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!

So we're now on day one of the British Airways cabin crew strike which, along with causing many flight cancellations around the world, has grounded 80 aircraft at Heathrow Airport. This got me thinking about how much fuel (and therefore carbon dioxide) is being saved just by these aircraft not flying for three days.
 
A Boeing 747 uses around 5 gallons of fuel per mile according to Boeing's website. Now of course these grounded planes won't all be 747s so lets say on average (fairly conservatively) their usage could be around 2 gallons per mile.
If each plane were to make one flight per day of an average of 1000 miles (a conservative average since many will make at least one return trip on one day and transatlantic is 3000 miles in one go) then the fuel saved by these aircraft being grounded is:
 
Number of aircraft x average fuel usage per mile x average flight distance x number of flights per day x number of days
80 x 2 x 1000 x 1 x 3 = 480,000 gallons of fuel saved
 
So with some conservative numbers, this strike is saving half a million gallons of fuel. Good grief that's a lot. Also these numbers only relate to the 80 aircraft grounded at Heathrow, there are many many more grounded at other airports around the world. Indeed we could probably multiply this saving by three or four to produce the worldwide saving.
 
Suddenly I'm in favour of this strike!

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.

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, 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.