Crafting with Kids

Despite what by any standards was a setback at Copenhagen, there seems little doubt that a considerable amount of attention is going to be focused on the need for us all to become more sustainable during the new decade. There had been much hope for lasting accord in Denmark, as nations met to discuss a successor to the original Kyoto Protocol. Once again though, politics and domestic interests came to the fore, even though individual countries did promise to take concerted action.

Each week seems to bring forward additional evidence pointing to the contribution of greenhouse gas emissions to environmental damage. We can now see how over 300 years we have disregarded the consequences of excess energy production and how we relied on old fossil fuels. It seems likely that unless we reduce this reliance, considerable harm will ensue.

In Europe, the United Kingdom has taken a lead in introducing a trading scheme to force the largest emitters of greenhouse gases to buy allowances from the government, thus enabling them to emit extra carbon. Should these companies improve efficiency and reduce their use, they will receive rebates and bonuses. However, if they become efficient they will get bonuses and rebates. This is just an example of what governments may do as they force our attention toward sustainability.

Pollution can often be traced back to our over-reliance on transportation and our thirst for petro diesel and petroleum to fuel our vehicles. As such, biodiesel fuel is an excellent option and in many cases is much more palatable and can even reduce carbon dioxide related emissions as compared to those conventional gases.

In the United States, the EPA has ruled greenhouse gases to be hazardous, under the auspices of the Clean Air Act. This may well give rise to further legislation or the application of existing powers to cut back on emissions, including those from our vehicles.

Biodiesel is emerging as a workable alternative as the solution has holistic benefits as well, and as such we are likely to see more facilities making biodiesel, more places to buy the product and many more people opting to use biodiesel for their diesel engine cars and trucks. This alternative may be used within regular petro diesel engines without any modifications or alterations and can be used within a variety of different strengths or solutions.

Biodiesel has been around for a considerable period of time but has not retained much interest as conventional petroleum or petro diesel was relatively cheap and we were not sufficiently aware of the damage caused by carbon emissions. Things have definitely changed though and our society is looking for many alternative options and as such biofuel advocates must bring the discussion levels to the fore. People now need to move from the process of making homemade biodiesel to demanding that commercially made options are widely available all around them.

We now know that if we all make a concerted effort individually toward real change, whether in small things or on a large scale, anything is possible when it comes to global environmental sustainability, for us, and for our future generations.

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