Hello and welcome to FutureFootprint, the place on the net for people with an environmental conscience! This is still a bit of a work in progress but the idea is to do a regular blog on current environmental issues and easy ways you can help save the planet in your everyday life. Also do check out our Mythbusting section which takes all those stupid environmental myths and blows them out of the water!
 
I'm always looking for anyone who wants to contribute to this site - people who would like a place to blog about environmental issues, help bust myths or give critical responses to the media's take on eco-news. Just give me a shout!

The past year has seen a great revival in British industry, driven by several factors - the rising cost of shipping, the quality of merchandise produced in many overseas factories and the additional UK workforce available given the rise in unemployment due to the recession. This could be beneficial to the environment for a variety of reasons. Firstly the carbon dioxide produced by the shipping industry is massive and a sizable chunk of that is produced by the big routes from Asia to Western Europe. Secondly the UK has committed to much tighter emission targets than China and other big Asian manufacturing countries meaning that the manufacturing process itself should be more environmentally friendly. Add to that the UK's vastly improving waste management and recycling services and this could really be a big win.
We just have to hope that more and more UK companies get behind this move to bring production home. While its always been the better environmental choice, better for the UK economy and provided many good people with employment, now it's becoming the better financial choice.

At this time of year, as temperatures cool and the snow begins to fall, out come the sceptics who claim that since it's cold, climate change must not be happening. Really? I'm not going to get into the physics of why we have seasons but what I will say is that unless temperatures rise by a couple of dozen degrees, there will always be places on Earth that experience snow in Winter.
Climate statistics are based on the average temperatures across whole years, which clearly show a steady rise in global temperature. Accurate statistics abound but here is a very clear graph of England's temperature trends since the 19th century.
Then there is the issue of unexpectedly cold weather, such as we have been experiencing in the UK this winter. This can be explained very simply by viewing a map and knowing a little about how the gulf stream works. If you look at a map you will see that we are on a similar latitude to Canada, Russia and other places we all know get seriously cold in the Winter. The reason that we avoid the extreme weather is the Gulf Stream which is a warm ocean current that brings us heat from the tropics. The Gulf Stream is the major factor in our climate, but unfortunately it is also rather sensitive, particularly to the salination level (saltiness) of the sea. The ice caps are primarily composed of fresh water so as they melt they 'dilute' the sea, lowering the salination level and impeding the flow of the Gulf Stream and preventing it from warming us up as effectively.
 
For more info on the Gulf Stream see the BBC Weather Centre.

This week in London's Trafalgar Square there will be massive exhibit of tree stumps legally logged in Ghana's rainforests. These rainforests have shrunk by 90% in 50 years and are in great danger of disappearing completely, along with all the animals that need the habitat to survive. Please lend your support in whatever way you can.
http://www.ghostforest.org/

The guys at Land Art Generator have done their sums and come up with this poster which shows the surface area of land required to provide all of the Earth's energy requirements. They've even been practical enough to show how the solar arrays could be placed in key uninhabited desert areas to maximise their output whilst causing the minimum of disruption. Prepare to be amazed.
They say that enough solar energy hits the Earth in one minute to meet all of our energy needs for a year and that there is enough wind energy around the coast of the UK to meet all of our domestic needs. Why are we not not working harder to harness all of this clean, free energy?

OK so I have a driving licence and ride a scooter to work most of the time (at up to 120 mpg it's a massively smaller footprint than a car and more fun into the bargain) but in fine weather I love riding my pedal bike. It's healthy, it's environmentally friendly, it's cheaper and I always feel better after 'blowing the cobwebs out' for half an hour.
However I seem to be one of the dwindling minority of cyclists who always wears a helmet, signals when I'm turning, keeps off the pavement, doesn't wear headphones, doesn't talk on the phone and knows that traffic lights apply to me too. I'm a responsible rider as are many good people who are just trying to improve their health and help the environment. Which is why get more than a little p***ed off when I see appalling cyclists sailing through red lights, racing down busy pavements and generally acting with complete disregard to everyone else on the road and off it. These riders are exactly the reason why motorists have such a dim view of cyclists as a whole - something which I can't really blame the motorists for, yet I still ask them to remember that some of us remain sensible road users.
Now I'm not an advocate of a mandatory cycling test as I think it would be both ineffectual and pretty much unenforceable. Equally I don't see the benefit of a minimum cycling age limit as I see at least as many adults as children failing to grasp even the basics of the highway code. I just want these people to understand that we will all be safer and happier if we share the roads responsibly. Also if more cyclists use the roads responsibly and there are less accidents as a result it will encourage more people to jump on their bikes, leave the car at home and give the climate a break.

Ok, ok, I know many people will see this as tactless and missing the big picture when people are losing their jobs and belts are tightening by more than a couple of notches all over the world. My purpose is not to make light of that in any way, simply to show an environmental 'silver lining' and underline how any environmental benefits to the credit crunch may continue after the financial world stabilises itself.
 
