Ask anyone how they feel about the environment and they will like tell you that they’re concerned and that they’re doing their ‘bit’ to try and bring down their carbon footprint and reduce the burden that they’re placing on the planet. That’s easy to say of course, but on its own it doesn’t actually mean all that much. Sure, plenty of people claim to care about the environment, but it’s one thing to say you care and quite another to make the serious kinds of lifestyle changes that are required if you’re going to bring about positive change. So the question is, how many people really care about the environment and how many people just say they do? To cut through the bull, let’s take a look at some of the actual statistics surrounding going green to see whether people can back up what they say and to find out how many people really care about the environment. Recycling One of the easiest ways that we can do our bit for the environment is to recycle. It doesn’t take long, […]

By all accounts the weather is getting weirder and weirder – not just warmer. The question is, what’s causing this and should we be worried?                 Everyone by now has heard of global warming and if you’ve managed to miss all of the news and speculation as to the fate of our planet’s climate then you must have been living under a rock for the last decade. Even though not everyone agrees with all the claims made in relation to global warming, everyone must surely have an idea as to what it means and what the fear is. While everyone is aware of global warming though, many of us will presume that it doesn’t really affect us. We’ve all heard similar scare stories before, but how often do they turn out to have any noticeable impact on the world? People seemed pretty scared about bird flu and swine flu not so long ago and nothing really came of that, right? So why should global warming be any different? Well actually, the difference between swine flu and global warming is that […]

When you read about global warming, one of the issues raised most often is that of the ice caps melting. This is a very dramatic example of the effects of global warming that really rams home just what a big impact our CO2 emissions have, but most people still think of it as an on-going process that doesn’t pose any immediate threat. After all, the ice caps are pretty huge right? How much damage can the sun possibly do? Well actually if you look at the figures, the answer is a lot. The ice caps are not just melting a bit, they are actually disappearing and at an ever increasing rate. In 1980 the ice caps made up an impressive 2% of the planet’s surface, but today they make up roughly 1%. In twenty years then the size of the ice caps has halved and as they are disappearing more quickly all the time there’s a very real chance that they could have completely disappeared in the next 20. The Met Office suggest that there may be an ice-free arctic […]

Going green is something that everyone needs to make an effort toward but that really has the biggest impact when it’s on a national scale. While you and I might both have our personal carbon footprints, countries like the US, China and Great Britain have footprints that are millions of times bigger and that really have a direct impact on the environment. While we all must do our bit then, it’s wider attitudes, lifestyles and policies that will really shape the future of our planet. When it comes to national ecoconsciousness though, not every country is made equally. Some countries are definitely more environmentally friendly than others and while populations of course have some bearing (the countries with larger populations – such as China – will of course have bigger footprints), it’s still clear that some countries make more of an ‘effort’ than others when it comes to protecting the environment and minimising emissions. Here we will look at which countries care most and which countries we should try to emulate.   The Most Eco-Friendly Countries in the World Iceland […]

Unless you’ve been living under a rock, then you will probably be aware of global warming and the impact it’s having on our planet. Heck, even if you have been living under a rock, you might have noticed it getting a little warmer under there. Our ozone layer is evaporating, the atmosphere’s CO2 content is increasing, sea levels are rising and the ice caps are melting. All of this is resulting in an escalating and exponentially increasing ‘heating’ of the entire planet that is putting us all in danger and which threatens to leave many of species of Earth extinct. So with all this going on, you’d expect temperatures around the world to be at an all time high right? Read on to get the scoop on what’s really going on with our weather… It’s Not That Simple First, it’s important to recognize that it’s not really quite that simple. While climate change is often referred to as ‘global warming’, this warming is not in fact… global. For instance, if you were to visit the UK you’d find that the […]