Are you doing your bit to make sure your children & grandchildren will have a safe future on our planet? We are headed towards a worldwide global energy crisis. If you don't think this affects you, then read the links below.
The second link has things that we can all do to help.
Greenpeace - Making Waves: Ice shelf size of Manhattan: gone. Polar Bears next=

What You Can Do | Climate Change | U.S. EPA
Energy Saving Trust - energy efficiency & conservation - EST.org.uk
We only use low wattage energy saving bulbs in our house, they are much cheaper now than they used to be, and will last you longer and save you money. In the last 18 months, since we have tried to be more energy efficient our electricity direct debit has been reduced by about £8-9 per month. Thing like not leaving your TV, dvd and freeview box on standby, switch them off at the socket every night also help. Standby power used 8% of all residential electricity in 2004.

Just wondering what you were doing to make a small but needed difference?

I would be unable to reduce my bill as I only use what I need.

I have never used standby and I turn lights off in rooms that aren't being used.

I have 2 sizes of oven and often use the smallest one. My hob is gas which I prefer.

I don't use energy efficient bulbs (except outside) as I don't like the light they give but as I only have a low level of lighting anyway it doesn't worry me that much.

I do use a hair drier every day but planet or no planet I can't go around frightening people.

Lmao Adele, I'll let you off that one. I think even my hair needs help at times, but it's good to see you're doing your bit.

Homebase had a sale on the Energy Saving Bulbs recently, so we bought up the store and have changed them all over - have loads spare too now!

Another tip is to only boil as much water in the kettle as you need, and don't keep re-boiling it until you need it. Apparently it takes as much electricity to boil a kettle once as it does to have a lightbulb lit all evening - or something like that.

We never leave tv's videos etc on stand by overnight, I always used to but with Sean being a fireman I'd getted nagged about the safety aspect as well as the electricity it was using.

Here in Dublin we have recycle bins that are emptied each month, you throw in cans, paper etc - it's amazing how much goes in it in a month. We also buy bio-degradeable rubbish bags which I think the governments should make compulsory!

We also have a compost bin, just a small one but that has saved on space in the normal wheelie bin too.

When we move to the country in a few years time we'll have more space to live a more sustainable/green life, I wish we were able to do so now but it just isn't possible, so we do what we can. I saw those poor Polar Bears the other day on the news, clinging to tiny bits of ice, they'll probably end up dying/drowning because they can't swim for great distances.........it made me cry.

Jackie

It's so sad isn't it. Did you know the chunk of ice that broke away from the Arctic recently was the size of Manhattan.
I'm probably gonna get blasted for this one (I'm not Scrooge honest!), but I think a big difference could be made if people didn't cover their houses in lights every Christmas. Every person who tries CAN make a difference.
It does look really pretty I know, but I'd rather my kids missed out on some lights every year and had a healthier planet to live on in the future.

Reading this weeks New Scientist there is a report about the Climate change. It says that it is going to be far more disastrous than we first thought. The ice caps are melting faster and what the scientists believe is that they will fracture letting more water into contact with the ice and warming the sea. The fractures will cause more problems than the actual warming up than the sea as everytime a fracture occurs it penetrates the ice within seconds and it warms the full depth!

It is anticipated that there will be 30% less rain in the rain forests with the majority of rain falling high up in the mountains. Something else that should be considered is that the carbon emissions are also found in the oceans (80% of man made carbon emissions, the earth/soil etc - I could go on but you get the idea).

Two last things, some scientists believe that they can produce a cloud of giant moon dust which could be positioned in space to block the sun! Whether this will ever happen I don't know - but it is something they are definitely looking at!

Also we have to remember that all this has happened twice before - the ice caps melting (not that I am condoning excessive production of green house gases - and I try and do my best to recycle, compost, walk etc - but it is an interesting thought??????)

So I agree with everyone WE should think about the future and try and reduce the greenhouse effect - but it is also good to know what is really going on!

I don't really think that we are going to be able to make any difference at all with the efforts we can do.It would need to be a huge international effort.
The US would need to start taking things really seriously as they are the biggest contributors of co2 and also China and India would have to put a halt on their development.

I agree Gillian, it does make you wonder why you bother when places like America and China don't. but we have a conscience so we try to do the best we can.

I have often thought about the amount of electricity used by houses that have so many lights on at Christmas, but I must admit I was thinking more along the lines of "Christ I wouldn't want their electricity bill"

i use energy saving bulbs, switch off electrical stuff when not in use and i recycle as much as possible

it was my daughter that got me to be more aware of the saving the planet, she came home from school one day and gave me a big lecture about the ozone layer

it was the wake up call i needed

We do try as much as we can to conserve energy in our house, we also changed our car at the end of last year to a hybred and also buy energy saving lightbulbs, we also re -cycle as much as we can and do all the other little things to try and help.

Where we live they are doing everything to get people to change the way we treat the enviorment, the government even brought in a scheme that if you buy an electric car or energy saving car you will recieve 3000€ cashback and this past week the whole city had a fifteen minute blackout .

Every little thing helps, maybe we can't stop it as we may have gone too far but maybe we can start to slow it down and I do think schools should start really teaching kids about properly saving the planet in their everyday lives and stop silly ideas about Britishness lessons, this is not the most important thing to teach in schools the British empire has lasted so long and will continue to but won't if there is no planet, we as English will never loose our herritage we just need to try and save it.

Did I go on too much there, lol.

Richard Branson and Al Gore have just offered to make a huge contribution to saving the planet ... check this out.

Branson offers prize to save planet - AOL News

But that's the thing, it wouldn't.
If everyone who thought like you actually made some changes, it would make a small but needed difference.
"Every drop of water raises the ocean!"
I'm not having a go, but each and every one of us CAN make a difference. Yes it needs each country to make it's own effort, but us as individuals can decide to make a change. Go on, go get some energy saving lightbulbs for a start. Your leccy bill will go down as a side effect of thinking green.

That's great, hope some scientist can come up with something soon. In the meantime, we all need to cut our individual emissions.

Don't have a go at me i actually do quite a bit.My point is that what we do will be balanced out by the increase being made by other countries so it will still happen. Good to see Richard Branson stepping up to the plate of course air travel is one of the worst offenders. Id also be interested to know what cars he drives.We can all talk the talk.... etc etc.

I quite clearly stated I wasn't having a go! I was merely trying to encourage your enthusiasm for a very important issue. There's no need to be quite so negative. Every individual CAN make a difference IF they want to. I'm glad you're doing your bit.
As for air travel, my father in law was lecturing at an international conference a few days ago on ways to reduce emissions from the aerospace industry. He came back feeling more positive than he ever has before. All the major nations were in agreement with his main findings and will be taking stock. The new Airbus (double decker plane!) should be good, modern, lower emissions than older planes & more customers on trans-atlantic flights than ever before. I believe Virgin have a few on order.