Engines: What can the Club do?
You'll have seen the news that the safety margin on global warming is less than previously assessed. (If not see https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-45775309 ) I feel the CAMC, as a wealthy organisation with influence in the world of tow cars and motorhomes/vans, is potentially in a position to help.
There's little point in arguing that we can just carry on as normal. While the technology isn't yet satisfactorily widely available, though it is making every better progress, reputable scientists tell us that individual action needs to be taken, changes in behaviour made, and personal use of oil-fuelled engines vastly reduced. Without alternative vehicles our good intentions won't go far enough - not sitting idling the engine is a great start, but we really need different engines.
It seems widely accepted here that electric vehicles and other cleaner alternatives aren't yet at a stage where they're going to appeal to tuggers and motorhomers.
So, should the club be putting resources, leading by example, into encouraging manufacturers of leisure vehicles to move quicker into making them more suitable, and more available? Or is it already doing so?
The club is happy to promote - no doubt with useful profit - huge gas guzzlers. What else could it be doing?
It'll be good if comments concentrate on what can be done by the club's influence, rather than getting off topic into observations on the merits of clean diesel or the current lack of suitable electric vehicles. It'll also be a nice surprise if nobody pops up and claims that it's all hogwash and there's really nothing to worry about!
Good wishes all round.
Moderator Comment:
As this appears to be a duplication of the existing thread in the General Chat Section, I'll close it and ask that you continue the discussion on the original thread.
Many Thanks.
Comments
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the club should do nothing regarding this, I pay my membership and pitch fees for somewhere to pitch my van with all the usual standards and to look after caravaning and MH interests (proposed caravan MOT and breakaway cables when towing over there for example).
That is all I pay the club to do. It would be a waste of resources otherwise.
Also every time some 'good' cause comes along let the club use its resources to help? And who is to decide what is a worthy cause and which is not? You appear to think it is, that's great so lobby the correct organisational. the club is not an offshoot of the green party (pun intended).
You could also lead by example and stop towing and go on holiday by bike, or is your sense of 'green' somewhat elastic?
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Try this one, HH.
The words 'club' and 'influence' aren’t often used in the same sentence.
Also, for the club to attempt to sway manufacturers' design will inevitably help towards a move away from touring. The phrase of turkeys voting for Christmas springs to mind.
PS. If the club is to put resources anywhere, it should be into the core business of the club. Its resources are our money from membership and site fees and, in my opinion, should be kept in house. There’s some hogwash in your OP, if I may be so bold as to say so.
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- Thanks, Tinwheeler. Sadly interesting.
Cornersteady, I am the first to admit I'm part of the problem, we all are. I drive a 14yr old 2.5L diesel. OK, I don't let it run idle, whenever possible, and it averages around 40mpg when towing which is better than many, but I would like to change.
I'd be most reluctant to give up this way of holidaying, but I would like better tools to go on enjoying it with a clearer conscience, and I would like the club to help. It's got a louder voice than I have.
As responsible scientists are saying, if you do nothing, you're part of the problem.
Like most of us, I depend on existing structures, and so we are all still contributing to the pollution. I can't solve the world's problems myself, but I'm as much responsible for my part in it as each of us is. The club has the potential to influence the development of improved technologies far more than individual members.
I don't see this as just yet another irrelevant " 'good' cause ". Engines, whether towing or onboard, are essential to caravans and motorhomes. Current engines are a big part of the problem. Despite the "it's all invented by the green industry" line, there is no doubt among most informed people that the problem is real.
The club, which is not a poor organisation, surely benefits from promoting the technology which contributes to the problem, as my OP mentioned.
And the CAMC could be engaging with this relevant problem, whether through its reporting or its sponsorship. My OP was written in hopes of other suggestions of how it could lead, rather than being a dinosaur.
I'm not expecting a huge welcome for this post, but feel that if we all simply say "let the other guy do it first" - as seems to be the prevailing opinion on the thread Tinwheeler linked to - nothing will ever happen, so I'm sticking my head over the parapet here.
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