In recent years, climate change has become a very important subject as it has a significant effect to the world that we live in. Floods, sea levels rising, and extreme weather is influencing people’s everyday lives and is become a huge problem. A great example of extreme weather that has happened recently due to climate change is Hurricane Irma which was the strongest hurricane recorded in recent years. It caused mass destruction in Florida and and the Caribbean with many homes ruined and lives lost. Climate change is also affecting our animals and many are become endangered such as polar bears due to shrinking ice sheets. Due to evidence, it is become apparent that climate change is not cause by nature but is man-made.
The Climate Change (Scotland) Act 2009 aims to create a growing, sustainable economy in Scotland. This act has helped to “establish Scotland as a world-leader in tackling climate change” (Scottish Government, 2017). The Scottish ministers have set a target that should be met in 2050. The target states that the net Scottish emissions account for the year 2050 is at least 80% lower than the baseline. The Carrier bag charge was a law that was implemented by the Scottish Government to help reduce and re-use the amount of litter in Scotland. The law came into effect on the 20th October 2014 and all retailers must charge 5p for a carrier bag. This has a significant effect on my lifestyle choices as I now buy bag for life carrier bags and I must remember them every time I go shopping. This law made me think about how we should be recycling in everyday life and how easy it is if you put your mind to it. Taking things such as carrier bags for granted shows us how selfish and greedy we are as a nation. I think this law made people think about how they could help the environment by doing as little as keeping their carrier bags and reusing them.
The Scottish Government are still working hard to keep their promise to help tackle climate change. On the 5th September 2017, the First Minister places Scotland at the front of the world fight against climate change.
After completing the WWF measure your footprint task I am shocked that my footprint is as high as 196%. This has made me think about how I could travel to work and university, how I could buy more seasonal food and how I could have more energy saving measures in my home.
During this task, the skill I developed most would be my research skills and digital literacy skills. I feel fairly confident when researching however, I find it fairly difficult to determine between what is a good academic source to use and what is not. When researching, I often ask my peers if they would use the source and if it was reliable if I am not confident enough to acknowledge this on my own. I often try to use websites such as the Scottish Government Website instead of information that is on a random website as it may not be accurate. Every week I also have the chance to further enhance my digital literacy skills. As a student teacher I think it is important that our digital literacy is always developing as it is important that we keep up to date and on top of what is going on digitally online.
In conclusion, it is very important that we try and tackle and prevent climate change globally. It is an issue that as educators we must raise awareness of and educate our children to take care of our environment.
