New Year's Resolution Time
The words of the winner of our logo competition would make an excellent resolution: "Keep our planet happy."
So why would we want to keep our planet happy?
Anybody listening to the predictions from COP27 in November would know one reason: attempts to keep the average global temperature below 1.5°C above the pre-industrial level have almost certainly failed due to lack of reduction in CO2 and methane levels.
What is not generally appreciated is that even if the average temperature is kept to no more than 1.5°C above preindustrial levels, sea level will still go on rising, for decades or centuries until a new equilibrium is reached, unless temperatures are rapidly reduced back to pre-industrial levels.
Scientists predict that for every 1°C rise, sea level will rise 2.3m (approx. 8 feet). For us this means that places like Boston, Spalding and Portsmouth may have to be abandoned and Cambridge and Peterborough could become seaside towns.
So, what can we do about keeping our planet happy? Many of our logo competition entries gave us some answers; five examples are shown below.
- Reduce our use of the earth's resources to what we need only
- Reuse if we can, otherwise recycle
- Plant more trees- this is best on non-agricultural land
- walk if you can, instead of taking a car
- If you have to drive, try to combine many trips to be as efficient as possible
If everyone makes whatever small changes they can, we can make a difference. Remember it may only be a little change to you but as others see and copy you, it can make a big change.
We do also need the support of government to make it possible for all of us to make better environmental choices. Signing one of the many petitions shared via our Facebook group takes only a few seconds and signals to our politicians that these issues are important to us. If you have more time, you can write to our MP.
Other ideas from the Knebworth school children include:
- recycle plastic
- make our houses more eco-friendly by making them better insulated and fitting solar panels, etc
- grow our own food if you have space: growing your own fruit and veg is a good way of improving your five a day
- be better at taking care of the planet by polluting less, safeguarding biodiversity, and not wasting food, to name just a few examples food
- Keep the planet clean
- be friendly to other creatures, like bees- we need them for our food
To learn more from the recent biodiversity conference you may like to search for "Kew Gardens COP15 outcomes" (preferably using a green search engine such as Ecosia).
Visit our website (https://e-voice.org.uk/knebworthenvironmentalgroup/) and join our Facebook group (https://www.facebook.com/groups/knebworthenvironmentalgroup). We would love to hear from anyone who has further ideas for action or who would like to get involved. Please get in touch with us via our Facebook group or email Kristin at knebworthenvironmentalgroup@gmail.com.
Our next meeting is at the Station Pub on 5th January at 8pm - you can email in advance or just turn up.