Through the reading and work on this module I have become more aware of the factors that our effecting my carbon foot print in my day to day life and what are consequentially affecting global warming when looked at across the world as a whole. From completing the survey my carbon footprint was outlined at being 71% however I was slightly surprised at some of suggestions that the site made to reduce my carbon foot print. It is easy to forget that simple things such as buying more locally produced produce and just less items in general can reduce my footprint as things have become so easily accessible and readily available within our society it is easy to forget how far they have been transported or where they have been imported from and the effect that must be having on the environment. It was also surprising just how much goes into calculating my carbon footprint I hadn’t realised quite how many factors of my life contribute towards calculating it.

It also reminded me that I should be more mindful of throwing food away with the World Wide Fund for Nature stating that “one third of food produced for human consumption is lost or wasted”. However the survey did also remind me of what I am now doing to help the environment our flat has recently begun ensuring that we recycle more by using the recycling bins provided and making trips to places such as bottle banks so that our glass is reused. Therefore one value is definitely in reminding you of the bigger affect every little thing that we can do can have on the environment.

Learning about climate change in school is vital so that children take responsible for the environment and are more aware of the damage we can cause to it from an early age. It also allows linkage to other aspects that will help improve children’s lives such as encouraging them to walk to school or to use more public transport as not only will this lead to them reducing their carbon footprint but in the case of walking or cycling it could lead to them having a more active life style.

I was also intrigued to learn that the government had such long term goals in place to be completed by 2050 to reduce Scotland’s carbon footprint with the government’s legislation stating that by 2050 Scotland’s emissions will be 80% lower than the baseline. It will be interesting to see if by 2020 they are on track with their target of 42% lower as it is going to take some fairly drastic steps to lower Scotland’s emissions so dramatically. The document in general made for quite an interesting read to show more what the government has put in place to deal with climate change although ideally it looks as though some stricter rules and targets would be better for the planet however they would be a lot harder to implement and stick to.