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WHAT IS THE GREENHOUSE EFFECT ?

This term describes how natural gases in the earths atmosphere are collecting in the upper atmosphere and reducing the amount of heat that can escape from the earth.   These gases are: 

-Water vapour
-Carbon Dioxide (CO2)
-Methane (CH4)
-Nitrous Oxides (N2O) and
-Halocarbons.

In the last 100 years, the climate has warmed up by 0.74 degrees (0.4 degrees of this is since the 1970s).  This is due to human activities such as burning fossil fuels, removing and burning vegetation (deforestation), farming methods, waste breakdown and industry. It is leading to global climate change.  

Since the industrial revolution there has been an increase in atmospheric CO2 levels of approximately 35%.  

HOW CAN WE MEASURE THE DAMAGE WE DO?

You will have heard I'm sure, of the term Carbon Footprint, which is a measure of the impact that human activities have on the environment in terms of the amount of green house gases produced (measured in units of carbon dioxide).  There are two types of footprint:

Primary Footprint: these include our direct emissions of CO2 from the burning of fossil fuels including domestic energy consumption and transportation (plane and car)

Secondary Footprint: this is the indirect CO2 produced from the whole lifecycle of products that we use, those associated with their manufacture, and their eventual breakdown (i.e. where and how they were made, transported, packaged and sold, and what we do with them when we have finished using them.)

WHAT CAN WE DO ABOUT IT?

There is a lot we can do and if we all do our bit, then there will be a significant positive effect.  There are scores of websites available (see the environmental section of our Links page) with information to help you find out more, but here are a few of the main points:

• switching your energy supply to a green supplier
• insulating your property effectively
• being economical with your energy - switching off lights, appliances etc
• using green products (energy saving lightbulbs, detergents etc)
• reducing packaging
• buying local food and wine
• buying organic products
• recycling plastics, paper/card, glass and aluminium
• composting your own waste
• collecting rainwater for use in the garden
• choosing a greener way to travel