Environmental | News & Views

Recycling is UK’s favourite activity!

70 per cent of households always separate their rubbish for recycling, but only 2 per cent buy their energy on a green tariff, according to the early findings of a major new annual household Survey, called Understanding Society, funded by the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC).

Preliminary results from 1500 respondents show that those who own their own home are more likely to separate their rubbish (83 per cent) than those in rented accommodation (59 per cent), whilst less than one in a hundred households have solar water heating (0.5 per cent) or solar energy panels (0.5 per cent). Initial findings also show that switching off the lights in unused rooms (82 per cent) and not leaving the television on standby (67 per cent) are significantly more popular than taking fewer flights (16 per cent), car sharing (15 per cent) and not buying items because they have too much packaging (8 per cent).

Green behaviours costing the least money and effort are currently the most popular with the British public, despite the fact that 59 per cent of people think that if things continue on their current course we will soon experience a major environmental disaster.

A fuller picture of environmental and other behaviours and attitudes based on the first annual survey of 100,000 individuals from 40,000 households for Understanding Society will be published at a later date.

With Copenhagen Climate Change Conference just a couple of weeks away, the environment is likely to remain a hot topic amongst the British public, says Professor Nick Buck of the Institute for Social and Economic Research (ISER) at the University of Essex, which is leading the new research: “One of the unique features of Understanding Society is that we speak to the same people each year, which means we can see how people’s behaviours and attitudes change over time. The information we collect about how ‘green’ people are will play a key role in informing the ongoing debate about environmental issues.”

The UK’s favourite green behaviours…

Switching off lights in unused room – 82%
Not leaving TV on standby - 67%
Take own bag when shopping – 55%
Don’t keep tap on when brushing teeth – 55%
Putting more clothes on when cold – 45%
Walk or cycle on short journeys – 40%
Use public transport rather than car – 29%
Buying recycled paper products – 28%
Taking fewer flights where possible – 16%
Car sharing – 15%
Not buying items due to too much packaging – 8%

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:
ESRC Press Office:
Zoë Stevens (Tel: 01793 413218, Email: zoe.stevens@esrc.ac.uk)

Organise a Perfect Green Christmas

Organise the perfect green Christmas this year and save money with top 10 tip guide; reduce your carbon footprint and have a more eco friendly and sustainable holiday season.

1. Serve local, healthy and seasonal December foods at your events and xmas parties. Choose vegetables that are in season and do not have to be flown in from abroad. Broccoli, cabbage and onions can all be grown without the aid of harsh chemicals so you can spend your organic pounds elsewhere.

2. Decorating your house can be one of the most enjoyable parts of Xmas. Go for ethically made and traded decorations. Natural Collection, Big Green Smile, Nigel’s Eco Store and Vita Etica all have a great range. Kids really enjoy making their own green decorations out of old scraps of material and leftovers. Try popcorn garlands – which are really fun and cheap to make and scour a woodland floor for fallen pinecones and twigs that are great for decorations!

3. E-mail party invites and Christmas cards rather than post them. There are loads of free Xmas themed party invite e-cards around or alternatively make your own out of scrap and recycled products. If you really want to send cards, choose charity ones or check out these really funky recycled ones. After the big day, make sure your Christmas cards don’t go to waste – take them to a Woodland Trust recycling point.

4. Christmas heating and lighting bills can be huge! Save cash and protect the environment by using energy saving devices such as standby busters and radiator boosters. Don’t forget to turn off the tree lights or better still try these solar powered ones.

5. Use recycled paper, gift bags or even colorful cloth to wrap the Christmas presents and instead of tape, use colorful ribbon to tie up the gifts.

6. Make a green statement this xmas! Send a message to the manufacturers of consumer goods by shopping for & buying only natural, non toxic, eco friendly, organic presents this year. Shop through www.moreeco.com for the largest selection of green retailers on one site and earn cashback and offset carbon at the same time.

7. Which makes a better tree? Artificial or a real one? Simply real ones are as they are great for the environment and can be replanted after use. If replanting isn’t an option, most local councils run Christmas tree recycling schemes. Contact yours or go to http://www.letsrecycle.com. If you need to use an artificial one avoid those made in China or Tawian which have transport costs associated with them. They also can be made with nasty chemicals, metals and plastics which can emit into our homes. Adorn with fair trade and ethical traded decorations or again make your own.

8. How do we give children what they desire but without poisoning our planet? Take electronic toys for instance. There are 900 million batteries used each year in the UK alone and many are in toys. But only 2% of batteries are currently recycled – the rest end up in landfill sites and are poisoning our planet! So what do you do? Choose an eco toy. Green and eco-friendly toys shouldn’t cost the earth so choose from a great selection here that don’t require batteries. Alternatively go for rechargeable batteries which will save you pounds throughout the year.

9. Recycle your unwanted presents. Unfortunately everyone receives at least one unwanted gift at Christmas. Many recycle their unwanted presents to charities. Local hospitals and hospices are often very pleased to receive unwanted smellies to give to patients. Or you could try Nigels Eco Store’s regifting forum or www.freecycle.org and swap them for other people’s unwanted gifts.

10. Don’t go overboard especially in the current climate and remember – reduce, reuse and recycle.

Finally if you are stuck for eco gifts for him, her or your kids, then check out EcoTrendSpotter’s Eco Christmas Shopping Guide.

The Road to Copenhagen: Less than 40 days to go

Major global meetings have been taking place over the last month, in and outside the formal UN climate change process. But with less than 40 days to go now, the COP15 conference in Copenhagen this December is starting to come into view.

Last month’s climate change summit in New York showed some gain in political momentum, though a further preparatory UN meeting in Bangkok highlight the remaining presence of a gap between developed and developing countries, seemingly based above all on a mutual lack of trust. The main differences in thought are:

Should a new legal instrument be introduced to replace Kyoto and be the foundation for a binding and comprehensive international agreement on climate?
This is what the EU would like, primarily to bring the US into the new arrangements, but the proposal met with some resistance at Bangkok. The rest of the developing world is suspicious of developed countries aiming to dodge ambitious new post-2012 targets. The approach was further undermined by the US freely acknowledging that they will be in no position to commit to any binding agreement.
Unfortunately there has been little progress on agreeing mid-term targets for developed countries and commitments from developing countries. Norway brightened the political landscape by pledging an impressive 40% cut in 2020 compared with 1990 levels, but in general the impasse remains
Financing discussions for climate mitigation and adaptation, essentially the wealth transfer from the developed to the developing world to finance climate actions, are still focussed on the institutions necessary to administer funds rather than concrete pledges themselves.

What can we hope to see from Copenhagen?

We have reason for remaining optimistic: a “successful” Copenhagen declaration can still be made if the outcome were roughly as follows:

A strong political declaration is made to agree a way forward on how to address the post-2012 Kyoto period, which must include targets and actions
A process is agreed on management of climate adaptation funds
An agreement is made to continue existing and new financial market mechanisms post-2012
A process is discussed that sees common international standards for measuring, reporting and verifying emission reductions
An agreement is made to tackle deforestation through a global international mechanism

There is still time for significant and necessary breakthroughs to be made at a political level. It will require strong leadership and continued pressure from people across the world.