Fuel
The costs of electricity and gas have leapt up in recent years which has actually also done its part in helping the environment as it has given us the incentive to be less wasteful. Many of us have started turning off our central heating when we are out and down by a degree or two when we are in, using energy saving light bulbs, washing our clothes at 30 degrees rather than 40, getting loft insulation, double glazing and maybe even a new, much more efficient boiler. Well the crunch is only serving to improve this further - household bills are always the first thing people focus on trying to cut down when times are tight and most of these savings can be done without changing your lifestyle one bit. Admittedly double glazing and a new boiler are not cheap (although they can save you literally hundreds of pounds a year on bills) but the other changes cost little or nothing and you will see the saving as soon as your next bill comes in.
 
Transport
After its astronomical peak last year the cost of fuel has come down at a similar speed in recent months, however more and more people are still wondering if it's economically viable to keep their cars. With the average service these days being £500 - £1000 and insurance something similar, public transport and pedal bikes are becoming more and more appealing to many. Also let's not forget the money tied up in the value of your car - flogging your car when times get tough and investing in a bike can keep your finances afloat, drop your carbon footprint and improve your health in a single blow.
 
Holidays
Let's face it, one of the first excesses that is likely to go for many people during the crunch is the fancy foreign holiday. But this should be seen as an opportunity both to explore what the UK has to offer for your annual leave and to cut out the carbon emissions attached to your international flights. Try the Tranquility devon and Cornwall, the mountains of Snowdonia, the beauty of the Scottish Borders or the rugged widerness of the Scottish Highlands. Also remember the thousands of miles of coastline we have and the right to roam act which has opened up massive amounts of it that were previously off limits.

OK I know you get this sort of energy saving rundown in a lot of places but it's so simple to save energy in the home that I thought it was worth giving some top tips to save you money and give the environment a helping hand.
 
Use energy saving lightbulbs - These use on average about a fifth of the energy of a normal lightbulb, which (the mathematicians among you will already have figured this out) will save you four fifths on your lighting bill.
 
Insulate your home - Most heat is lost from a home though the roof (remember hearing in high school science lessons that hot air rises?) so loft insulation can save you a packet on heating bills. Whatever it costs to get the insulation in you'll usually get back through saving on heating within a couple of years. Double glazing is also fantastic at keeping the heat in.
 
Get your boiler serviced - A gas boiler has a lot in common with a car engine. If it's not serviced regularly its efficiency will drop and, along with releasing excess soot and/or unburnt gas into the atmosphere you'll find it starts pushing your energy bills up.
 
Get a bike - Ride to work, get some exercise, leave the car at home a few times a week. Although Britain definitely 'Could do better' we have a tremendous amount of cycle lanes, off-road cycle paths and handy shortcuts that are great for dodging the rush hour traffic under pedal power. Believe me, your body will thank you for it too - you'll find yourself more alert, with more energy and of course more justification for that cream cake at lunch time...
 
Only boil the water you need - How many people do you know who insist on boiling a full kettle every time they want to make a single brew. They stand by the kettle for 15 minutes four times a day waiting for it to boil and then wonder where the day went. Boil enough for a single cup and it'll take two minutes and maybe you won't end up working late every Friday.
 
Turn your washing machine down to 30 degrees - All these new fancy biological, stain-removing, fabric-softening, crime-fighting laundry detergents will usually get you clothes just as clean at 30 degrees as they will at 40 or above. And while I'm on the subject there are some fantastic eco-friendly detergents out there that are a whole lot kinder to the environment when they wash down your drain - why don't you give them a try?
 
Recycle - The world isn't disposable and we need to stop treating it like it is. Rather than letting all you waste end up in a landfill, take your bottles, cans, plastics and paper with you when you head out to the shops and stop by the nearest recycling point. Pretty much every supermarket in the country has good recycling facilities so it's really very little inconvenience at all.
 
Turn the heating down a degree or two - You won't notice the difference in temperature but you really will notice the difference in your heating bills. Why not put on a jumper rather than heating your house to the temperature of Sub-Saharan Africa so that you can spend the day in your pants?
 
Turn off the lights when you leave a room - This one's a no-brainer. Ditto televisions, radios, computers, heaters...
 
Buy local - The fuel involved in shipping your peas from Peru and your carrots from Kuala Lumpur on a daily basis is quite frankly ridiculous. The UK has great farmers producing some of the worlds best produce and we should be appreciating them more. Yeah OK they're not going to be able to give you strawberries in the middle of winter but sticking local can give you back an appreciation of seasonal foods and as such a more varied and interesting diet. Also the UK has much stricter laws on pesticides than many nations we import from so do think about what nature of chemicals your delicious tropical fruit may have been soaked in,