Andrew Dakers's profile

Did you know: Although we could meet over 70% of our eating needs from food grown in the UK, we import more than half of the food we consume. Buying locally-grown, seasonal food would mean we could reduce our food miles, use less packaging to preserve fresh produce, and not least help us reconnect with the annual patterns of seasonal produce.

Many companies are now offering to "offset" emissions from activities such as flying - this means that they promise to invest your money in reducing emissions in other countries. However, it is vitally important that we in the UK reduce our own emissions - and offsetting should not be used as an excuse for people or companies in the UK to continue high-carbon or polluting activities that could easily be avoided. Another concern is that there are no clear rules to guarantee that offset providers are selling genuine emission reductions. WWF recommends that if you do use an offsetting scheme, make sure it is certified to the Gold Standard, an independent scheme set up to make sure that emission reduction projects are truly sustainable. Some offset providers that offer Gold Standard schemes include Myclimate, Atmosfair and Climate Friendly.