Holly Smith - 16-May-2007
- 40% of people in the West Midlands say
they are doing something to tackle climate
change, an exclusive poll by the Environment
Agency can reveal.
We have encouraged the public to go online
and help compile the nation’s biggest ever
survey on climate change before World Environment
Day on June 5. Now the results are in and
the Environment Agency Ipsos Mori Poll has
revealed that nationally 41% of people say
they’ve altered their behaviour in an effort
to reduce their carbon footprint that’s,
two out of five people in England and Wales.
However, 59% (three out of five) of people
are still doing nothing to tackle climate
change.
In the West Midlands 21% of people say
they are recycling to reduce the impact
they have on the local environment. A further
4% say they are using the car less or not
at all, to reduce their carbon footprint.
Environment Agency Chief Executive Barbara
Young said: "The message is getting
through to some people that tackling climate
change is everyone’s responsibility. But
we must be relentless in our efforts to
reduce carbon emissions because there still
exists a level of apathy in some parts of
the community."
"Of the 41 per cent of people nationally
who said they were already tackling climate
change, more than half (23%) pointed to
recycling as their main contribution. That’s
a signal that people want to care for the
planet, but recycling does not really contribute
much to tackling climate change. The main
reason that people view recycling as their
top green credential is because it’s been
made so easy to do with very little extra
effort."
Amazingly 34% of West Midlands people can’t
think of one more extra thing they can do
to combat climate change but more than 1
in 5 people said they could do something
extra and 6% named using the car less as
the first thing they would do.
We also asked people in the West Midlands
what was stopping them from doing something
to combat climate change? 55% of people
said there was something stopping them and
8% of people said they were trying to find
better ways of doing things, closely followed
by 7% saying they needed better public transport
and 6% said they hadn’t bothered to think
about climate change.
Barbara Young added; "There are a
range of equally simple measures that people
can take on, which have a real impact on
their carbon emissions – such as ensuring
appliances are not left on standby, riding
a bike instead of driving and drying your
washing outdoors.
"As for those 59 per cent of people
who have yet to do something to help tackle
climate change nationally, hopefully they
will see how easy it is to reduce their
carbon emissions with very little extra
effort. And contributing to this online
survey can be the first step in discovering
simply ways of tackling climate change."
People can contribute to the Environment
Agency’s national survey at www.mendoftheworld.org
+ More
Barnsley pond clean-up planned for World
Environment Day
Francesca Glyn-Jones - 18-May-2007 - June
5, Swanee Pond, - Staff at the Environment
Agency will be marking World Environment
Day in Barnsley this year by helping to
transform a local pond into a community
beauty spot.
Around 20 staff will be swapping their
office clothes for gloves and overalls to
clean up Swanee pond, next to Kendray estate
in the town.
The team will also be taking the opportunity
to carry out a survey of the wildlife in
the area to establish a formal record of
the species.
Staff will be looking for butterflies,
dragonflies and damsel flies, as well as
signs of frogs, toads, water voles, rats,
bank voles, mice, rabbits and foxes.
The clean-up is on May 23 and the team
plan to launch the survey findings, as well
as suggestions for developing the pond at
a public event at Swanee on World Environment
Day – June 5.
Barnsley environment officer Sarah Worthy
said: "This is a great opportunity
to help improve the environment for the
Kendray community.
"World Environment Day challenges
people to do more for the environment, so
staff decided to ditch their office work
for a day and do something about it."
Among the Environment Agency volunteers
are call centre staff, team managers, customer
advisors, and office assistants.
The team is urging people to come along
to the open day from 10am to 3pm on June
5 at Swanee Pond to find out more about
the work and World Environment Day.
World Environment Day is a United Nations
global celebration that takes place every
year and the Environment Agency has been
promoting the campaign since 2004.
Last year around 58,000 people participated
in World Environment Day compared with just
8,000 in 2004.
In the build-up to World Environment Day,
the Environment Agency is encouraging the
public to go online at mendoftheworld.org
and help to compile the nation’s biggest
ever survey on what people are doing to
help tackle climate change.
