Christmas!
It is a time when british people as well as many other people gather together to enjoy and take part in a festival. To many it has important religious significance... although an increasing number of others, that religious significance is fading. This is an issue, but it is not the issue in question.
NO! The more pressing issue is "What impact does Christmas have?" Not in the way of how people behave differently in spending time with family and friends. More by way of perhaps excess and waste? A lot of people nowadays go day to day, and throughout the year may do some or a lot or recycling and other activities which help to improve the environment. However, there are a large percentage of the population who do nothing and at Christmas this is made all the worse because there is more waste produced by a family and even on an individual basis. This waste all needs to go somewhere and if it is not sorted into recycling, it typically will go out into the household waste bins.
At the end of the day, there are just over 6.8 billion people on Earth, not all of these people will receive a gift for christmas, although a large percentage are most likely to (http://www.worldometer.info/). Two thirds of these people most likely get a form of present for christmas, perhaps not a commercialised present like people in more economically developed countries (M.E.D.C's), all the same there will be an extremely large amount of waste (not only commercially but individually too). If all of these people were to receive the same gifts, all of equal value and in the same packaging, etc. That means there would be an extremely large amount of waste to dispose of. If this were to happen annually, combined with an ever increasing global population it means that year on year there would be more and more waste to dispose of, so let us think, is this sustainable?
Perhaps looking at the actual amount of waste produced annually for the celebration of Christmas it may appear to be a near unachieveable challenge to be able to reduce this to a level which is then sustainable. However, with the correct approach and enough co-operation from the right people; namely high positioned politicians and world leaders, it could be made possible. There are several ways to do this, one would be to incorporate this issue into talk similar to those currently being held in Copenhagen over Climate Change. Even though this may in comparison be a relatively small issue, it is an issue all the same and if unmonitored it could easily get out of control. Although it could be connected to the plans and schemes which are already in place for waste management and recycling. The main point is, if it was possible to reduce the amount of waste which needed to be disposed of, rather than how to dispose of it was made possible, this would be a better approach to handle the problem. This is because if there is less to deal with, then the problem in this case, the amount of waste can be resolved more rapidly.
Excessive use of lights and fireworks will most likely be less of an issue as energy prices become more and more expensive and fireworks become more restricted through new legislation, with regard to health and safety as well as more strict age restriction.
Over-eating and self-indulgence will also most likely decrease as a result of rapidly increasing food prices and general increases in price of all products. Additionally excessive spending will probably continue at in the short-term as businesses compete between eachother with offers to attract customers. Although, there is the risk that at some point there may be a change where people become more reserved with spending as they less money to spend because the cost of living may have increased.
IN A CHANGED WORLD:
Life in general may be very different to how it is at present. For example, nowadays people are able to go out and make purchases of almost anything there and then and take it home all in the same day. However, in the future there may be many thing which could have changed, restricting the manufacture of many products if the companies which (used to) produce these products choose to refuse to sign international agreements to cut emissions. One country in particular which may suffer largely from this could be China. This is because China is a relatively fast developing country, at the same time it is a large country with near to one fifth of the world's population and one of the biggest contributors to Carbon Emissions. The problem with this may be that, because China and Asia produce a lot of products, and toys which are typically sold at Christmas but also throughout the year, if these countries are resticted through carbon emission limits it may mean that many products will be produced. If these products are not produced, then the products will not be sold and there will be less packaging to dispose of as a result. However, if these products are unattainable people may purchase products which have more packaging. Therefore it may appear to be a lost cause.
There are most likely to be many other ways in which Chistmas and other festivals both with and without religious significance may be different in a changed world and even the near future. Some of these may include what food is accepted to be sustainably eaten, this may mean that turkey for example may not be able to be eaten on Christmas day? Another way may be people are limited to how many or how long they are allowed to put Christmas lights and illuminations on their houses, and in gardens, etc. This could be in relation to cutting individual carbon emissions to coincide with national carbon emissions. It could also be connected to the introduction of new 'Smart Meters' which are being introduced to all of the 25 million homes in the United Kingdom in the next 10 years as it planned that they will be in every house be the end of 2020. These 'smart meters' are supposed to be able to totally dispose of estimated bills and ensure that both the customer and the supplier are able to keep an accurate account of the amount of both gas and electricity that each household is using. It will also give a display of how much the energy already used will cost, this will serve the purpose of having an instant bill there to keep an eye on what you have used. This is hoped to encourage the households to use less energy as they are able learn what they are using. This should also resolve disputes when it comes to billing because if there a constant display, there is no real excuse to not know how much it will cost when it comes to paying the bills. However, this will come a very high price to the consumer as the suppliers are going to charge the costs of fitting these new meters to the customer, is this really fair when it is a way for the customer to REDUCE their energy usage and inturn their carbon footprint.
