You can’t have helped but notice that there has been a lot of talk recently about how we are using up the world’s resources too quickly. Every day there is a story in the news about rising oil prices, global warming, dwindling fish stocks, growing waste mountains, water shortages, pressure on the countryside to build more homes, forests cleared to make way for farmland, and famine, drought and disease in other, poorer countries. In the UK we may be shielded from some of the worst problems but the pressure is now on us all to make changes in the way we consume, the energy we use and the waste we produce.

If everyone in the world were to consume at the same rate as we do in the UK we would need the resources of three planets. So we simply cannot keep up this rate of consumption. The footprint we leave on the planet – the impact each one of us makes on the earth’s resources – is getting bigger and bigger. And with the growth in the global human population, projected to be as much as 9 billion people by 2050, we face a daunting future if we don’t address the situation now. If we carry on as we are there just won’t be enough to go around.

So we all need to think about our environmental impact, from everyday actions like travelling to work and buying food to bigger things like the way we build our homes and how we go on holiday. Our current lifestyles are simply not sustainable! But we can measure our individual impact through our Ecological Footprint and this Green Guide shows you what you need to change, and how to make a start. We all have a part to play to protect our future – and that of our children. Many of the solutions are remarkably simple and just common sense. Many of them will actually save you money too. And some are easy enough for you to start today.

But it’s not just about what we do as individuals and families. To really get to grips with our over-use of resources we need to engage with government both locally and nationally. We need to get our local communities involved and we need to work together.

If we all start to take a few small steps it will soon add up to a giant leap towards more sustainable living. Don’t be daunted by the scale of the problems – we can all be a part of the solution. The important thing is that we don’t delay and that together we begin to reduce our impact on the Earth’s resources today.