We Can Make A Difference - Blog Action Day

Today is BlogActionDay. In this 24 hour period, more than 15,000 blogs will write about one topic - the environment. This is my post in a bid to spread the word and raise publicity for the most important asset we have.

Take a walk around the small village where I live, and you’ll be able to see the beauty and intricacy of the earth on which we reside. From the tall pine trees to the mesmerizing lake, complete with it’s own mini-waterfall, ideal for a mid-afternoon stroll.

It is here where I realise how lucky I am to be living in such a serene area of the UK, away from the hustle and bustle of the City, and far from the noise, visual and particule pollution that is all too common these days in major settlements.

But all is not perfect in this idyllic setting

Looking in through the large, manor windows, and peering into the gated driveways, you begin to see how much these people take their livestyles for granted. There are 3 expensive cars parked on the tarmac, the latest petrol-guzzling BMW alongside the 4×4 and the speedy Mercedes SLK. The lights are on full blast inside the property, the sprinkler has been left unattended, watering an already waterlogged lawn.

Indeed, the same can be seen pretty much across the whole of the UK, even if it is on a smaller scale. We leave the lights on, we drive our cars even when walking is both a cheaper and healthier option, and we import food from thousands of miles away, when our own homegrown produce is just as good.

Don’t look at me like that, I’m just a blogger

You may think that as a work-from-home blogger, or even someone who just writes articles in his spare time from work or as a leisure activity, that you don’t or can’t have a big effect on the environment.

You’re wrong.

You still use electricity to turn on your computer or laptop, to power your printer, to enable your Wireless Router, to keep your fridge cool for those mid-morning treats. All this electricity usage means that more coal and gas is burnt in order to drive the turbines, which in turn produces more carbon dioxide, which in turns helps contribute to the Greenhouse Effect, raising temperatures in our homely sphere.

It doesn’t take panda-killing John Chow to work out that the emissions we’re pumping out are having negative consequences (although some scientists still wish to follow other theories).

The point is, we’re all responsible, and we all need to change our habits in order to contribute to a greater good, and to better the environment in which we live.

Should we stop using Oil and Gas altogether?

This is the classic Economics argument. Whilst it is true that cars do help to contribute towards the emissions of harmful greenhouse gases, they do add a significant amount of marginal benefit that helps us to add more value to our lives. For example, if you drive to work, then the activities you perform at work will (in most cases) be productive and to the benefit of the whole economy.

The opposing argument is, is that such economics don’t take the negative externalities (or damage to the environment) into account. As a result, we should not be thinking of cutting consumption of petrol for cars, but rather, how can we decrease the emissions resulting in the use of our cars for important matters? Obvious answers include lift sharing or working from home for a few days of the week.

How Else Can We Help?

So many bloggers have aired their views on what we can do to help contribute to a cleaner and safer environment for our offspring and the generations after that, so I’ll just go through a few things you interpreneurs can practice:

• Turn off the lights when you leave a room.
• Don’t print for the sake of it.
• Shut down the computer at night.
• Recycle your computer.
• Get an LCD screen which uses a lot less electricity.
• Offset the carbon emissions from blogging by planting some trees.
• Buy used items instead of new.

To conclude, we are all responsible for what is happening today in the world. For the melting icecaps, for the destructive flooding in Bangladesh, to the life-threatening droughts in Africa. Even by adopting one of these measures, you will undoubtedly be helping contribute to a better way of life for another person out there in the big, wide world.

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