I had the very good fortune to have grown up in Hereford and Worcestershire. Although I lived in a suburb of several of the towns in and around the county, I could escape to the countryside at almost any time. As a child I loved riding my bike and would long for a nice day at the weekend when I would go off on one of my day long excursions around Malvern or Hurcott.

The great thing about Hereford and Worcester is that no matter where you are it only takes a matter of minutes to be out in the countryside. At any opportunity, I’d be off on my bike with a packed lunch, heading to the countryside, looking for places to make sketches of bugs and birds and anything that took my interest. My Mum used to say I was the second Gerald Durrel; you can read more about the life of this amazing man on the Durrel Conservation Trust website.

Whilst I didn’t go on to be the curator of a zoo, like the great Gerald Durrel, I did take up a career in farming which for me allows me to spend my days exactly where I want to be, out in the countryside. I see it as my way of being able to look after the countryside that I love. I’m not an organic farmer but I do try my best to farm in an environmentally friendly way. My trusty 3^rd hand John Deere tractor surely bares testimony to this. It has broken down many times and is probably ready for scrapping, but whilst I can still get John Deere parts from the Cornthwaite Agricultural website, I’ll keep it  going until it finally dies or the parts become unavailable.

I sometimes find it difficult being a farmer and loving nature. A recent example of this is the battle over Nicotinoid pesticides. I’ve used these pesticides frequently and they are effective both in cost terms and in the protection they give to crops. Then in 2011, to my horror there began a campaign against the use of these chemicals. There is a link between them and the decline in bee populations. Bees of course are essential to the pollination of plants and crops; in short, if there were no bees, there would be no crops.

I stopped using Nicotinoids as soon as I could – the end of the 2011 growing season. I’ve found an alternative until the outcome of the debate is decided. At present the UK government is arguing that the link between the pesticide and bee population decline is unproven and have published a paper which you can read at the Fera/Defra website. However, on Monday 29^th April the EU stepped into the debate announcing a ban of several of the main Nicotinoid based pesticides. You can see a more detailed report of the EU ban in this Channel 4 News website article.

I am glad that the EU has stepped in and I hope to see an increase in bee population in the coming years when they have had a chance to recover. For my part I feel awful for using these products. I had always assumed that they had been found safe. Whilst my ideals would lead me to being an organic farmer, my attempts at not using pesticide have always ended in crops that were either totally failed or not up to supermarket standards for acceptability. Being a farmer isn’t an easy life as many would have you believe. The weight of the decisions we have to make is incredible.

Part of the reason that there are a lot of environmental issues in our world today is because we have all gotten into bad habits, and each generation has assumed that the next generation will know better and begin to sort things out. But the thing is  most of us don’t know better, we have the same habits that our parents had, and their parents had. So in order to stop this vicious circle of bad environmental habits, we need to teach the next generation some good ones.

To start we need to teach kids good recycling habits, plastic, paper, aluminium and cardboard can all be recycled, but landfills are full to the brim with these items and we need to get kids in the habit of sorting out the recycling. You can make it into a game, or give them a points for every time they sort it out, and with enough points they get a reward. That way as they get older it will just become part of their everyday life, and they won’t even have to think about it. Food is another item that can be recycled, and made into compost. If you teach your child about compost you can create a garden with them growing all sorts of interesting herbs and vegetables. It will teach them what to do with food waste and teach them self sufficiency as well.

The worlds ever increasing dependence on oil means that there is an ever increasing amount of carbon emissions created, so for your kid to do there bit for the environment you need to teach them how to lower their carbon footprint. Cars create a lot of carbon emissions, so make sure you instil in your child the important of car sharing, and always try and take them on public transport. As they get a bit older ride or walk with them to school if it is close by or make sure they get the bus. Remember to explain why you are doing this, so that your child understands the importance of lowering their carbon footprint and hopefully they will bring these habits into adulthood.

This is a pretty basic one but get children to turn the lights off when they leave the room. It wastes so much energy just leaving a light on and it is down to sheer laziness. The same can be said for electronic equipment. Don’t just leave something on standby teach your child the importance of turning things off at the plug. Make it part of their routine before bed and it will soon become an environmentally friendly habit.

If you take a bit of time and effort to teach your kids the importance of eco-friendly behaviour, then their generation might finally be the one to sort out our environment.

There are plenty of ways you can stay warm at home whilst still saving energy. One obvious solution is to put a jumper on rather than switching on the heating when you feel cold. You’d be surprised, but the instant reaction of many people is to turn on their central heating as soon as they feel a little bit cold. If you can get out of this habit you’ll not only save energy and help the environment, but you’ll save yourself a lot of money too!

Many people who have conservatories will find that during the summer months they retain a lot of heat, so you can use this to your advantage! If it’s feeling cold in your house and it’s sunny outside then why not go and sit the conservatory! However, remember that conversely during winter that conservatories can help to channel heat out of the house! So, it’s worth investing in a set of heavy curtains that you can draw across your conservatories to help keep the heat in.

There are plenty of other simple things that’ll help a lot too. Simply keeping the doors shut will help to keep heat in so you won’t have to run your heating as much when it’s cold. Perhaps you might want to invest in a draft excluder to go across your front door? You’d be surprised at how much of a difference they can make!