In conclusion there is no simple or straight-forward answer or quick-fix solution to this or any other problem of this scale. The only real way to solve this problem and problems like this is to have a combination of several different strategies and procedures which together can help to reduce and where possible solve the problem.
References:
Defra.2008. Municipal Waste Management Statistics (Municipal Waste Statisitics 2008/09) [Online] (Updated: 10th November 2009)
Available at: http://www.defra.gov.uk/evidence/statistics/environment/wastats/bulletin09.htm [Accessed 13th December 2009]
Worldometers.2009. Worldometers world statistics updated in realtime [Online] (Updated:14th December 2009)
Available at: http://www.worldometers.info/ [Accessed 14th December 2009]
The Energy Retail Association(ERA).2007.Smart Meters[Online] (Updated:16th December 2009)
Available at: http://www.energy-retail.org.uk/smartmeters.html
[Accessed 16th December 2009]
BBC News. Year not available. UK energy smart meters roll-out is outlined[Online](Updated: 14:53 GMT, Wednesday 2nd December 2009) Available at: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/8389880.stm [Accessed 16th December 2009]
Images from:
Boston Herald.2009.Smart money is on energy[Online](Updated:16th December 2009)Available at: http://multimedia.heraldinteractive.com/images/3cd0d579bb_meter_021.jpg [Accessed 16th December 2009]
Larry Bodine Marketing. Year Not available.[Online](Updated:16th December 2009) Available from: http://blog.larrybodine.com/uploads/image/merry_christmas-1.jpg
[Accessed 16th December 2009]
It is a time when british people as well as many other people gather together to enjoy and take part in a festival. To many it has important religious significance... although an increasing number of others, that religious significance is fading. This is an issue, but it is not the issue in question.
NO! The more pressing issue is "What impact does Christmas have?" Not in the way of how people behave differently in spending time with family and friends. More by way of perhaps excess and waste? A lot of people nowadays go day to day, and throughout the year may do some or a lot or recycling and other activities which help to improve the environment. However, there are a large percentage of the population who do nothing and at Christmas this is made all the worse because there is more waste produced by a family and even on an individual basis. This waste all needs to go somewhere and if it is not sorted into recycling, it typically will go out into the household waste bins.
At the end of the day, there are just over 6.8 billion people on Earth, not all of these people will receive a gift for christmas, although a large percentage are most likely to (http://www.worldometer.info/). Two thirds of these people most likely get a form of present for christmas, perhaps not a commercialised present like people in more economically developed countries (M.E.D.C's), all the same there will be an extremely large amount of waste (not only commercially but individually too). If all of these people were to receive the same gifts, all of equal value and in the same packaging, etc. That means there would be an extremely large amount of waste to dispose of. If this were to happen annually, combined with an ever increasing global population it means that year on year there would be more and more waste to dispose of, so let us think, is this sustainable?
Perhaps looking at the actual amount of waste produced annually for the celebration of Christmas it may appear to be a near unachieveable challenge to be able to reduce this to a level which is then sustainable. However, with the correct approach and enough co-operation from the right people; namely high positioned politicians and world leaders, it could be made possible. There are several ways to do this, one would be to incorporate this issue into talk similar to those currently being held in Copenhagen over Climate Change. Even though this may in comparison be a relatively small issue, it is an issue all the same and if unmonitored it could easily get out of control. Although it could be connected to the plans and schemes which are already in place for waste management and recycling. The main point is, if it was possible to reduce the amount of waste which needed to be disposed of, rather than how to dispose of it was made possible, this would be a better approach to handle the problem. This is because if there is less to deal with, then the problem in this case, the amount of waste can be resolved more rapidly.
