Leisure - Be environmentally aware when taking part in your favourite leisure activity

Soft coral, Indonesia

Many people take part in leisure activities that involve coming into direct contact with the environment. The careless and selfish attitude of some can cause enormous damage. Unscrupulous divers hack off pieces of beautiful coral to take home as souvenirs. What would become of the coral reef if all divers did this? A yachtsman might tip several litres of oil overboard while out at sea or sailing on a lake. What would happen if all yachtsmen disposed of used oil in the same way?
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Respect nature and the environment when taking part in outdoor activities. Whatever your passion, whether it is climbing in the mountains, diving or sailing, there should be an environmental charter for your sport to encourage responsible behaviour. Contact your sport's national federation. If such a charter does not yet exist, suggest that one be drawn up.

Agriculture - Make it a rule to buy organic for a given product

Acacia, Namibia

To protect crops from parasitic insects and plants, farmers use pesticides, and to increase their crop yields, they spread fertilisers. World consumption of the chemicals used in both is growing exponentially: it leapt from 30 million tonnes a year in 1960 to 140 million tonnes in 2000.
However, half the pesticides and fertilisers sprayed over the fields are of no benefit to crops. As soon as it rains, the excess runs off into rivers and seeps into groundwater (from which two-thirds of our drinking water comes).
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Organic farming avoids the damage caused to the environment by pesticides and insecticides. Buy organic produce to encourage organic farming practices and in the interests of your own health - strawberries, apples and spinach, in particular, retain high levels of pesticide residue if produced non-organically. www.organicconsumers.org/organic/pesticide-residues.cfm

Consumption - Buy recycled

Buy products that can be recycled in order to save natural resources. Recycled goods perform just as well as new products made from raw materials. Although some recycled goods are more expensive, many are competitively priced, particularly those products which have been on the market for some time. Be proactive and encourage recycling by buying more recycled products.
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When you go shopping, always look for a recycled version of whatever you want to buy. Many kinds of products are now available: from office supplies, paper, textiles and carpets, to building materials and parts for your car.

Water - Use less water when flushing the toilet

Iceberg, Greenland

Water that has been used for domestic purposes such as in dishwashers, showers or washing machines (excluding the toilet), is called 'greywater'. Comprising at least half of all residential wastewater, it can be used for other purposes, such as watering the garden. While ecologically oriented buildings in the US have installed greywater systems, they have yet to make an appearance in any number in the UK.
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Place a bottle filled with sand in your toilet cistern and you will reduce the volume of water used with each flush. Do not use a brick (as is sometimes recommended) since if it starts to decay, pieces could get into the toilet system and cause leaks. Alternatively, replace your toilet with a low-flush or dual-flush type toilet. The half-flush option means that water use can be reduced by up to 8 litres for every flush.

Waste - Encourage your place of work to start composting waste

Klyuchevskoy volcano, Kamchatka, Russia

Organic household waste can be converted into compost, a natural fertiliser that will increase the soil's ability to retain air and water, check erosion and reduce the need for chemical fertilisers. The compost is produced by the action of the micro-organisms present causing the waste to break down and decompose, one kilogram of organic waste produces around 300 grams of compost.
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The composting of organic waste can benefit the whole community. Take the initiative and approach your children's school canteen or the kitchen at your workplace, and explain the ecological and economic advantages of composting waste. Even if they do not decide to compost waste, it might encourage them to think about the amount that is thrown out and come up with alternative solutions to the problem.

Energy - Improve the efficiency of your radiators

Namib Desert, Namibia

The world's consumption of energy is producing vast amounts of pollution and waste. The nuclear industry in particular produces an enormous amount of waste. Today there are 438 nuclear power stations in the world, and a further 34 are being built, 20 of these in Asia. Between them they produce 17% of the world's electricity - and 10,000 tonnes of nuclear waste per year, adding to the 200,000 tonnes already in existence.
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To reduce your domestic energy consumption, make your radiators more efficient by placing reflective panels or sheets of aluminium foil behind them, this will bounce the heat back into the room.

Energy - Buy 'green' electricity

Aurora borealis, Finland

The Eugene standard (and its accredited certification labels), conferred by the European network of the same name, offers electricity producers, consumers, and governments simple, relevant criteria for assessing the environmental quality of a given electricity source, and to choose electricity supplies certified as coming from renewable, non polluting energy sources. It also gives consumers interested in energy matters information on where their electricity comes from, and allows them to find out about the environmental impact of their choices. Renewable energy has far less impact on the environment than fossil fuels and nuclear power.
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Find out how you can buy green electricity.

Forests - Recycle Christmas trees and cards

Blizzard over the inlandsis, Greenland

As soon as Christmas is over, countless Christmas trees and Christmas cards are thrown out with the household waste. Disposing of them is costly for the community and is a needless waste of raw or recyclable materials. Some local authorities make arrangements for the collecting of trees and cards for recycling. Thanks to a campaign by the Woodland Trust, the UK's leading woodland conservation charity, 58 million Christmas cards were recycled following the festive season of 2004.
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Recycle your cards and if your local authority does not collect Christmas trees, ask if it can arrange to do so. Buy a tree with its roots intact and plant it in a container. Keep it watered and when Christmas is over, plant it out in the garden.

Energy - Turn down your heating by 1 deg Celcius

Whale Shark, Australia

Buildings are a major source of the greenhouse gases responsible for climate change. Two-thirds of the energy used by buildings is for hot water and heating. Carefully managing our domestic heating thus allows us to minimise global warming and to avoid further polluting the air around us.
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Our houses are often heated to excess. The ideal living room temperature is 20 deg C (68 deg F), and bedrooms are healthier at 16 deg C (60.8 deg F). Each one-degree increase in temperature produces a 7 to 11 % increase in energy consumption (depending on how well-insulated your home is). Use your heat wisely and insulate well.

Agriculture - Buy Fair Trade products, and help combat child labour

Mount Benbow volcano, Vanuatu

Worldwide, some 211 children between the ages of 5 n 14 are forced to work. Three-quarters of these children work in agriculture. Employed on plantations producing sugar cane, tea, tobacco n coffee, they often toil in fields that have been freshly sprayed with pesticides, sometimes even working while spraying takes place. Fair Trade labels guarantee that goods are produced under fair conditions, that workers are paid fairly, that forced labour is forbidden and, of course, that children are not used as a source of cheap labour.
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Buying Fair Trade products is, among other things, a way of working towards safeguarding basic human rights, especially the rights of children.