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Air travel has opened up our world, linking distant people and places like never before. This global networking has come at a cost because flying is one of the most polluting ways to travel. Expanding airports like Heathrow when we’re trying to limit the effects of climate change doesn’t make sense. Instead, we need to make train travel cheaper and more efficient, and contain demand by making those who fly frequently pay more.
With ‘easy to reach’ oil and gas running out, fracking has been pushed as a way to plug the gap. But climate change means we can’t afford to dig up yet more polluting fuels. We need to switch to renewable energy instead.
The Arctic is changing fast, and the ice around the North Pole is melting. These rapid changes are threatening Arctic communities and animals like polar bears and whales. Less ice also means more open ocean, which is attracting oil and fishing companies keen to plunder its resources. We need to put the brakes on climate change and protect the Arctic Ocean from drilling and overfishing.
Our planet is 70% oceans and seas, but only a tiny fraction is currently protected. We need a global network of ocean sanctuaries to protect oceans from overfishing, oil drilling and plastic pollution. The new UN Global Ocean Treaty will help in this vital step for ocean conservation.
Whales are magnificent creatures, but they also play an important role in keeping our oceans healthy. One of the environmental movement’s biggest successes was a global ban on commercial whaling. But they now face other threats, as well as efforts by some governments to hunt them for profit once more.
The frozen southern pole is a haven for wildlife. Whales, seals and penguins feast in the Antarctic’s southern ocean and international agreements protect the icy continent. But commercial fishing and climate change pose a threat. So we need to create a giant ocean sanctuary, the biggest on Earth, to protect the Antarctic.
Climate change, or global warming, is causing extreme weather and sea level rise putting hundreds of millions of people’s lives at risk. But it also presents an opportunity to change the way we live for the better.
To keep our oceans healthy, we need to use fishing methods that keep fish stocks healthy and protect other marine creatures. Sadly, industrial fleets have been overfishing and using gear that destroys marine life. Protecting our oceans means changing the way we catch fish.
It’s hard to find anything on the shelves that doesn’t contain palm oil – it’s in about half of all supermarket products. But the palm oil industry is responsible for destroying Indonesia’s forests on an epic scale. This is accelerating climate change, and also forces people from their traditional lands and threatens orangutans with extinction. We need to change the industry and stop palm oil companies destroying forests.
Meat and dairy products have been a source of food for millennia. But modern industrial farming practices and the sheer number of animals involved is causing huge environmental damage, squeezing out wild animals and accelerating climate change.
Soya beans are an excellent source of protein and an important part of many people’s diets. The agricultural industry has also become reliant on these beans for animal feed. But the drive to produce greater amounts of cheap meat and dairy is accelerating climate change and destroying forests.
Honey isn’t the only thing bees give us. They also provide us with food by pollinating a huge range of crops, not to mention wild plants. But like many other parts of the natural world, bees are at risk and the way we produce our food is to blame.
In recent decades, there has been some progress towards ridding the world of nuclear weapons. But nuclear disarmament is still a long way off, and conventional wars still trap millions of people in ugly conflicts. For a truly peaceful planet, we need to dispose of all weapons of mass destruction and focus on more peaceful objectives such as renewable energy and responding to the climate emergency.
Greenpeace is a movement of people who are passionate about defending the natural world from destruction. Our vision is a greener, healthier and more peaceful planet, one that can sustain life for generations to come. We are independent. We don’t accept any funding from governments, corporations…
The government committed the UK to reach ‘net zero’ emissions by 2050. But what does that mean? And will it actually help fight climate change?