Excessive use of lights and fireworks will most likely be less of an issue as energy prices become more and more expensive and fireworks become more restricted through new legislation, with regard to health and safety as well as more strict age restriction.
Over-eating and self-indulgence will also most likely decrease as a result of rapidly increasing food prices and general increases in price of all products. Additionally excessive spending will probably continue at in the short-term as businesses compete between eachother with offers to attract customers. Although, there is the risk that at some point there may be a change where people become more reserved with spending as they less money to spend because the cost of living may have increased.
IN A CHANGED WORLD:
Life in general may be very different to how it is at present. For example, nowadays people are able to go out and make purchases of almost anything there and then and take it home all in the same day. However, in the future there may be many thing which could have changed, restricting the manufacture of many products if the companies which (used to) produce these products choose to refuse to sign international agreements to cut emissions. One country in particular which may suffer largely from this could be China. This is because China is a relatively fast developing country, at the same time it is a large country with near to one fifth of the world's population and one of the biggest contributors to Carbon Emissions. The problem with this may be that, because China and Asia produce a lot of products, and toys which are typically sold at Christmas but also throughout the year, if these countries are resticted through carbon emission limits it may mean that many products will be produced. If these products are not produced, then the products will not be sold and there will be less packaging to dispose of as a result. However, if these products are unattainable people may purchase products which have more packaging. Therefore it may appear to be a lost cause.
There are most likely to be many other ways in which Chistmas and other festivals both with and without religious significance may be different in a changed world and even the near future. Some of these may include what food is accepted to be sustainably eaten, this may mean that turkey for example may not be able to be eaten on Christmas day? Another way may be people are limited to how many or how long they are allowed to put Christmas lights and illuminations on their houses, and in gardens, etc. This could be in relation to cutting individual carbon emissions to coincide with national carbon emissions. It could also be connected to the introduction of new 'Smart Meters' which are being introduced to all of the 25 million homes in the United Kingdom in the next 10 years as it planned that they will be in every house be the end of 2020. These 'smart meters' are supposed to be able to totally dispose of estimated bills and ensure that both the customer and the supplier are able to keep an accurate account of the amount of both gas and electricity that each household is using. It will also give a display of how much the energy already used will cost, this will serve the purpose of having an instant bill there to keep an eye on what you have used. This is hoped to encourage the households to use less energy as they are able learn what they are using. This should also resolve disputes when it comes to billing because if there a constant display, there is no real excuse to not know how much it will cost when it comes to paying the bills. However, this will come a very high price to the consumer as the suppliers are going to charge the costs of fitting these new meters to the customer, is this really fair when it is a way for the customer to REDUCE their energy usage and inturn their carbon footprint.
In conclusion there is no simple or straight-forward answer or quick-fix solution to this or any other problem of this scale. The only real way to solve this problem and problems like this is to have a combination of several different strategies and procedures which together can help to reduce and where possible solve the problem.References:
Defra.2008. Municipal Waste Management Statistics (Municipal Waste Statisitics 2008/09) [Online] (Updated: 10th November 2009)
Available at: http://www.defra.gov.uk/evidence/statistics/environment/wastats/bulletin09.htm [Accessed 13th December 2009]
Worldometers.2009. Worldometers world statistics updated in realtime [Online] (Updated:14th December 2009)
Available at: http://www.worldometers.info/ [Accessed 14th December 2009]
The Energy Retail Association(ERA).2007.Smart Meters[Online] (Updated:16th December 2009)
Available at: http://www.energy-retail.org.uk/smartmeters.html
[Accessed 16th December 2009]
BBC News. Year not available. UK energy smart meters roll-out is outlined[Online](Updated: 14:53 GMT, Wednesday 2nd December 2009) Available at: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/8389880.stm [Accessed 16th December 2009]
Images from:
Boston Herald.2009.Smart money is on energy[Online](Updated:16th December 2009)Available at: http://multimedia.heraldinteractive.com/images/3cd0d579bb_meter_021.jpg [Accessed 16th December 2009]
Larry Bodine Marketing. Year Not available.[Online](Updated:16th December 2009) Available from: http://blog.larrybodine.com/uploads/image/merry_christmas-1.jpg
[Accessed 16th December 2009]
