Environment v quality of life
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+ 1 TTDA !!
When I was on Emergency Call Outs, I always did the Winter Driving Practice up the A54 to Buxton then back on the A537. Always good to get back into Snow Mode before it reached into lowland Cheshire !! But it could get a bit hairy at times
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Easy tips for doing nothing-
bury head in sand
blame everyone else
trash any arguement to the contrary
spread duff information
spin and spin again
actively popularise fake news
sit back and enjoy your life, sleep easy and have no conscience or thought for those who follow
Now who/what does that remind us of!
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+1🤷🏻♂️🤔
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+1
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we have many, many, houses being built near us....who buys them at the prices they are set at? where do these thousands of folk work, theres no industry/serious employment in any of the places the building is taking place as far as i can make out.
are you saying they are/will be standing empty?
I suspect it is people with the money/jobs to do so (probably headteachers
). And why not? I suppose I think the same idle thoughts when I pass by my local Marquis dealer a few miles away, motorhomes all priced at £50000 plus on the front row, this is in a very, what's the word, 'industrial and cheaper housing' area where the average wage will be far far below the cost of the motorhomes on sale. Who buys them? Yet unless they shuffle their stock around every week or so they do.
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Unfortunately the economic facts speak for themself. London and the South East account for about 40% of the UK economy. Yorkshire,Humber and the North East account for less than 10% The whole point of having modern train infrastructure is to try and spread that economic benefit further north. That is not to say that making improvement to the northern rail network is not also essential to maximise the benefits of the HS2 project. Now we live in interesting times and it is possible that parts of HS2 will be cancelled. My guess would be that it will be the northern elements of the project that will fall and the London to Birmingham section will be built as some elements are well advanced. If my scenario is correct how does that benefit the north? It is often thought that London and the South East have the monopoly of infrastructure products but in the nineties the Tyne and Wear Metro was the largest transport infrastructure in the Country.
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Surely the Politicians are only responsible for their own attitude to ‘saving the planet’ they can’t really make it illegal not to take every measure to help the planet heal🤷🏻♂️
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They don’t control all Humans, it’s down to individuals to act. To pop at the Govts & leaders is pointless as President Trump proved its meaningless by blanking Greta Thunberg. She needs to just do her thing not attack those who don’t care.
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Things can and do change, history proves the mighty and seemingly untouchables can fall, sometimes by the actions of mere 'ordinary' folk or the likes of Greta. If anything she needs to up her game and keep the heat on those that don't care. She will need to carry the weight of the masses with her mind, that's the challenge . She's got me!
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Corner steady
Personally there is only so much any individual can make do.
Though the personal argument is used by those that want to do nothing, but expect others to do something
The issue is that great, that any actions taken at a minimum needs to be national government lead, so everyone has to do it, not just those that care0 -
I’ve just stumbled on this old post, which might enjoy a new perspective now that we’ve experienced lockdown.
If there’s one thing that working from home has taught us, it’s that a large proportion of travel (I’ve not said ALL) could be reduced through sensible use of technology. Was/ is HS2 as vital as once cited, were our A14 traffic congestion gantries costing £1m each necessary in an era where phones and Sat Navs bring better capability Into your own car. Did we need to spend so much time polluting the atmosphere with our cars, is a bit less pace Inefficient? How impossible would it be to introduce a Swiss style recycling system where waste bags are expensive and small, creating a culture of compaction and selective disposal.
Speaking personally, I’ve found that lower traffic noise, cleaner air, less frequent shopping and a bit more gardening have all been life improving. Lockdown may not have reduced bovine methane creation, nor saved the Amazon rainforests from the joint threats of cattle farming and soya bean growing, but it’s helping to reduce CO2 creation, which can’t be a bad thing.
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JennyC
It depends I suppose on whether companies see the benefit of lots of the things that have been learnt over the COVID period. My eldest son has been working at home since the start of lockdown. He has the sort of job that can be done from home but there are elements of the work that need consultations with colleagues which is currently being done online. Another part of his work involves site visits which of course haven't taken place during lockdown and again the internet has come into play. He thinks it has not unnoticed by clients that they are no longer being charged for two people to travel 50 miles each way to attend a site meeting and if it can be done over internet during COVID why does it need to revert to spending the best part of a day driving and holding a meeting when as much can be achieved via a video link in an hour probably? It won't stop site visits completely. If home working is seen not to have a negative impact on productivity or perhaps more positively seen to increase productivity then perhaps companies will recognise the benefit. The positives from that is that smaller offices will be needed, employees will only need to commute for a day or two a week. Will it be necessary to have your HQ in London? So all sorts of things could come from this. But we will still need good transport communications.
David
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I’m sure that I won’t be alone in agreeing with all that you say David. While I hear that there are managers who believe that some staff will be doing less at home, the reverse will be true for many. When an excess beset me while I was working, I often spent a few days blitzing the backlog, at home. I’m sure that there are people in both camps. As office footprints have reduced through ‘hot desking’, right now ‘social distancing’ has absorbed free space created through part time attendance. Certainly office space adds considerably to operating costs. Reduced travel should reduce the strain on our transport systems, but is likely to reduce income for rail companies, motorway stops etc. Whatever emerges from the ashes, for many, such discussions are irrelevant because they aren’t doing jobs which can be done from home. Worse still must be conditions for people who have been locked down in flats, without gardens. I remember hiking with my children, when my daughter stopped to adjust her rucksack straps. “Does it help?” I asked. “Well it moves the pain somewhere else” she replied. Maybe the same will be said, post Covid. I hope that we can do a bit better than that.
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