How though? I'm sick to the back teeth of being bullied via the media etc and told that I must start listening, I must take action, I must reduce my carbon footprint, I must DO something to save the planet. Well I've been listening for decades, long before it became fashionable, and I already do everything I can to help - logically, practically and financially - and it's less than a micro-fraction of a drop in the poor old polluted ocean. Fact is, individuals can't help anywhere near enough to stop, let alone cure this. Even if every individual in the UK produced no emissions at all, all that lovely clean air over the country would just blow to the four corners and be replaced with pollution from less enlightened nations. Nothing will make a big enough difference unless the whole world joins in and all the speeches and conferences and empty pledges won't do it. We need far more wide-reaching and far better practical
solutions from governments, big business, scientists, inventors and manufacturers, to give individuals the means and/or financial help to truly make a rapid difference. Let's look at the environmental and anti-pollution measures enacted so far.
Plastic bags in supermarkets: More about pollution but still a contributor to harmful gases because dumped plastics can give off harmful gases as they warn up and degrade, particularly in the ocean. I've been taking my own bags/baskets to supermarkets for a couple of decades - again, long before it became fashionable, but have they banned plastic bags even now? No, instead they charge for them.
Result: Someone somewhere makes money out of the scheme and the practice goes on pretty much as before.
LEZ type, clean air restrictions: Both my vehicles are diesel. There's not a great deal of choice with motorhomes as yet but when I bought my car, diesel was deemed the environmentally-friendly option and the right thing to do. I can't afford electric anything other than a bike, which I use as much as I can locally, despite a dire lack of cycle paths. Even if I could find the money to change my car to petrol, this would reduce the NOX emissions but increase CO2, so not really a solution. I never drive my vehicles into my nearest big city, London (always get the train) but if I wanted to I can because LEZ type schemes generally don't stop all polluting vehicles from coming in, they just charge for the privilege.
Result: Someone somewhere makes money out of the scheme and the practice goes on pretty much as before.
Recycling: Again, more about pollution than climate change but dumped plastics are bad news all round. I've recycled for donkey's years and I'm lucky because our local schemes are really up to date with a huge variety of materials included in recycling these days. Old clothes and textiles either go to charity shops or to the local recycling centre (tip) - ditto with wood, metals, electrical items, paint, etc, etc. Behind all this, someone somewhere has to make money out of the scheme to make it viable without massive Government grants. Landfill is bad news and gases are produced as waste decomposes. Incineration had a bad name in the past but could well be the way to go because it's come on in leaps and bounds over the years. The Danish incineration plants are the cleanest in the world and only 5% of waste goes into landfill in Denmark.
Result: Far too much stuff is still dumped because there are no financial incentives, grants or motivation to companies to recycle everything that's available or to find cleaner disposal methods... at least until someone, somewhere can make money out of it!
Carbon offset: I don't fly very often but I do occasionally because my daughter lives in Australia, so I don't consider giving up flying a viable or fair option for me - or any parent with children overseas. Even so, the last time I went to Australia was in 2016 and I'm not going this year, so we're talking once in about 5 years. I'll generally tick the box to offset my carbon footprint but this obviously doesn't reduce the pollution caused in the first place. With enormous luck, promises will be kept and extra trees will be planted somewhere in the world to help with CO2 absorption. Meanwhile, people who fly frequently and unnecessarily have their conscience eased... and don't get me started on private jets to get people to climate conferences! Even Greta, bless her little cotton puppet strings, has a far greater carbon footprint than your average Jo or Josephone, despite the publicity around one of her trips by carbon fibre boat. By the way, toilet waste was dumped in the sea.
Result: Someone somewhere likely makes money out of the scheme and the practice goes on pretty much as before, although we may get more CO2 eating trees in the world.
Has someone come up with an affordable, powerful filter conversion kit for cars to remove damaging particulates and gasses? No
Has someone come up with an
affordable kit to convert combustion engines to electric? No. (They do exist but not for normal budgets!)
Cheap replacement engines? No
Has anyone completely banned non-recyclable plastic? No
Are electric cars affordable and practical in the UK? No
Is
battery technology good enough at the moment to serve all vehicle needs and do we have enough charging points? No
Do we have automatic induction charging strips along highways - eg, as in Norway? No
Is there a scheme to replace household boilers with electric ones without huge cost to home owners? No (Mine's only 4 years old, so forget it - it's got to see me out now!)
Has anyone banned or converted the enormous ships responsible for more pollution than all the road vehicles in the world put together? No
Have we come up with any new forms of power other than nuclear, in the past, say, 100 years? No (A French scientist invented/discovered
solar power in 1989 and the first practical cell was put into use in 1954.)
Has local transport improved to the point where we can give up our cars for most journeys? No. In fact, trying to live a green, simple life in country villages almost ensures that you have to have a car to get anywhere!
Are there good cycle tracks in most places? No
So far, have governments (global, national or local), big businesses or manufacturers done anything specific to help me, as an individual, save the planet? I really don't think so.
Apologies for a war and peace epic but it's been building up for a while now and I needed to vent! Now I'll go back to living my life in as harmless a way as possible until people who can truly make a difference choose to act instead of talk!
