The Planet in Peril
The very latest predictions paint a challenging future for us and our hobby. Some would suggest grim even whilst others suggest that with intervention and a change to our habits all is not lost. What changes to our leisure pursuits and lives do folk think will make that difference for our future generations?
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-45775309
Comments
-
Changes in our ways will make very little difference at all.
Until countries like China change their ways, anything we do in the UK is but a spot in the ocean.
0 -
Yes but should we just carry on as is then on that predicted course and just turn that blind eye. Should we let the likes of the 'USA' and China lead us to this future?
I do believe that rather than us making decisions about our habits and choices, these decisions will be made for us by others and these will radically change our 'ways'!
1 -
I'm not suggesting we shouldn't do our bit or turn a blind eye but a hefty dose of realism says that we, as a tiny country, can make very little difference by our actions in global terms.
Where we can make a difference is by persuading others and I fear that’s pretty much a lost cause.
3 -
No we are not in peril. It's just that the entrepreneurs who manufacture and retail so called "Green Energy" products have been very clever and started a massive bandwagon. What we are seeing is a knee-jerk reaction to all the hype. ------ The earth has always fluctuated in temperature over millions of years, it's perfectly natural. Nothing to worry about.
K
3 -
Oh dear.
2 -
none at our level, until other countries follow suit, not towing will not make any difference
2 -
why the oh dear HH? It sort of implies disapproval. While you may not agree with K's view I am (strangely here) defending K's right to state it and maybe you could come back with something better than oh dear?
0 -
You sound just like Merve there.
What's the problem, HH? I felt much like that about the thread you started but I responded with a few comments of my own rather than a meaningless one liner,
Much as it pains me to say it😆, K does have a point although that’s not to say he is correct. Debate it if you don’t agree.
1 -
Well ok then, do we wait whilst our oceans fill up with plastics and our skies fill up with pollutants when previously changes in temperature where made by forces of nature rather than man made at a rapid pace? I think the scientists observing these changes probably have a point to make.
Anyway Kennine, I'm glad you have nothing to worry about....
Incidentally, China has been on a programme of cutting back on pollutants, it's just that they have a few long standing issues with human rights etc.
As an extra thought, we have been driving round Cornwall in our EV, it got down here ok, 140 miles plus. We're charging it up on a slow charge in the holiday rental garage but we're not using much electricity to keep it going. We topped up with fuel for the range extender (REX), which cost £9. We hear BMW won't be producing further cars with REXs which is a bit disappointing to hear although the driving range should be increasing in the new output designs. So there you go, EVs do work and if EV tow cars aren't developed it looks fairly certain motorhomes will be.
2 -
Contrary to the opinion of the BBC and other green zealots the phenomenon of global warming and cooling has gone on for millions of years, the industrial revolution and the internal combustion engine have only been around for a few hundred of those.
1 -
Well written. With you here!
0 -
Incidentally, in reply to a post by Corners on the other thread now closed. The club are interested in the future of caravanning and tow cars and how the changing needs of EV owners will impact on the club's leisure industry. You may have noticed a thread started by the club concerning future tow car developments etc.
1 -
oh dear
2 -
My apologies for a quick groan - yes, you're right, it does deserve more debate
I just hoped that we'd got beyond that stage.K puts the point that the whole thing is cooked up by the green industry. Apart from the clearly observed data showing that the speed of change is now greater than before, that there are more irreversible changes approaching unless we make a difference, I'd comment that the "cooked up by the greens" thing is a point largely promoted by the oil industry. Compare the relative size of the financial clout of the oil industry to that of the green, and please remember that money notoriously wins shouting matches where popular media are concerned.
"Nothing to worry about, move along" smacks terribly of the tobacco industry telling us smoking was good for the lungs, or Monsanto/Bayer telling us that Roundup was perfectly safe. The first is now discredited, the second is well on the way to being discredited, and the oil industry in years to come is likely to be seen as in the same mould.
I hope this explains better.
2 -
indeed, interested but that is far different in my view from HH's request that the club should use its influence to lobby into encouraging manufacturers of leisure vehicles to move quicker into making them more suitable?
0 -
indeed, it is a shame that you try and dictate what can and cannot be discussed?
I just hoped that we'd got beyond that stage.
According to who? you?
0 -
Thanks for this, Brue - where among the many forum sections is that discussion going on, please?
PS And good to hear that your EV is serving you so well already.
0 -
Indeed, there was a strong element of that in the OP of the other thread as well. It tends to be a red rag to a bull where I’m concerned.
Back to the topic. HH, I don’t believe there is one single person on this forum qualified to say which view is the correct one so I don’t appreciate amateurs, as we are, quoting statements as if they are the gospel truth. I treat all comments with scepticism whilst trying to keep an open mind.
1 -
Yes, the worlds temperatures have fluctuated, sometime dramatically, the effects of which can last for millennia and longer. Take for example the last mega volcanic phase which caused devistation to the flora and fauna of that time. This was due to the volcanic outpouring of gas and material into the upper atmosphere. The only difference today is that with little volcanic activity world wide, it's the human activity, the use of fossil fuels and other chemicals which are now being 'forced' into the atmosphere which is influencing global temperatures and possibly accelerating that natural cycle beyond that expected.
1 -
I didn't mean to appear dictatorial, sad if it seemed so.
Given the weight of most independent scientific comment, and the growing acceptance of the problem as real, I was hoping to move the discussion onto "what can we do?" rather than going round the track of whether the problem existed, and was working on the premise that it does, and we need to address it.
The OP here was asking what changes it might make to future generations. Since my own thread was closed - and I don't feel it was initially a duplication, but have to accept the Mod's decision here - I'd really prefer to allow the OP's discussion to continue, accepting that same premise.
I'd hope to see new vehicles developed which can tow caravans, ideally. Among other things affecting leisure activities, I'd hope to see a reduction in the huge amount of stuff pumped into the atmosphere by both planes and ships. That's a very big ask, and probably more than humanity at present is prepared to do - though previous generations got rid of London smog, before replacing it with less visible smog.
So for now, I'd hope to see better vehicles on the roads, and I'd like them to be more affordable otherwise most of us won't end up driving them.Thanks for starting this one, Mickysf!
4 -
I thought that was Baldrick's underpants?
0 -
Thanks Brue.
0 -
🤣🤣🤪0 -
True, but many decisions are being made and have been made in recent times at a national and international level based on the science of global warming and these really do influence and determine what's available to us. They also determine the choices and decisions we make about our lives and our hobby in many ways. Just look at the changes in the motor industry we witness and how that is also influencing change in leisure vehicles. Not towing? It is possibly what will be available to tow and what you will be able to tow with.
2 -
Didn't Grenville say the club is not a lobbying organisation?
1 -
Baldrick's pants? I bet they were not made from petro chemical based materials! But slightly related is the effects of those emissions caused by intensive meat rearing across the world, our demand for it, meat that is, and the transportation of it across the globe. May be whilst we can continue are tours we should visit those farmers' markets and local produce stores we encounter along our way.
0
