To what extent your ward/SOA resembles a 'sustainable community' and what extent you don't think it does.

My SOA is Nottingham 008A (Lower Layer Super Output Area)[1] My area is becoming more modern. My community is next to hucknall road which has a lot of traffic on it. [2]

when looking for the definition of sustainable communities i fount that it means communities which are planned, built, or modified to promote sustainable living. They tend to focus on enviormental sustainability (including development and agriculture and economic sustanability. Sustainable communities can focus on sustainable urban infrustracture and/or sustainable municuple infrastructure. on http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sustainable_communities
My area has 604 houseses with 19 which have no residents in them. 40 houses are detached and 396 houses are semi detached. The area in which i live in is a sustainble community in a culture way because has a range of ethnicites with 1,528, 65 white and black carribean, 35 asian british and pakistani and 87 black britsh. [3]
The area where i live is quite sustainable because only 263 people travel to work by car/van, 11 people use a bike, 69 people walk, 104 people use bus/mini bus/coach. [4] this shows some aspects of a sustainable community.


[1] http://www.neighbourhood.statistics.gov.uk/dissemination/LeadTableView.do?a=3&b=298195&c=NG5+1HS&d=141&e=15&g=395023&i=1001x1003x1004&m=0&r=0&s=1268851393765&enc=1&dsFamilyId=61

[2] http://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/1208270

[3]http://www.neighbourhood.statistics.gov.uk/dissemination/LeadTableView.do?a=3&b=298195&c=NG5+1HS&d=141&e=15&g=395023&i=1001x1003x1004&m=0&r=0&s=1268857566037&enc=1&dsFamilyId=47

[4] http://www.neighbourhood.statistics.gov.uk/dissemination/LeadTableView.do?a=3&b=298195&c=NG5+1HS&d=141&e=15&g=395023&i=1001x1003x1004&m=0&r=0&s=1268857566053&enc=1&dsFamilyId=283

What is your attitude concerning people who are not planning to vote in the election? What main concerns do you have that may influence your vote?

The constituency in which i live in is Nottingham north.
My local MP is Graham Allen (labour)
My local council is Nottingham city council.
The polical party that dominates my local council is Labour

My attitued toward people who are not planning to vote in the general election is that like me that we are not motivated enough to want to vote or just cant be bothered. I think that most young people feel that they do not want to vote because it is what older people do. I also think that people who are not planning to vote because they dont have time to because they have to be at work or looking after their families. I dont no have any negaive opinions on people who do not want to vote because i dont think that anyone is worth anything to vote for. My main concerns on what will infulence my vote is how honest the person is and the advertising of them.

However i think it is important for people and myself to register and vote because our choice could affect what is going on in the world.

What do you think? Is Christmas sustainable? How would it all work in a changed world?

I do not think that Christmas is Sustainable because it is a time in the year where when people shop the most and by shopping a lot of plastic bags are being used. There is also all the Christmas decoration that are not very sustainable because and also all the use of paper by the consumption of christmas cards and wrapping paper. All the use of energy resources has a negative impact on the enviorment because of the lights people use as decorations on the tree and on the houses. I think that christmas has become less sustainable as the years go on because we now live in a capitalist society where christmas is more about buying people presents than how it used to be years ago when it was just about the faimly coming together without buying anything.

However it is only once a year so it is not that important that Christmas is not sustainable because it is a happy time of the year where people can treat themselves and each other. Christmas can be sustainable in a changed world because we could change it to make it more eco friendly Christmas by choosing gifts made from recycled sources, re-gifting and give battery free gifts.

This is a link of a webiste which shows how christmas could be more sustainable
http://www.eartheasy.com/give_sustainchristmas.htm

Is there really a transport problem? Do the benefits of motorized transport outweigh the costs? Are there any minor changes you could change?

I think that there is a problem with transport because there are still too many people using cars, which is a problem because it has an affect on the ozone layer, causes burning fossil fuels and other pollutants that have been released into the atmosphere may cause these greenhouse gases.

