General Topic Research
This is general research on the four possible website topics: climate change, single-use plastics, poverty, or eating meat.
Climate Change
The world is rapidly rising in temperature due to C02 caused by us. Research into this (National Geographic, 2017) shows that the amount of C02 in the air has nearly doubled since 1960 with levels going from 288 parts per million to 404 parts per million in 2016. This huge incline rises alongside global temperature change and almost all climate change scientists agree this is due to us.
Due to warmer temperatures, the polar ice caps are melting and releasing more water into the ocean. Soon, low lying islands could be plunged underwater due to the change. However, this isn’t the only cause. According to researchers (National Geographic, 2018), pink coloured algae is blooming on ice in Greenland which means the ice is no longer reflecting the suns rays as well and causing the ice to melt quicker.
Another factor which is causing climate change is deforestation happening across the world, particularly the Amazon. Massive amounts of carbon are stored in forests but as they are cut down and burnt for fuel or land, this is released back into the atmosphere. One of the largest emitters of greenhouse gases in the world is Brazil where research (Greenpeace, 2018?) says that up to 75% of their emissions are directly due to deforestation.
National Geographic. (2017). Seven Things to Know About Climate Change. [online] Available at: https://www.nationalgeographic.com/magazine/2017/04/seven-things-to-know-about-climate-change/ [Accessed 26 Sep. 2018].
National Geographic. (2018). Mysterious Microbes Turning Polar Ice Pink, Speeding Up Melt. [online] Available at: https://www.nationalgeographic.com/environment/2018/09/news-greenland-ice-sheet-melting-arctic-algae/ [Accessed 26 Sep. 2018].
Greenpeace. (2018?). Deforestation and climate change. [online] Available at: https://www.greenpeace.org.uk/what-we-do/forests/deforestation-climate-change/ [Accessed 26 Sep. 2018].
Single-use Plastics
The issue of single-use plastics has been highly popular in current news with campaigns to ditch plastic straws and coffee cups in large companies. It is powerful images like the photograph above, by Justin Hofman, and David Attenborough’s ‘Blue Planet II’ series which helped to shock people into learning more about the effects of plastic ending up in our oceans.
Single-use plastics are plastics which have been made with the purpose of being used once, often quickly before being thrown away (e.g. a carrier bag, water bottle or sweetie wrapper). According to the Plastic Oceans Foundation (2018) 150 million tonnes of single-use plastic is being produced every year.
The vast amounts of single-use plastics we throw away often end up in the ocean and case masses of environmental damage. It is estimated by researchers (Gabbatiss, 2017) that around 1,000 turtles die every year due to ocean plastics, predominately coming from fishing equipment and ringed can holders. There is now so much plastic in the ocean that it has accumulated in 5 different patches around the world. According to studies (The Ocean Cleanup, 2018), the Great Pacific Garbage Patch covers around 1.6 million kilometres squared and weighs approximately 80,000 tonnes.
Plastic Oceans Foundation. (2018). The Facts — Plastic Oceans Foundation. [online] Available at: https://plasticoceans.org/the-facts/ [Accessed 26 Sep. 2018].
Gabbatiss, J. (2017). Turtles are dying after becoming tangled in fishing gear and household rubbish. [online] The Independent. Available at: https://www.independent.co.uk/environment/plastic-pollution-turtles-dying-oceans-worldwide-tangled-waste-study-a8107616.html [Accessed 26 Sep. 2018].
The Ocean Cleanup. (2018). The Great Pacific Garbage Patch — The Ocean Cleanup. [online] Available at: https://www.theoceancleanup.com/great-pacific-garbage-patch/ [Accessed 26 Sep. 2018].
Eating Meat
Eating meat has been an ethical discussion for a long time now, but, in more recent times, the environmental impact of eating meat is being questioned. Shockingly, Vergunst and Savulescu (2017) write that 18% of worldwide greenhouse gas emissions are due to livestock farming. They go on to say that 30% of the land in the world is used for this kind of farming, suggesting that it is a poor use of limited resources. According to PETA (n.d.) “More than 90 percent of all Amazon rainforest land cleared since 1970 is used for grazing livestock.” which means that wild animals lose their habitats and are now becoming endangered.
As well as being bad for the environment, the health issues associated with eating meat is startling. The Vergunst and Savulescu (2017) state that antibiotic resistance has caused around 23,000 deaths each year in the US. This is because mass farming of cattle has led to them being fed 80% of the antibiotics in the country.
Not only cattle create an environmental problem. Overfishing in some areas has led to complete devastation of the ecosystem. Commercial fishing is a huge problem which PETA (n.d.) says that the number of “by-catch’ accidentally caught and killed is in the thousands. This effects creatures such as turtles, sharks and dolphins as well as coral reefs which are destroyed by trawling.
Vergunst, F. and Savulescu, J. (2017). Five ways the meat on your plate is killing the planet. [online] The Conversation. Available at: http://theconversation.com/five-ways-the-meat-on-your-plate-is-killing-the-planet-76128 [Accessed 26 Sep. 2018].
PETA. (n.d.). Meat and the Environment | PETA. [online] Available at: https://www.peta.org/issues/animals-used-for-food/meat-environment/ [Accessed 26 Sep. 2018].
Poverty
Poverty is an issue in the UK which has been sometimes difficult to define but it clearly a problem. The government now defines poverty as being 60% lower than the median income of that year (Child Poverty Action Group, n.d.). According to the Trussel Trust (2018), between April 2017 and March 2018, 1.3 million emergency three day supplies were handed out by food banks. This is a warning of how many people are struggling to even afford to feed themselves.
A recent study (Butler, 2018) has found that 4.5 million children in the UK are living in poverty. This has a detrimental effect on their life growing up and brings them challenges at school due to bullying, lack of opportunities and often leaves them achieving lower grades. Due to this education, children may be unable to find a well paid job and the cycle of poverty repeats itself.
Child Poverty Action Group. (n.d.). The impact of poverty | Child Poverty Action Group. [online] Available at: http://www.cpag.org.uk/content/impact-poverty [Accessed 26 Sep. 2018].
The Trussell Trust. (2018). The Trussell Trust — End of Year Stats. [online] Available at: https://www.trusselltrust.org/news-and-blog/latest-stats/end-year-stats/ [Accessed 26 Sep. 2018].
Butler, P. (2018). New study finds 4.5 million UK children living in poverty. [online] The Guardian. Available at: https://www.theguardian.com/society/2018/sep/16/new-study-finds-45-million-uk-children-living-in-poverty [Accessed 26 Sep. 2018].
