 |
All the evidence points to the fact that the climate is changing as the result of human activity and, most specifically, due to continued production of greenhouse gases. We know how will it affect us, but what should we do, and is it too late to do anything constructive?
The answer to this question is – no it is not. There are many things we can do to reduce the impact of climate change. We need to change the way we live our lives, starting with small steps and moving onto bigger ways of reducing our carbon footprints.
Here are some suggestions of changes that you could make to your life and home today:
Recycle more of your household waste.
Re-use plastic bags instead of getting new ones at the shops each time you visit.
Walk short distances instead of travelling in cars. If the journey is too far to walk, see if you could take a form of public transport instead.
Organise car pools for your journeys into school and work.
Switch to renewable energy suppliers of electricity.
Switch off the lights in your house whenever you leave a room.
Replace standard light bulbs with energy efficient ones. They may be more expensive to start with but in the long run they will work out cheaper as they will not need replacing as often, and they use less electricity.
Don’t leave your television and other appliances on stand-by, turn them off instead.
Insulate your home more effectively so you don’t need to use the central heating as much.
Don’t turn on the heating, put on another jumper!
Only boil as much water in the kettle as you need.
Buy as much food from local sources as you can. This also supports your local economy. Also, try to buy organically produced food.
Plant some trees in your garden or local area!
Most of these suggestions will not only save the environment, but they will also save you money. Try and add your own ideas, and tell your friends and family all about the changes that they could be making too.
If we do nothing, climate change will get faster, and the disasters predicted by some scientists will happen more quickly. By acting now, there is still a chance that the worst may not happen, but it will not be easy.
One way to motivate people to do something positive about issues such as carbon emissions is to get them to think about what their village, town city, country, or even the planet as whole, will be like in 25 years time if we don’t begin to address the problems.
|
|
 Top |
|
|
|
 | Can you think of a way of helping to prevent climate change in your community? |
|
| How would you go about implementing such a change? |
|
|
|
|
|
|