The Environmental A-Z…the letter F…

 

 

Welcome to my new series…still an A-Z but with a difference …

The idea for this series came about because yes as my regular followers and commenters know I am passionate about the health of the world I am living in… however often when I am researching and reading articles I come across terms and have to look them up which spawned the idea for this…two-fold… it increases my knowledge and I hope yours…

The A-Z of the environment and Climate Change… letter F.

The best way to predict your future is to create it...Abraham Lincoln.

Flora and Fauna…You may have heard the terms flora and fauna before, but what do they actually mean? Flora and fauna refer to plants and animals in the broadest sense of the words, encompassing pretty much all life on Earth. As you might imagine, these are very broad categories and in general scientists break down the different types of flora and fauna into different classifications, ranging from a specific type of life down to an individual species.

To remember them, fauna sounds similar to fawn, indicating it refers to animals, whereas flora sounds like flowers, indicating it refers to plants.

An umbrella term that refers to many different types of life. What is counted as flora and fauna is dependant upon the specific region, climate, or time period.

Fossil Fuels…Coal, crude oil, and natural gas are all considered fossil fuels because they were formed from the fossilized, buried remains of plants and animals that lived millions of years ago. Because of their origins, fossil fuels have a high carbon content.

Burning fossil fuels generates most of the energy required to propel our cars, power our businesses, and keep the lights on in our homes. Even today, oil, coal, and gas provide for about 80 per cent of our energy needs.

But at what cost?

Air and water pollution…Global Warming we cannot continue to burn the world’s resources and not pay the cost…

Renewable energy is the way forward and we ignore that at our peril…it cannot continue as the world we know will not exist for our children and grandchildren should they pay the cost for our negligence?

Fuel Poverty…A household is said to be in fuel poverty when its members cannot afford to keep adequately warm at a reasonable cost, given their income.

The key factors that can contribute to fuel poverty are:

  • The energy efficiency of the property (and therefore, the energy required to heat and power the home)
  • The cost of energy
  • Household income.

 

According to the World Health Organization, over three billion people worldwide are at these lower rungs, depending on biomass fuels—crop waste, dung, wood, leaves, etc.—and coal to meet their energy needs.

Stop Press:…I’m joining dots..I can’t help it…BUT the above leads to the other …

Fuel poverty and starvation generally go hand in hand…the more I research the more I realise I am fortunate BUT so many people around the world are NOT…That scares me because if you look at past figures it is getting worse, not better and maybe now you realise why FOOD WASTE exasperates me…

I am guessing that if I did a comparison between food waste and the percentage of the world who are starving it would be mind-blowing… Ahhh…It is 

Rant over…

Although I understand some of the changes HAPPENING AROUND THE WORLD and to an extent know what we can do to slow it down, however, I also know that the earth has gone through changes over the centuries so how much can we manipulate and stop what is happening and how much is just a fact of life ???

That’s all for today…I hope I have explained it in layman terms and made some things clearer as I believe we should all have a clearer picture in our minds as to what we can change and how…And also what affects our health and how…

See you in two weeks for the letter G…next Wednesday it will be Part 5 of the new A-Z on food and terms with the middle letter being F as in Cauliflower.

Thank you for reading it is a pleasure to see you here I hope you come again… Love Carol x x

28 thoughts on “The Environmental A-Z…the letter F…”

  1. Pingback: CarolCooks2 weekly roundup…May 9th-15th May 2021…#Recipes, Whimsy, Music and Lifestyle Changes | Retired? No one told me!

  3. OIKOS™-Editorial

    In all honesty, I cannot understand why we are suddenly switching off all nuclear power plants, in Germany. There are still nuclear power plants all around, and we seem to want to go back to the Stone Age caves. Just as well – a little swipe at our politics – that our politicians will not find a good refuge outside of Germany if the worst comes to the worst. 😉 Michael

    Liked by 1 person

    1. CarolCooks2 Post author

      It seems like the majority of Germans want this and you are not the only country in Europe to phase-out nuclear energy. Italy, Belgium and Switzerland have also principally decided to be or become nuclear energy-free. Others such as Denmark, Ireland, Portugal and Austria will remain nuclear free…So you are not alone, Michael 🙂 x

      Like

      1. OIKOS™-Editorial

        Are you really sure that the majority of the population want it, Carol? 😉 Meanwhile I don’t believe that anymore, because in Germany only a maximum of 12% of the population owns their own home. (A great difference to all the other European countries:) Rents keep rising, and now with electromobility some tenants are already paying 80% of their income for electricity and food. xx

        Liked by 1 person

      2. CarolCooks2 Post author

        Thats just what I read however you live there and obviously see the bigger picture…wow that’s a low percentage of home owners…If they pay 80% of income they must be in fuel poverty according to guidelines …

        Liked by 1 person

  4. petespringerauthor

    I’m the guy in the background with the pom poms, Carol. You go, girl! Keep up the good fight. Our planet is worth it!

    Liked by 2 people

  5. beetleypete

    Food waste is a bugbear of mine. I have a very strict shopping list, and I stick to it. I ignore the ‘buy one get one free’ offers on any perishables, and when it is time for me to go shopping on a Monday, the only thing left in my fridge is some milk and a couple of spare onions. If I am left with anything like bread or cereals (rarely), I feed those to the birds. Happy to say I haven’t thrown away any ‘real food’ in the last five years.
    Best wishes, Pete.

    Liked by 1 person

  7. marianbeaman

    The Abraham Lincoln quote is priceless. You are doing your part by publishing posts like these and by practicing what you preach. Yes, I do think we could feed the world if we shared our resources. I know of several large organizations that are building wells in deprived places so people can have CLEAN water, as essential as food, if not more so!

    Great post, Carol!

    Liked by 1 person

    1. CarolCooks2 Post author

      Thank you, Marian and yes clean water is a must.. I just wish governments and large corporations wou’d get behind this waste and making sure no kid goes hungry x

      Like

  8. Pingback: The Environmental A-Z…the letter F… – MobsterTiger

  9. tidalscribe.com

    There is probably the potential for the earth to feed everyone ; if all our efforts went into caring for the planet and its inhabitants. Apart from the scandal of fuel and food poverty in well off peaceful countries, there is war and trouble and strife. How often are hard working farmers terrorised off their land and turned into refugees and productive land ruined?

    Liked by 1 person

    1. CarolCooks2 Post author

      I agree, Janet and its time it was addressed but I won’t hold my breath…it just seems a never ending circle of the haves and have nots…

      Like

Comments are closed.