Because of the cars causing polution it is predicted that in the next 100 years, the Earth's temperature will increase by anything between 1-2°C. Again, this might not seem like very much, but if we consider the Ice-Age (18,000 years ago) the temperature was only 10-12°C less than it is now and the earth was covered in ice. I think the changes which needed to be made is to have more buses with cheaper bus faire.i think the benefits of motorized transport overweighed the cost because health effects and external costs of motorized traffic. I think that more people should find different ways of transport rather than using cars like riding bikes, walking or using buses.

I think it is vey important that there needs to be a sustainable travel plan to prevent less damage on the earth by making everyone aware of change and making it easier for people to not use cars. They should try different types of schemes on schools and work places to make more people car share.

Many people use carsmore than any other transport because they find it more convnient and easier to use which shows that the goverment need to work out a plan to make public transport more convient and easier to use so that less people will use cars by have more buses and making them more regular.

To what extent do the best selling UK newspapers cover stories related to serious issues?

I think that some newspaper like the sun, mail and star does not cover seriouse issues and just cover trivial gossip which is why they are the most popular newspaper. I think that newspapers have a responsibilty to cover seriouse issues because of the amount of copies newspapers sells. because newspapers sell so many copies it will give people more knowledge of what is going on in the world. another reason why i feel it there role to cover seriouse issues is because people who buy magazines do not want to read about seriouse issues which is the reason for newspapers because it gives us news about the world. I think tabloid media and entertainment shows have a lot of power and infulence over the nation because of the way it is publicised and it covers light hearted topics about celebrities and gossip. I think that because tabloids and media have so much power and infulence over the nation they should cover more seriouse issues and discussion than all topics on scandal and celebrities because with more covers story on the enviorment, war and the goverment it will get more of the nation involved about what is going on in the world.
However sometimes it is better to read things that are not really related to seriouse topics of the world because if all that was in the media was about war and global warming it could cause some people depression.

I think it is harder for all newspapers to only cover seriouse topic because they need to sell a lot of copies of the newspapers to keep on going so most of them have to resort in gossip and stories about celebrities.

here is link which show the seriouse topics that the guardian cover unlike gossip newspapers like the sun http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/pda

To what extent do you think that it is your duty as a citizen to be 'informed'? Are you informed? How do you get to be informed about serious issues?

I think that as a citizen its is my duty and right to be informed about what is happening in the world weather it is about good news or bad news because everyone has a right to know about what is happening in the world in which we live in. I have been informored about climate change and global warmining from newspaper such as the guardian because i think it is one of the newspaper which has the right approach on the world and how it should be improved, televison such as the news because it covers seriouse topics and word of mouth, but only on brief information and from other people's perspective, because people have different views and opinions on seriouse matters.I like to watch the news on gmtv because give the information on whats is going on in the world and it is also covers lighthearted news aswell which is less seriouse.
I think the guardian and some other ideas on the news infulence me because they talk about seriouse issues which need to be addressed and and have the right approach on how to solve issues on the world.

I think that it should not just be the goverment or politions to make decisions but everone should have a say and be able to help in complicated decisions because it will effect everyone on what decisions are made.

Having watched this film in class did you feel that your opinion to the issue of climate change could be positively influenced?

I think that Al Gore did not deserve to win the noble peice prize for his film 'An Inconveint Truth' for the reason that when i watched the film in the seminar i did not find it interesting or inspiring. I thought the film was boring because it had no other dimentions to it except for Al Gore speaking to an audience about globle warming which made me loose interest in the first ten minuets of the film. However when watching the film i did agree with some of the things that Al Gore was saying when he talked about how global warming will effect us in the future and how we need to make a change now. Even though I thought that the film was very informative I felt that the film had a one type of view on gloabal warming and that was the view of Al Gore.I got the impression that Al Gore expected everyone to think like him because his view is the only one which will help with the global warming crisis. I did not feel like my opinion on climate change has been positively infulenced because i fount it hard to keep concentrating on the film and what he was saying so i havent felt motivated to change anything yet.

Even though i did not find the film useful there is a debate on whether there is truth on what Al Gore has been saying in his film from these two links-
http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2006/05/060524-global-warming.html
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FEqF8IsZ9M0