WITH environmental issues high on the news agenda, youth editors Alison Moulds and Josh Tate give their views on going green.

Alison's views

No longer restricted to eccentric tree-huggers' with a penchant for wellies, eco-friendly observances appear to have swept Britain by storm.

Rather than cementing itself as an Inconvenient Truth, the climate change movement has incited many - including young people - to enthusiastically champion the cause.

Concerns about environmental issues have increasingly rooted themselves in our social conscience and everyday routines.

Environmentally friendly activities that once looked to be just hype have become habit, as local communities successfully advocate recycling schemes and energy-saving projects.

Naturally there are still those who are complacent, almost understandable given the reluctance of multi-national companies, especially those on the other side of the pond, to contribute towards what should undoubtedly be an international effort.

Although sceptics may dispute the severity or even causes of climate change, it seems a triviality to obstruct individuals' concerted efforts to reduce human impact on the planet.

Low-level initiatives hardly take much consideration, whether it be turning down the thermostat or switching the television off standby.

Visiting houses where every electrical device is on is surely infuriating for any budding environmentalist yet at the other end of the spectrum are those whose admirable efforts may seem a little daunting to fledgling ecologists.

Having a friend who strives to reach a family effort to reduce the length of their showers to five minutes each and whose central heating is switched off in April (regardless of notoriously unreliable spring weather patterns), I can appreciate why many feel their personal commitments are barely worth maintaining.

However, it is possible to combine life's luxuries with a greener' lifestyle.

We all enjoy warm baths and car journeys at night, but whilst a holistic approach may seem intimidating, it is certainly worth everyone trying to make a sustained effort.

What Josh says

What's up with the weather? Recently, more and more absurd weather patterns have been appearing all across the globe, with mini-tornadoes and massive flooding here in the UK, higher frequency and severity in hurricanes in the USA, and disasters on a huge scale like the tsunami of 2004. What's upset our environment?

The environment is very important to me, and to most people, I assume, as it's essential to our survival.

So, what's upset our environment? I think I can guess. With everyone wanting more and more power for their appliances, more fuels must be burnt to provide the energy, releasing more and more carbon monoxide and other greenhouse gases into the atmosphere.

Looking at how our world has been hurt makes me realise that our Earth is desperately crying "Help!"

It seems that the damage we have wreaked is heading towards "irrevocable", and then we really will be in trouble.

With fossil fuel supplies starting to ebb away, the world's governments are frantically searching for another large energy source, but is that what we really need? Do we need so much energy, or is it just us taking what we have for granted?

I think that we need a clean rather than powerful energy supply.

When we flick on a light switch, do we think about the cost? Not the electricity bill, but the much more expensive bill presented by the Earth.

We do little things that all build towards an enormous impact on the life of the planet.

Everyone on the planet has a responsibility to care for it. Everyone has to help to pull our planet back from the brink of destruction, before it's too late.

We are supposedly the most intelligent race on the planet, and yet we don't even think about the consequences of our actions. And if people don't think, people won't do anything about it.

But there are myriad ways we can change what's going on. We can make sure we turn off computers and TVs rather than leaving them on standby, switching off lights during the day, using energy-saving bulbs when light is needed, recycling anything possible, and re-using anything we can't.

These are just a few of the many ways to help our planet.

Just as little things that waste energy build up, so can little things that save energy, and then, who knows?

We may end up in a healed world. It will take time, as everything does, but take the time to do it!