Carbon Dioxide Emisions / Climate Change Traffic Pollution Coastal Pollution --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Carbon Dioxide Emisions / Climate Change The main environmental issue at the moment is climate change and for this the UK is no exception. The UK has a very long history of carbon emisions as it was one of the first countries to undergo the industrial revolution and data on this has been collected from as far back as 1750. Because of this so called 'development' with the consequental over-production and consumption the UK has one of the worst records for carbon emissions. For example, with approximatly 1% of the world's population the UK accounts for 2.3% of the world's CO2 emisions. The UK was recently found to be ranked as the 8th highest emitter of fossil fuels. However when analysing the emissions per person the UK falls to 37 with 2.67 metric tonnes of carbon per person, per year. As can be seen from the graph below the UK peaked in CO2 emissions per person during the 1970's when coal burning was the common means of energy production and although haven't increased since then they have not decreased by much either. 
The government in the Uk recently admitted that it was 'unlikely' (i.e. definitly not) going to meet its 2010 target of reducing CO2 emissions. In fact they have been increasing for the last 3 years since 2004. This has mostly been blamed on the switching from burning natural gas to carbon and the reluctance of UK industry and public to invest in renewable energy. Traffic Pollution The UK has a very high level of car ownership. In 2003 it was calculated by the Institution of Civil Engineers that there were approximatly 26.2 million cars in the UK, a 70% increase since 1982. This is a massive problem, as in 2002 90% of the air pollution in the UK was caused by cars. A major reason for this is due to the prohibitivly expensive public transportation in the UK. Ever since Margeret Thatcher and the conservatives gained power and privatised public transport in the UK, the cost of these services has risen dramatically and so the cheapest mode of transport is the polluting car. Things have not gotten any better recently dispite the governments talk of reducing car pollution in the UK. It has instead continued the Tory policy of privatisation, to make public services increasingly a vehicle for private profit. The current government says it would like people to drive more efficient cars and have introduced a few financial incentives such as lower or no tax for electric or cars fulled by bio-fuels or LPG, but I think the underlying problem is the use of the car itself instead of public transport and as long as this attitude continues I cannot see a solution to the increasing car pollution in the UK. As Thatcher herself said: "Any man who rides a bus to work after the age of 30 can count himself a failure in life".  Coastal Pollution This issue is particularly importent to me as I live on the coast, so pollution of this kind is really visible in my daily life. It is especially important in the UK because of the very long coastline, which is a huge 12,500km. The main types of coastal pollution include sewage, litter, chemicals and oil which are almost all derived from land based sources (i.e. people in the UK). All of these things are pumped out into the seas surrounding the UK and lots of it soon washes up on the coast. Not only does this look bad it causes serious destrucution of the ecosystems and marine life of the more than 8000 species of plant and animals that inhabite the seas surrounding the UK. It also poses a threat to people using the sea often, notably surfers who can suffer infections or more serious illnesses such as pneumonia, botulism, hepatitis A, meningitis and septicaemia. The UK campaign organisation Surfers Against Sewage has lots more information on this topic.
Unfortunatly the situation does not seem to be getting any better, for example in the last 10 years the amount of litter around the UK coastline has doubled. Some 80% of that comes from the land, rubbish that hasn't been properly dealt with. For me, the situation will not improve until we adress the causes of the pollution at their roots, for example tightning legislation for oil tanker safety, bigger penalties for industrial polluters and the phasing out of harmful household chemicals. Although much is being done to clean the beaches of the Uk which is brilliant (Last year over 2,000 volunteers collected over 250,000 pieces of rubbish from UK beaches) this does not solve the problem.
I took this picture near Polzeath, Cornwall not far from where I live and I think it sums up the situation quite well. | 
