Smoking is bad for your health but it only affects you- right? There are at least 124 million cigarettes butts put into the environment every single day in the UK alone. Globally this figure nears 6 trillion cigarettes per year. Nearly all (95%) of cigarette filters are made from cellulose acetate- a plastic which persists in the environment for over a decade. A recent report from NBC news showed that cigarette butts were the biggest man-made contaminant in the world's oceans, not plastic bags nor plastic straws. This is one of the largest sources of plastic pollution in the world so it needs to be tackled as fast as possible. Biodegradable cigarettes do exist. Greenbutts is an organisation that has created the world’s first biodegradable cigarette filter, made from natural products such as hemp and cotton. The solution is out there but it needs to be put into practice. Natural parks and beaches are some of the UK's greatest assets. But walk through any single one and you will see cigarette butts. Not only do they spoil natural beauty, ingestion of plastics by animals can be incredibly harmful by disrupting immune systems and causing disease. On top of all this, they cost tax payer money. For example, the City of London spend £3.8 million cleaning the streets of cigarette butts every year. This could be used for other public services which have their own funding issues. This problem is well recognised in the scientific literature and many newspaper articles have been written. And yet, no government action has been done. Sign this petition to make Michael Gove realise how much the British public cares about the environment and how urgently change is needed.

Millions of marine creatures are being killed every year due to plastic waste entering the ocean

This is a serious animal welfare issue. Hundreds of thousands of people trust the Soil Association certificate and expect to be buying an ethical product when they buy something with their mark on. The way these animals are being treated is not ethical and therefore discredits the Soil Association name.

Because our NHS is strapped for cash and this would be an easy way to save it money, but also saving paper, which can only be good for us.

Because too many people have seen serious illness in their pets, many times resulting in death by organ failure or euthanisation, and the company refuses to acknowledge the link between a 3 month dose of pesticide and serious side effects

If we carry on as we are there is going to be more plastic in the sea than fish!

At this time of year, with the unusual constant high temperatures, & the high visitor numbers, we are seeing a lot of dogs suffering immense distress at being left to bake in cars. It is a grey area with the Police as regards of what action can be taken - needs addressing as to what immediate action can be taken, rescuers need to be immune from "criminal damage" prosecution when it had been established that the dog needs to be released from vehicle to prevent further suffering & death. The dog owner should be prosecuted for causing unnecessary suffering to an animal.

Plastic is a major polluter of landfill sites and more and more of our plastic is ending up in our oceans. Every year the amounts increase. We need to take steps, even small ones, to protect our world for our children and grandchildren.

Animal rights. The 2008 Animal Welfare act. I was at a fair today with my friends and I walked past a stall I hoped I wouldn’t see. I couldn’t believe how cruel people could be to leave a LIVING creature in a tiny bag/box in direct sun and charge £3 for it. Winners are paying for a more deaths of innocent beings. I hope you can feel my passion for this and have the curtesy to help put a stop to animal crueltly. You can have fun at a fair, but leave the fish to be sold and go to those who want and know how to care for an animal properly. Thankyou.

Denmark recently upped its catch from 82,000 to 458,000 tons a year. Most of this becomes fishmeal to feed farmed salmon, mink and livestock. Meanwhile, puffins and kittiwakes can't feed their young. The RSPB recommends a total ban on fishing for sand eels.

Because a lot more children than people realise live close to horseshoe common. It’s a beautiful space that should be used as such. Being in the centre of such a largely used town such as Bournemouth and regarded as a ‘natural beauty spot’ that seems to have become the ‘natural dumping spot’

I urge all of you reading this to support this idea. Factory farming in general needs to come to an end, but for this petition I focus specifically on the cruelty the chickens are oppressed to in factory farms. Ideally I would love to put an end to all the suffering that farm animals are subject to on battery farms, but realistically we need to work one step at a time. This way, even though it is hard we can make a real difference for the animals and one by one they can all be saved from torture. I have done my research, I have read and seen horrific evidence and footage of what goes on behind the closed barn doors. Some companies will even admit how their animals live and somehow think it is acceptable, but what they don't realise is that we know the truth about the animal abuse which also goes on. The living standards are NOT acceptable in anyway, but the pure abuse which they are also forced to endure just makes it so much more sadistic. Their living space, I kid you not, is just over the size of an A4 sheet of paper which is now classed as an 'enriched' cage. That is the way the big companies legally get away with it, claiming that they are now sufficient for living by adding 20cm of floor to each cage! That is the floor size of the metal cage which they have to stand in every hour all day, every day, every month of every year which they are alive. The cages are also so low that they cannot stand up straight. They can't even stretch their wings. They fight and peck each other for the food, and the weakest ones that can't reach are just left to die underneath the others. Just imagine from your own perspective being locked in a small room with no fresh air, no sunlight, nothing. Now imagine that there are other people also locked in there, and there are so many of you in such a small space that people are stacked on top of you and below you, desperately trying to get out. The poor chickens have to endure that. I have seen chickens being kicked by the workers like they are not alive or capable of feelings. They chuck them around, break their bones and cut off their beaks with a hot blade. Male chicks are crushed alive in machines, as they are not useful for the industry as they will not give them eggs, they are not classed as 'worthy' to the apparent humans that think they own animals. It makes me sad that humans can be so inconsiderate and lack compassion. What have we become? I would like to put a complete end to the sale of battery eggs! I would like to be able to go into ALDI the supermarket and no longer see 'caged eggs' for sale as that is what they are labelled as. I beg for people to refuse to buy these eggs, as this is the first step to ending this inhumane process. Please, just think for a moment. Do YOU want to be a part of this callous abuse? Would you feel the same love for someone if they consciously abused animals? All of us good people can help others become more aware, tell all your family and all your friends to openly refuse to purchase eggs from caged hens and support free range only. We can make the change, and this is the first step. I have made my first step. I have rescued 5 ex-battery hens through the British Hen Welfare Trust and now they supply me with beautiful free range eggs (which for me are just a bonus, I love them eternally regardless of eggs). I plan to rescue more chickens in the future. Will you make your first step today? Please, sign this petition! Me and the chickens will love you forever. #Help the Hens. "Animals do have voices, but our money speaks over them."