Paul Arnold asked:

More frequently we are being given reminders that we are living on a fragile and volatile planet. Many of our natural resources have been processed to near depletion. As the world population grows more land and resources are being used to cope with the increase in demands and deforestation, this in turn has a by product, Pollution and Global Warming. Global Warming is a “Global” issue and is not particular to one event or action, although one event or action repeated round the world by millions of us could make a big difference.

Because the effects of Global Warming are created by many different actions it is hard to put a “Cover All” solution into place. A “Cover All” solution is equally hard as it would have to be established as part of an international policy, a policy that would need every country to sign up to, but that’s politics and will be covered in a separate article. This article is aimed on focusing the individual actions.

What can one person do?

Alone, not a lot but imagine if millions of others just like you done the same thing round the world! That would make a big difference on a Global scale, now imagine this happened with various different products at the same time!

The biggest pollutant in most of our lives is our beloved Car, for most of us the car is an integral part of our lives. Without taking the drastic measures of not having a car and hampering our lifestyles there are still a few tricks left to reducing the motor vehicle carbon emissions. Car sharing work journeys, lower c02 emission cars, hybrid cars, cutting out short journeys that can be done on foot, and public transport.

Having now looked at the ways to reduce global warming in regards to your traveling attention can now turn to the management of household waste products like old bottles, newspapers, excess paper, tins, unwanted toys, food and other such items. Many of these items can be recycled or disposed of without being put into a general land fill. All it requires is a few vital minuets to separate and sort it and it’s done.

For instance you can make compost for your garden from food stuff like onion peelings, tea leaves, spoiled vegetables and fruit can be turned into compost. The items like tins, old bottles, papers and newspapers can be taken to recycling centres where they will be eventually taken for recycling.

You can take your old clothes, toys and other goods to charity shops so that someone else will have the chance of using them. This way you can prevent the many garbage dumps from becoming too full. This is another way to reduce the effects of global warming that rarely crosses our minds.

As you can see, while the large industries and companies work to reduce global warming on a large scale, the small scale reduction is down to the individual. For those of us who are looking at the ways to stop global warming our homes, the way we travel and our lifestyles can be looked at with this goal in mind. In the end it is all of our collective efforts to stop global warming which will help us to live a better and cleaner life. You may only be ably to change one element of the above at a time, but can you imaging the impact if everybody done just ONE thing?

Martin G. Apple asked:


All the way back in January 2004 Sir David A. King, the Government’s then chief scientific adviser, described global warming, and the climate change that it drives, as a greater threat to the world than international terrorism. King, who caused quite a stir with his comments, said that industrialized countries had a commitment to place a serious effort into developing sustainable energy production and carbon capture technologies.

Now, over four years on, the momentum that King called for has not materialized anywhere but in the showboating embroidery from our politicians and in the cynical green-washing from our captains of industry. The Kyoto agreement – which was widely seen as a last ditch attempt to press against the greed and stupidity that drive climate change just as much as the skybound pollutants themselves – failed. Bush decided that further research into climate change was needed before carbon taxes could be introduced. Thus, 4% of the world’s population – America – continued to account for over one fifth of the world’s carbon emissions.

A successor to Kyoto is due to be thrashed out in 2009 amidst the lushly upholstered suites and complimentary coffee lined tables of Copenhagen’s most suitable venue: the greenhouse-like Copenhagen Congress Centre. The centre will, in a completely non-symbolic gesture, be powered by its very own wind turbine. So this time, you know they mean business.

The reassurance of a windmill and some serious political hyperbole and media speculation have not been enough to persuade the UN Secretary, General Ban Ki-moon, to let the international community rest upon their…well, success would be too strong a word, but the little bit that they have managed to achieve, until the Copenhagen climate deal.

General Ban Ki-moon, talking to the diplomats gathered to celebrate the anniversary of the UN climate panel, said that the politicians should aim to make some serious headway before then this December in Poznan, Poland.

The Kyoto Protocol, which will expire in 2012, has been largely seen as a complete failure in terms of reducing carbon emissions. 37 countries, all developed, signed the protocol, but there are some rather serious holes in the thing in terms of it getting everyone singing from the same sheet. For one, America and China failed to impose any limits under the agreement. For two, the carbon balance sheets ignore certain, little things. Like shipping and air travel. Whoops.

The fear caused by the knowledge that climate change is already affecting us has resulting in an increased impetus in the battle between action and continued inaction. The one hundred months campaign (www.onehundredmonths.org) for example, reckons that “We have 100 months to save the planet”, because after that we “could be beyond the climate’s ‘tipping point, the point of no return.’

Talking to Reuters, Ban Ki-moon suggested that the Poland meeting should serve as a “very successful bridge” for the later meetings in Copenhagen. It is encouraging that climate change has stopped being seen as a long term issue, and hopefully the immediacy of its effects will bring about a mature, effectual political response to the problem.