The Planet in Peril
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A lot of the environmental issues we are facing today is down to greedy companies who is more interested in profit and bonuses than the environment.
Rural inhabitants are unable to reduce their use of a vehicle whilst local banks close branches and shops close and nearest town could be 20 miles away.
We are encouraged to use/ buy rechargeable phones, tablets etc, again at a cost to the environment.
So until changes are made by manufactures etc It will be hard to make a difference.
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"I've truly been trying to keep from making overtly political comments (!) but…"
……you’ve not succeeded!
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The Guardian ran a passionately written article t'other day arguing that while us each doing our own bit is all very well, what's really going to count is us ganging up on governments to push them into making ecological things really happen, rather than just making the noises and actually achieving very little.
Isn't this what people were posting right at the start of this thread?
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With the best will in the world, our use of gas as a fuel will continue for the next few generations at least. I don't know the figure but my guess is that there is only a very small percentage of properties, both domestic and commercial, that doesn't use gas, primarily for heating. To change to some form of alternative heat source that doesn't use gas is a long, long way off. Just imagine the logistics of such a change. Every property would have to be converted in some way and, if it was a change to electric there just wouldn't be enough generating capacity to cope with the massive extra demand.
The answer is possibly to have even greater thermal efficiency of properties. This would reduce the amount of fuel needed, of whatever sort, to keep the places warm and water hot.
If we have got to use gas I personally would prefer a 'home grown' supply rather than it being imported. I don't know enough about fracking to claim it is either safe or unsafe and I guess very few of us, including most of the protestors do either. What I do know is that earthquakes, one of the anti fracking concerns, occur in Britain at the the average rate of approximately 1 every 2 days of varying magnitudes and locations. The latest of these was a magnitude of 2.8 at Fryup in North Yorkshire and was obviously nothing to do with fracking. I haven't heard any screams of horror that the walls are going to come tumbling down.
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Guilty as charged. Sorry - but not a lot!
I'm not being thus from loyalty to any party, however, just objecting to the way things are going, and I did blame previous gov'ts of both colours.
But an apology - I think I conflated the case of the jailed Fracking protesters (just successfully appealed and the sentence turned over) where the judge has family links to oil industry and fracking, with the gov't decision to go ahead. I don't think that was judicial. Apologies for misinformation.
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It’s not me you need to apologise to for breeching the guidelines. I’m surprised your post hasn’t been Deleted User. You’re lucky.
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To ignore scientific predictions regarding the very limited quantities of gas and oil remaining underground, predicting its use for generations to come, is simultaneously naive and technically correct. New fields of fossil fuels will undoubtedly be found. But for reasons of access and more expensive extraction, prices will rise. While consumers will initially shoulder this burden, over time, there will be a migration away from gas for domestic energy, with the last stalwarts being those least able to afford upgrades to electricity. With consumption reducing, our finite supplies of gas and oil will last longer than currently predicted. Converging with these changes will come state intervention to preserve dwindling supplies for use where alternatives aren’t practical, such as aviation. Electrically powered land transport, powered from renewable resources is likely to be our only choice. Domestic cooking will probably rely on electricity, while an increasing number of buildings, including housing estates will require centralised heat pumps. If you can’t visualise all of that extra pipe work spoiling our cities, take a trip to Dresden, where it’s a reality.
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I suppose we shall all have to stop caravanning and motorhoming then.
With the dire performance of all electric vehicles, and the dire prospect of any improvement, there won't be anything powerful enough or with a reasonable range, powered purely by electricity, to carry on with our pastime. All other types of vehicle will be banned by our London based political lords and masters who have lots of public transport and who don't give a sh*t about those in the rest of the country.
Is the Club setting up recharging points on its sites?
The techies really don't seem to have gone much further than the old milk float.
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I am also of the opinion that our planet goes through phases of warming and cooling. But it cannot be ignored that we are polluting the planet with our waste. This has gone on for years before it was recognised as an environmental threat. Now that it has been exposed, much urgent work needs to be done to repair the damage. I am not a "Green" - I just see the state of the planet as it truly is.
On the subject of how it may affect our future leisure pursuits; some aspects can be foreseen. EVs will develop. I can't see the prospects of towing large, or even medium sized, caravans, and I believe (although we are caravaners) that the smaller camper vans will become very popular. There have been periodic warnings that we can look forward to electricity power cuts, so how this fits in with an immense rise in EVs can only suggest increased difficulties. Campervans, and particularly heavier motorhomes, will need recharging at relatively short intervals. Peak holiday times could become a nightmare as more vehicles than there are charging points stack up at M-way services. Will thousands of us go galloping through France as we do now? Whatever happens will largely depend on the outcome of a three-cornered fight between government, the "Greens", and those who simply want to get on with their lives. CMC might even become MC.
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I’ve just stumbled across the following, published by NASA. Which puts the belief that the earth is just going through another, natural, warming cycle, into a scientific perspective.
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The biggest threat to this Earth of ours is pollution of the sea, and the land. That is what we should be concentrating on. Urgently !!
The earth has natural cycles of heating up and cooling down and has had for billions of years ------ so stopping having BBQ's, Wood Burning Stoves, Driving Cars, using Ships and Aircraft as some of the PC obsessed lot are suggesting, will make absolutely no difference.
If those people want to deny themselves those things, by all means carry on,---- but don't try and force others to do likewise.
K
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Perhaps the question is "which will get us first, plastic or CO2?"
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Re your post and plastic Cyber, we recently watched this documentary;
https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b0bmbn47
The program shows, very graphically, the plastic problem which you refer to. Those poor Sheerwater chicks can be so laden with it that they can’t even take off. It was a very disturbing documentary to watch, even for those of us who have had concerns for several years. You don’t have to be an eco-warrior to recognise the enormity of the problems which we are creating for ourselves. You just need to pay attention to the facts.
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You cannot blame the people of countries like china, wanting the same leave of life style as most in the developed world has.
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It’s nothing to do with blaming the people. It’s the policy makers who need to instigate change.
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Sorry but what is relevant is pollution per person, per population, and pollution is more then just CO2
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But you were responding to my earlier post which was referring to some countries, eg China, as a whole.
"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."
That is not the same thing as personal responsibility and it is doubtful if many ordinary folk in certain countries are aware of the issues and certainly I don’t lay any blame on them. Guidance and direction has to come from the policy makers, hence my referral to 'countries'.
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Here’s some food for thought regarding the much vilified Chinese;
Annual Carbon Dioxide emissions in Tonnes per person
UK 7.1
China 7.6
USA 16.4
The Chinese government are making strenuous efforts to manage their pollution down. But with their huge population their total pollution is bound to be high.
Britain, as a modern country could be doing worse. We create less pollution per capita than Germany. For the real criminals look at Australia, North America and the Arab states.
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