’ll really start to feel the benefits as well as your carbon footprint.

All these are little things but if everybody undertook them we could really help reduce the UK’s carbon footprint.

As soon as the summer season comes along so to do the music festivals. Hundreds of thousands of people attend music festivals every year, and their carbon footprint can be very large, but now hopefully things will be set to change. Music Lovers attending the Bestival and Lovebox festivals this year, will be able to enjoy the music as well knowing that the festivals have made a pledge to reduce their carbon footprint by 10%.

Those who organise the festivals are already thinking of ways in which they can achieve this target. Hopefully it will cause other major festivals to make the pledge as well, to help the cause and increase awareness on the subject. Who says we can’t enjoy ourselves and help the environment at the same time?

If we ever wanted real evidence of climate change, then we can look at Madagascar. This island, in the Indian Ocean has suffered from three years of crop failures over the past five years, which has resulted in the island not being able to feed its own people.

Climate change has been blamed for causing disruption to the seasons on the island, but the situation has been made worse by deforestation on the island. All in all this had led to long term droughts and which has affected the growth of crops such as maize and sweet potatoe.

The people living on the island find themselves in a desperate situation with over 8000 children suffering from malnutrition. In the past 50 years Madagascar’s temperature has risen by 10% and its rainfall has decreased by 10%. Experts who have studied this climate change have stated that it is no longer a question of will this trend continue, but instead, by how much will this trend continue?

The changes that have occurred in Madagascar could easily happen to any country throughout the world, so if there was ever a need for urgency in decreasing the rate of climate change the time is now!

It has been stated that the best way to curb C02 emissions is to curb the population. After all, most privileged children emit around 11 tonnes of Carbon Dioxide every year. As time goes on they will likely have more children who will again emit 11 tonnes of Carbon Dioxide annually. Therefore, the title of this post makes real sense.

Even though this will help to save the planet can we really encroach on people’s freedom by enforcing population control and perhaps limiting people to two children per family? It seems totally alien to control people’s lives in this way, but the effect would be radical and is calculated to reduce carbon emissions by 34 gigatones.

Population control does not feature in any of the UN’s agendas, as many governments dismiss the idea, however what I believe that they do need to deal with consumption amongst those who are very wealthy. Members of this community are the ones who are contributing most to the problem and who need educating most on the need to conserve energy.

Two merchant ships are on course to complete a shortcut over the top of the world which could cut the price of British imports from China, Japan and Korea. As a result of global warming the ice which once prevented ships from using this route is now melting and it is expected that the Northeast Passage will be opened with ease. It has been approximately 500 years since the British explorer Hugh Willoughby and his crew died when their ship was crushed by the ice in 1553. In the last 20 years Russia has made repeated attempts to get their ships through. If the Northeast Passage was re-opened it would mean vast savings in fuel and time.

Most us have never come face to face with a polar bear, but it is a very sad to think that in less than 100 years the future generation may only know about their existence from books and videos. As a result of Global warming this is another species whos existence is being threatened. In seventy years they may be all extinct.

Due to the increased temperatures it means that the polar bears natural habitat is melting, causing numbers to drop dramatically. I think it is so unfair that these beautiful creatures are suffering as a direct result of something we have caused. Moving forwards we should be doing all we can to try and preserve this species so they can be appreciated by many for years to come.

The Artic Summers are getting hotter and hotter as a result of Global Warming. Its summers have been the hottest for 2000 years as it warms up even though the Earth is further away from the sun throughout the summer months of the year. It has become warmer due to the increased levels of greenhouse gases within the atmosphere. This has interrupted a millennia- long cycle of temperatures cooling naturally within the Artic. Global warming has become a high priority across the globe for some time now. More people are beginning to realise we have harmed the environment and it is important to take steps as soon as possible to try and avoid any further damage taking place. Other wise temperatures not only within the Artic will continue to rise.

Anyone fancy fish and chips? Well you better hurry! Apparently as a result of climate change a report by marine scientists warn that Cod is in danger of disappearing entirely from the North Sea. Changes in the quantity of plankton, which cod larvae feed on caused by Global warming have led to a decline in current cod stocks from the North Sea. Over the past forty years the average temperature within these waters has increased by 1C. It doesn’t sound a lot, but it has been enough to force the various species of plankton to move to cooler waters.
According to the authors of the study published in the Proceedings of the Royal Society Biological Sciences journal, it is likely that not even a ban on fishing can save the existing stock. It is such a shame that in the future people will not be able to experience what proper fish and chips used to taste like, so make the most of it whilst you can still buy it!