What Can We Do?

Look for the recycle mark on things that you buy – it means they’ve been made using recycled parts. It takes loads less energy to make recycled products than to make new ones.

Don’t just be an eco-warrior on your own. The more people make small changes to their lives, the more impact it will have. Talk to your friends, teachers and parents about doing things to save the planet.

Save it! Re-use it! Write on the back of paper you’ve used. Don’t print stuff out unless you REALLY have to. Even recycling paper takes energy which comes from… that’s right: fossil fuels. The less paper we use, the more natural forests there will be, and the more CO2 (greenhouse gas) will get gobbled up by the trees.

See if you can get your parents to buy more food that’s grown in your own country. The stuff from abroad usually comes in on planes or ships – both of which use a lot of fossil fuels to get to your local supermarket.

Feeling chilly? Don’t turn up the heat – put on some more clothes. Slippers, woolly socks, fleeces, jumpers will all help prevent global warming. Simple, huh? The more you use your central heating, the more fossil fuels or natural get burned, and guess what? Those greenhouse gases get out again!

Try to get places without using the car (or at least ask your parents to). Cars burn petrol, which releases CO2. Yep – more greenhouse gases. If you must use transport, boats, trains and buses are better for the environment than cars and planes.

Recycling waste means less waste goes into landfill sites. Rubbish dumps, with their rotting waste, create methane – a greenhouse gas. Plus, if you recycle, less stuff has to be made, so fewer natural resources will get used up.

It only takes a second to switch off your TV / computer / lights / stereo. If everyone does it, we will use up less energy. Less energy means less fossil fuel is burned and fewer greenhouse gases escape into the atmosphere.