How to reduce our carbon footprint

The recent spate of pollution to engulf Beijing - and many other cities in China - should lead us to the conclusion as to what measures we can take as individuals, who are faced with this growing problem on a daily basis, to help mitigate it.

China's impressive record of economic growth since the turn of the century has improved the lifestyles of its people in ways which would have been beyond recognition just a matter of a few decades previously.

But this has also led to the development of lifestyles which consume amounts of energy that would have been unimaginable several decades ago, with the carbon footprint of the average Chinese urbanite increasing from the mere imprint of a baby's footstep to one which would resemble a lumbering giant crashing about before us.