What do you think? Is Christmas sustainable? How would it all work in a changed world?

In my opinion Christmas is not sustainable as everything is done over the top. There are more lights more food more of everything, so therefore there is more waste.

This will probably never change as it is a time of celebration, when families who haven't seen each other for some time get the chance to see each other and come together to celebrate a religious tradition.

If it was all different and Christmas wasn't a time of celebration I think it would be really boring, as there would be nothing to look forward to. But I do think it needs to become more sustainable.For example People can use plastic trees instead of buying a new tree every year, and they can also cook less food as well as recycling the things which they use.

Here is a website to help you learn more about Christmas

http://www.soon.org.uk/christmas.htmwww.soon.org.uk/christmas.htm

To what extent do the best selling UK newspapers cover stories related to series 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 entrainment (reality shows, soaps) have too much power and influence in this country?

In the UK the best selling news paper is the sun. This newspaper doesn't cover serious issues very well, its purpose its to entertain and keep the public informed on celebrity gossip, like who is dating who, and who is rumoured to be breaking up. Even if they do print a series issues its not written in depths so you don't get the full picture on what happened. The target audience for the sun is 9 years old, so this is properly why they don't cover complex issues which are going on in the world.

Popular news papers such the Sun, and Star should make more of an effort to inform people of issues such as climate change as they have power to influence people. I understand they want to keep their topics interesting for their target audience, but they can present series issues in a way which will make the reader take notice. This is very important as series issues such as climate change affect all of us, and the more we are informed the better we will be prepared for changes.

http://www.thesun.co.uk/

I do believe the tabloid media, and low budget soaps have allot of power over people in this country. People are addicted to watching their favourite soaps like Easterners and Conaration Street, when they miss it you find them asking questions like what happened in Eastenders last night?. I think a change needs to take place to make people more aware of serious issues, maybe new program's need to be invented which are more to do with whats going in the world. But they need to be able to hold the interest of the viewers.

The Great Global Warming Swindle

Watching the film has made me think about global warming in a different way. If I wouldn't have watched this film I wouldn't even question the fact that maybe its not happening.

The film contained allot of information about climate change, but I'm not quite sure if it was all true. It stated, the earths temperature rises and falls all the time. This has taken place in the medieval times, and in the ice age, but the world survived through this. So why wouldn't it be able to do this again.
Industrial growth was said to be a good thing in the film. After the second World War there was an economic boom, which means there were allot of cars, planes fridges etc invented. According to them global warming didn't increase during this time. They were trying to make the point that global warming is not caused by industrial progress, and campaigners for global warming are trying send us back to medieval times.
I'm not sure I agree with this because I think global warming takes time to develop. We wouldn't be able to see the effects straight away.
The point I agreed with the most is how the western world doesn't want to see Africa develop and grow. I think if they did they would have done more to help them. I didn't like the fact that Campaigners don't want them to use the coal and oil they already have, but solar power instead. Even though this is expensive and unreliable, they still insists on them using it. I think this is ridiculous because if the western world can use coal and oil why shouldn't Africa be able to use it as well.

An Inconvenient Truth

To what extent do you think this was deserved? Having watched this film in class did you feel that your opinion( or perhaps the opinion of other) to the issue of climate change could be positively influenced? What did you think of this film? Was it effective?

I m not quite sure if Al Gore deserved a Nobel Peace Price for the film because, although I found the film interesting, I think it wasn't amazing. It just simply high lighted an issue which we were all aware of. I mean I think he was funny and made it easy for people to warm to him, but I think it wasn't so remarkable that you would want to go out and rescue the planet.
I found the film interesting, and I think Al Gore did a great job in showing people the effects of climate change. I liked the way he made the audience see he was human too, by showing what happened to his son, and how this was the turning point for him. I also found him to be a great communicator, he was funny and relatable.
I think the film will positively influence people, because it uses real facts to show the effects of global warming. It shows that its a real problem that affects all of us and something has to be done.
The film added to my knowledge of climate change allot.It showed allot of interesting facts like when carbon dioxide is released it gets trapped and makes the earth warmer. This makes oceans warmer and this is why hurricanes and floods happen. Although this has been proven by scientists before, and warning signs have been given nothing was done. The film also showed that global warming sucks moisture out of the soil and this is what is happening in places like Dafur.
New diseases are also going to increase like the avion flu. Global warming means more species are going to be extinct such as polar bears who live in the arctic because the ice is melting.

The film added to my worries of climate change and it made me think something has to be done and it has to be now before its too late.

Here is a link which might be usefull
http://www.stopglobalwarming.org/

What actions could you (in theory) undertake that would improve the sustainability of your life style? What might be preventing you from doing these?


One of the actions I could take to improve the sustainability of my life style would be to car share, with other course members. There are a few of us coming from Milton Keynes, so instead of all of us coming in different cars we decided to car share. I think this is a great idea, as it safes us money and its good for the environment.

The thing which might prevent us from doing this could be conflict within the group. For example an argument could happen, which might cause problems. This might result in the group not wanting to car share anymore, which then means we go back to driving our own cars and back to polluting the environment.

Another thing I could would be doing is to recycle properly. At the moment I don't take this seriously and I do sometimes put the rubbish in the wrong bags because I'm in a rush , or I just cant be bothered. I think this is a very lazy attitude and one which I need to change quickly, if I want to help contribute to a better environment for both this and the next generation to live in. I'm going to make more of an effort to use each bags as they are meant to be used, and try very hard not to fall back into my old habits.

http://www.recyclenow.com/

I would also love to start eating more healthy.At the moment I eat allot of junk food which isn't good for me, so I would like to add more fruit and vegetable's to my diet. I think this will help me become more healthier, and give me more energy. Also I think in the long run it will help me to get into a more healthier routine which could benefit me a great deal.

The thing which is stopping me from doing this is bad habit. I have fallen into a habit which is hard to break out of because I m so used to it, so it will be difficult for me to adjust to something else.