WITH big global issues, it is easy to think they are nothing to do with me or that we are too small to change the outcome.

But climate change is not just about distant places and generations, it is about our own areas, including the North-East, right now, and saving them will take both a global deal and action here at home.

Melting glaciers and polar bears losing their habitat have caught the public imagination. For me, though, one of the symbols of climate change is the flooding we have seen in areas across the UK, when people have been forced out of their homes and many lost everything they owned.

Preventing the worst climate change will save homes by rivers or in our coastal towns from more flooding, more often. It will mean saving wildlife here and across the country.

The solution, too, will mean benefits in the local region – such as new jobs as businesses save money by cutting down on wasted energy, and new industries as technology creates the low-carbon power of the future.

Here in the North-East, there are exciting opportunities in the new field of carbon capture and storage (CCS).

Last month, the Government announced that there will be no new coalfired power plants in the UK unless they were CCS-ready.

We will aim to create CCS “clusters” in regions where we achieve the greatest emissions reductions most economically.

Teesside is one of the areas we believe is poised to take full advantage of the development of CCS.

Research suggests there could be 50,000 jobs nationally over the next two decades in carbon abatement technologies, in design, engineering, construction, and for scientists and people with offshore expertise – as well as the resulting regeneration and economic opportunities for the area, that come with job creation.

Already, about 800,000 people are employed in the low-carbon and environmental goods and services sector in the UK, and this figure will grow dramatically as we see increased development of renewable energy sources, such as wind and wave power, the construction of new nuclear plants, and jobs in construction and energy services, as we make our homes more energy efficient.

The UK is already the world’s largest producer of energy from offshore wind, and the Carbon Trust has estimated that this sector of the renewable industry could be worth up to £5bn annually by 2020 – creating up to 70,000 jobs.

Only a global deal will bring about the global change we need. We are arguing hard for the US, Europe, and all other countries to commit to ambitious action.

The talks will come to a head this December, when the world will meet in Copenhagen to set the framework for the coming decades.

First, the poorest countries in the world are looking to developed countries, such as our own, to show the route to low carbon.

The Government’s Act on CO2 website includes lots of tips on reducing individual emissions, including a carbon calculator that will work out your own carbon footprint and provide tailored, simple advice on how to reduce it.

World Environment Day presents a perfect opportunity to do just that.

Take a few minutes today to visit our new website, sign the pledge calling for a global deal, and work out what role you and your family can play in fighting the good fight against climate change.