Solar panels are made up of interconnected solar cells. As one solar panel only generates a minimal amount of electricity, the solar panels are put together to generate more power. Solar panels use light energy from the sun to generate electricity through the photovoltaic effect. This essentially means that solar panels use arrays of solar phoyovoltaic cells to convert photons into usable electricity.

These solar panels are typical assembles by depositing amorphous silicon alloy in a continuous roll to roll process. The solar cells created from this process are amorphous silicon solar cells. A great benefit from using amorphous silicon solar cells is that, it is more durable, efficient and thinner than their crystalline counterparts.

The practical applications of solar panels constructed from plastics are vast and so much so could be overlaid into laptop screens to provide continuous power. The only obstacle that needs to be overcome is their efficiency levels.  Solar panels could produce 2 volts under direct sunlight at the surface of the equator. However, due to the earth’s atmospheric interference, terran solar panels will never perform that well.

In terms of lifetime value of the product, overheating and physical wear can reduce operation efficiency. However, with everything, the more you spend the more likely you are to have a longer life, from the product. Solar panels are a fine piece of technology. They are much better for the environment due to solar energy being cleaner and a greener alternative to fossil fuels.

There is plenty that you can do in your own home to help curb climate change. Recycling household waste rather than simply disposing of it is one start, whilst cutting down on the amount of electricity you use as well will help.

However, some people may find cutting down on their power consumption difficult, particularly due to the amount of electronic gadgets most people have in their homes these days. Cheap plasma TVs are often lambasted by environmental campaigners because of their very high level of power consumption, particularly in models with very large screens. Because the cost of these items has dropped so much in recent years more households now possess a cheap plasma TV, which can be a massive drain on power. If your family owns a cheap plasma TV then be sure to turn it off rather than leave it on standby when not watching it.

There are also many other changes you can make to help you save power. Changing to energy saving light bulbs is a good start. Not only will these changes help to reduce your impact on the environment, but it will also end up saving you money in the long run as you’ll have much lower electricity bills. So, if you want to save yourself some money and do your part to help protect the environment then a bit of common sense and a few changes around the home can make a whole world of difference.

Being environmentally aware isn’t just about knowing how much damage industrial processes in far flung countries are doing to nature, it’s about knowing exactly how you can make a difference in your day to day life. The best place to start is in the little things, bits of your behaviour that you could change without compromising your lifestyle too much.

Most of these are based upon the habits of excess and laziness that it is easy to fall in to in the western world, things such as walking for short journeys instead of taking the car, or carpooling for regular journeys such as the commute to work or the school run. All of these little contributions obviously add up, but if you’re serious about making a difference then there are one or two larger changes you can make that will make a significant contribution by themselves.

The first is to trade in your petrol car for a more eco-friendly model. Jumping straight in with a hybrid fuel vehicle might be a little overkill for most as the selection is fairly limited at present, but downsizing to a more economical city car would limit your emissions while reducing your day to day running costs.

Another option is to install double glazing throughout your home. Double glazing helps keep more of the temperature generated by your heaters and radiators from escaping, thus your house requires less heating, you use less fuel and produce fewer emissions – plus you’ll save a fair bit of cash in the long term!

A huge effort is being made by governments around the world to increase the general publics’ level of environmental awareness. This has become especially important in recent years as the threat posed by climate change has become much more significant and as a result is in the public eye a great deal more than it used to be. As a result the general level of environmental awareness has increased significantly. This has been aided by government campaigns encouraging people to make changes to their lifestyles that are likely to help prevent further environmental damage in the coming years.

The increased level of recycled waste in the UK is testament to the fact that there is an increased level of environmental awareness amongst the general public as more and more people are going to lengths to ensure that the household waste they generate is recycled by their local authority.

There is a huge amount of information that is being distributed by local councils and the government aimed at increasing peoples’ level of environmental awareness. Many local authorities will send out leaflets to households in their area providing details about recycling collections. Nearly all local councils throughout the UK will now collect recyclable waste such as plastic bottles and cans as well as non recyclable waste. Householders are encouraged to sort their waste accordingly so that recyclable waste can easily be collected regularly, usually once every two weeks.

In recent years many governments have placed in increasing level of important of promotion of environmental awareness amongst the public and as a result there has been more and more emphasis placed upon environmental education in schools. The increasing pressure to raise public awareness of environmental issues such as climate change has caused many governments across the world to promote environmental education in schools. Subjects being taught in schools such as Geography lend themselves well to raising awareness of these issues and a great deal of environmental education will take place in geography lessons. Many environmental issues can also be related back to topics covered in science lessons too.

Environmental education can be furthered outside of the class room too, by encouraging children to take steps to lessen environmental damage and climate change. For example, a great deal of emphasis is being placed upon encouraging people to save energy by making use of more energy efficient appliances in their homes, as well as being more considerate about running electrical equipment only when it is necessary. The range of television advertisements and poster campaigns promoting these messages funded by the government can be seen as a further attempt to promote environmental education and awareness to members of the public, many of whom may be ignorant of some relatively basic facts concerning climate change and the courses of action that they can take to help prevent it.