Forget romantic gifts... save the planet!

However, this year we are being asked to swap all of this for wearing green hearts, to show our loving compassion for the beautiful landscapes and creatures threatened by our changing climate.

What are the places which really matter to you? Are there birds or animals you couldn’t bear to lose? Some of these places and animals may not even exist in a few years’ time.

Show that you care by wearing one of these green hearts.

The idea comes from the Climate Coalition, which is a group of more than 100 organisations, including the Womens’ Institute, the National Trust, Oxfam, the RSPB and many religious groups which are trying to get climate change taken more seriously by figures of authority.

There is no doubt any more (despite what President Trump might suggest) that global temperatures are rising. We have just had the hottest year on record for the third year in a row. Sea levels are constantly rising and threaten not only remote tropical islands but our own coastline.

We also have serious levels of pollution with previously agreed limits regularly broken.

As if that wasn’t enough, scientists warn us that we are likely to lose hundreds of species during 2017 alone, due in large part to the climate. Farmers around the world are struggling with erratic rainfall or droughts, meaning that some well-loved products such as coffee and chocolate may wind up being under threat.

Despite all this, climate change isn’t talked about much and the idea of the green hearts is to change this and to start climate conversations.

It’s an easy idea to build on, because you could make green hearts from card and hang up messages.

You could make them from felt, wool, playdough.

You could bake heart-shaped biscuits and ice them green.

You could frame pictures of places and animals you love and display them or share them on social media, using the hashtag #showthelove.

There’s plenty of background information and links to other sites on portsmouthcan.co.uk

Let’s get talking. We need to know what’s going on, share our concerns and learn what we can do to save things which are very precious to us.