25/05/2005 - With World
Environment Day 2005 fast approaching, there
is still time for Midlanders to log on and
pledge to make a small lifestyle change to
help the planet.
Sunday 5 June 2005 sees World Environment
Day taking place. The Environment Agency is
leading the drive to get people to get involved
with this year’s day.
The main way people can take action to protect
the planet is by logging onto www.environment-agency.gov.uk/wed
and pledge to one or more of the simple lifestyle
changes. The pledges include re-using bags
when going shopping, using only the water
you need when boiling the kettle and insulating
the loft and hot-water tank.
These are small changes but they can make
a big difference. For instance, if everyone
in England and Wales turned their tap off
when cleaning their teeth, 1,590,000,000 litres
of water a day could be saved – enough to
fill more than 630 Olympic swimming pools.
The importance of reducing carbon dioxide
emissions and saving water is outlined in
our recent report on climate change and these
actions can help do this.
Last year over 12,000 people signed up to
one or more pledges and in a year they saved
over 100 million litres of water, reduced
of carbon dioxide emissions by one million
kg and cleared half a million plastic bags
from the environment.
So far there have been about 200 pledges made
in Birmingham alone – these will mean saving:
1929 grams of co2
42505 Litres of Water
127 kg of waste
332 plastic bags
In Nottingham, 225 pledges have been made.
These will result in the saving of:
2553 grams of co2
51776 Litres of Water
215 kg of waste
555 plastic bags