Blogprompt Number Five

Christmas is coming!

Is Christmas sustainable? How would it work in a changed world?


Christmas is not sustainable on an individual level in its current form. People spend money that they are don't actually have in order to satisfy consumer desire. If one considers the impact of Christmas on an economic and environment scale, then Christmas in its current form is not sustainable.


Christmas would be totally unrecognisable in a changed world from what it is today. The reason for this is that resources will become more expensive therefore, this may reduce demand and environmental concerns may also change the way consumers consume goods. If goods become unobtainable, because of exorbitant cost, this would reduce the amounts of goods bought for Christmas and this would also improve the environment; as most goods are heavily packaged when being assembled to entice the consumer to buy.


In the long term the consumer will have to face the choice of paying a much higher price for goods or choosing not to buy them because the value for money is poor. If this were to happen, then Christmas may then be looked upon more as a religious and cultural event rather than a consumer led one.

It may mean than people in general might look at the value and morality of consuming goods and this may lead people to be more responsible individuals.


Unfortunately some of the charitable organisations jump on the band wagon to sell Christmas as they have gift for the consumer to purchase. Although some consumers may look at the purchase as a more ethically and morally justifiable purchase. However, many of the goods and cards sold have a relatively high costs to the environment and individuals alike.

Christmas Facts

• Christmas will create 3 million extra tons of
  rubbish, but we’ll recycle just 12% of that.
  
• Over Christmas as much as 83 sq. km of
  wrapping paper will end up in UK bins, enough
  to cover an area larger than Guernsey.
  
• In 2001, 7.5 million Christmas trees were
  bought and only 1.2 million were recycled.
  
• Discarded Christmas trees create enough
  waste to fill the Albert Hall three times.
  
• The equivalent of 200,000 trees are used to
  produce the 1.7 billion cards sent each year in
  Britain.
  (Source www.defra.gov.uk , 2004)

Other useful websites: accessed on 25/12/09

http://www.globaleducationderby.org.uk/christmas.pdf

www.eartheasy.com/give_sustainchristmas.htm

www.stockhouse.com/Bullboards/MessageDetail.aspx

www.cityofsydney.nsw.gov.au/christmas/.../SusChristmas.asp

www.suite101.com/reference/sustainable_christmas

http://9am.ten.com.au/sustainable-christmas-tips.htm

Blogprompt Number Four

To what extent do the best selling UK newspapers cover stories related to serious issues? To what extent would you think that it is their role to do so? In your opinion does the tabloid media and 'low budget entertainment' (reality shows, soaps) have too much power and influence in this country?

Most of the popular daily tabloid newspapers such as the Sun, the Mirror, the Star do not cover the most important stories on a daily basis. These papers seems to be more interested in trivia that is related to celebrity stardom. An example of this is the Tiger Woods story which exploded into the public consciousness and details of the events were written with lurid headlines.

Unfortunately real news is often hard to find in the major tabloid newspapers. Only the Daily Mail and the Express newspapers explore seriously newsworthy stories. For the most part, serious stories are only covered by the quality newspapers including the tabloid Times and broadsheets such as the Telegraph, Guardian and Independent.

When a popular tabloid attempts to tackle serious newsworthy issues they tend to dramatise aspects of the story by giving unbalanced views which are suits their readership. By comparison the respected quality newspapers and broadsheet tend to be more balanced in their editorial as they give opinion and comment from a wider spectrum. The reason for this is that their readership expects and demands more information and background to stories as they are more discerning readers.

In my opinion I think that newspapers have a duty to inform its readership on serious issues because they are responsible for gathering information and reporting it to its readers. It seems in my view that the tabloid newspapers have discharged responsibility from reporting serious news in favour of sensationalist celebrity gossip. One could argue that they have almost abandoned reporting serious news and left it to the quality broadsheet newspapers.

It seems that tabloids and low budget entertainment such as reality shows and soaps have enormous powers of persuasion as they can influence their large audiences with the less important news and gossip. I concede that they have a purpose in entertaining the mass market who would argue that the lighthearted nature and sometimes provides relief from the more serious news issues.

BLOGPROMPT NUMBER 3

To what extent do you think that it is your duty as a citizen to be 'informed'? Are you informed? How do you get to be informed about serious issues? To what extent do you think that you should leave the complicated decisions to others?

It is my duty to be informed, because we need to be aware of what is happening to the environment locally in our country and globally. If we choose to ignore the obvious signs of change, then it may be too late for humans to reverse any changes that have occurred. At the very least we should investigate why changes have occurred in the last three decades.

On the other hand Scientists who believe that climate change is not due to human intervention, claim that the earth has been through many cycles of climatic changes in the past. The evidence for this is recorded in the geology(rocks). Some argue that climate change is partly due to both. However, it is important that we examine all aspects of why our climate is changing and investigate the reasons for it.It is important that all individuals are fully informed and we all have a duty to ensure that we heed the advice and information given so that we can make an informed decision.

I recognise that there is a wealth of information regarding climate change and its suggested causes. There is daily news updates about climate change in the media(T.V., Radio, Internet, Newspapers). An example of how well we are informed is given in the Copenhagen Consensus.

We all have to consider the advice given to us about the effects of climate change. We need to be fully informed on the impact that suggested climate change having on the environment. This advice should be given by leading Scientists, Environmental Pressure Groups e.g. friends of the earth and informed politicians from National Governments and International Organisations such as United Nations. It is difficult for an individual to make a decision that would affect climate change so we need accurate guidance from experts as to how individuals can make a difference.

Organisations can impose restrictions on the use of private transport to get to work or to go to college by not issuing parking permits for individuals who live within a radius of three miles. Many of the decisions that we make in our lives are taken out of our hands because of imposed restrictions. The most complicated decisions will be taken away from individuals and will be made by others. Any decision that an individual may make will end up costing them through carbon emission taxes. It seems that Governments are putting responsibility on to individuals by making them more aware of the energy that we use.

Blog prompt number 2

The film "An inconvenient Truth" is a simple and factual film which was illustrated using PowerPoint presentation by Al- Gore; an American politician who was once the Vice President of USA.It was after his defeat in 2000 election, that he showed his passion and inspiration to help save the planet from irrevocable change.

I found Al-Gore to be very persuasive and a good communicator. He gave a lot of worldwide examples to show how more CO2 level has resulted in temperature rise. He further went on to say"things should not have been taken for granted; this warning was raised by leading Scientists but it was ignored.

With wit, smart and hope, AN INCONVENIENT TRUTH ultimately brings home Gore's persuasive argument that we can no longer afford to view global warming as a political issue- rather, it is the biggest moral challenges facing our global civilization.
Ref: http://www.climatecrisis.net/aboutthefilm

On the other hand, the film portrays an alarmist point of view because there are many Scientists who believe that global warming is not due to human activity alone;by the increase burning of fossil fuel and intensive farming. These sceptical scientist believe that natural processes occurring on the earth, are responsible for increased global warming.

There's no empirical evidence that humans are causing global warming"
Direct observations find that CO2 is rising sharply due to human activity. Satellite measurements find less energy is escaping to space at CO2 absorption wavelengths. Ocean and surface temperature measurements find the planet is steadily accumulating heat. There is direct empirical evidence that human CO2 emissions are causing global warming

http://www.skepticalscience.com/empirical-evidence-for-global-warming.htm

I feel my busy family life is hindering my input in taking part in detailed recycling which has just been introduced in my area. I think recycling is a good idea and I hope others are doing better than me because someone somewhere has got to do it.