As well as directly damaging nature indirect damage is done by the release of the carbon stored in undisturbed peat bogs.

Peat used on gardens and in the horticultural trade in the UK is estimated to release 630,000 tonnes of carbon a year - equal to an extra 300,000 cars on our roads.

Staffordshire Wildlife Trust's Alison Rhodes says: "Gardeners account for around 70 per cent of horticultural peat use. Together with other uses of peat, this is a major threat to our remaining peat bogs, and those in the rest of Europe too".

Since 1990 The Wildlife Trusts have been campaigning for peatland conservation, with Staffordshire Wildlife Trust managing peatland sites such as Loynton Moss near Woodseaves, for much longer.

They are currently asking for a levy on peat products bought from garden centres to be introduced in the March budget.

So please look for alternatives to peat, there are plenty available. Whether you want a soil improver, a mulch, a potting compost or something to increase acidity there will be a product available that is more environmentally-friendly than peat, and most of them will cost about the same.

Guest blogger Mimi Bekhechi, of PETA, urges families to buy their cats or dogs from animal shelters, rather than breeders or pet shops.

In the largest study of its kind, the People's Dispensary for Sick Animals (PDSA) in conjunction with YouGov have just produced the Animal Wellbeing Report, scoring more than 11,000 British pet owners on how well they look after their animals.

Woefully, according to the report, 48 per cent of guardians in "animal-loving" Britain are failing to provide their animals with even "adequate" levels of care.

For most people, it only takes seconds to fall in love with an adorable cat or dog who needs a home, but adding an animal companion to the family means pledging to love and care for him or her - for better or for worse - for the animal's lifetime, which could be the next 10 to 20 years.