Global warming
When it comes to big issues that we feel powerless to change, global warming must be the top of the list. Not only is it a huge global problem, it is dubious science. No one really knows the impact of the small rise in temperature we can only look to the past or computer models. What is certain is that it is happening.
It is the concept of it being a small rise that has caused the greatest problem, a few degrees warmer is nothing! If we were experiencing much higher figures then even the most sceptical would literally feel the heat.
Use less energy we are told, while councils and shops happily burn electricity in needless ways. Drive less while industry discharges millions of tons of problem gasses into the air. Buy a smaller car when our transport industry is eating up the miles with empty vehicles and town planning builds our shops and workplaces away from bus routes and our houses.
Individually we have such a low impact it begs the question should I bother? The answer is simple- yes.
Our buying habits decide on the importance of renewable energy production, who do you buy from? Do you oppose planning for wind turbines and solar farms? These are simple things that matter. We can reduce our energy footprint and should try to do this, inevitably though we need energy and this causes global warming, it is the method that needs to change as much as the consumption. That only changes when we remove the money from the system, forcing suppliers to think.
Global warming isn’t just our energy use, it is agriculture, land use and deforestation. One of the greatest impacts you can have is your choice of food, soya and palm along with beef are removing the trees that regulate greenhouse gases. Beef production is releasing vast quantities of methane, the huge increase in meat use is fueling this. Unlike energy this will not change with technology converting us to renewables, it only changes with a consumption drop. What we eat ultimately decides the fate of this planet far more than driving a few miles less or switching off a light. It takes little effort to make changes in our food habits and in this we are far from powerless.
It is the concept of it being a small rise that has caused the greatest problem, a few degrees warmer is nothing! If we were experiencing much higher figures then even the most sceptical would literally feel the heat.
Use less energy we are told, while councils and shops happily burn electricity in needless ways. Drive less while industry discharges millions of tons of problem gasses into the air. Buy a smaller car when our transport industry is eating up the miles with empty vehicles and town planning builds our shops and workplaces away from bus routes and our houses.
Individually we have such a low impact it begs the question should I bother? The answer is simple- yes.
Our buying habits decide on the importance of renewable energy production, who do you buy from? Do you oppose planning for wind turbines and solar farms? These are simple things that matter. We can reduce our energy footprint and should try to do this, inevitably though we need energy and this causes global warming, it is the method that needs to change as much as the consumption. That only changes when we remove the money from the system, forcing suppliers to think.
Global warming isn’t just our energy use, it is agriculture, land use and deforestation. One of the greatest impacts you can have is your choice of food, soya and palm along with beef are removing the trees that regulate greenhouse gases. Beef production is releasing vast quantities of methane, the huge increase in meat use is fueling this. Unlike energy this will not change with technology converting us to renewables, it only changes with a consumption drop. What we eat ultimately decides the fate of this planet far more than driving a few miles less or switching off a light. It takes little effort to make changes in our food habits and in this we are far from powerless.