Those wind turbines and electric cars don't look so eco-friendly now....

A study after COP26 said the carbon footprint of the richest 1% was 30 times higher than what's needed to limit global warming to 1.5c. You could say, the vast majority of the worlds population are not the issue but were expected to do more to protect the life styles of the few.

 

Is this your point @gks ? I can't argue with it and am 100% with you, unless .... you are saying we're not required to do anything?

 

By reducing our carbon footprint internally we have increased it globally of which we have no control of, which is inline with the topic.
The government set a target in the first carbon budget to reduce carbon emissions by 78% by 2035 compared to 1990 levels, so theoretically with a reduction of 50% we are heading down the right path but when you take into account imports peaked in 2007 due to offshoring we have only reduced them by 11%. So, now as a country we are becoming more dependent on imports, when we should of been going down the route of food and energy security.

 

Nope, we should all try to do our bit regardless, it's just there are some that can do far more than many of us will ever be able to achieve.

 

The problem is, it is so easy to say, it is not my problem, there is nothing I can do, the government has to sort it.
If everybody did something, that would be a start. Small step change, by everyone, can make a massive difference.

 

Totally agree with this ....

 

We've done what we can to reduce our road miles but as there is no public transport here we have to rely on cars. All the shops and services are too far to go on foot or cycle even if I didn't have new knees.

We have improved the insulation in this house and installed PV panels and a new hot water tank heated by heat exhange thingy. we consume a bit of national grid leccy in the coldest, darkest part of the year if it's wet and grey. We only heat rooms in use, wear extra layers in winter and use rugs when parked on the sofa so our CH fuel consumption has gone down by about half.

We have a large vegetable plot so can grow a lot of our own fruit and veg and do it all without chemicals. We leave large areas of no mow grass so that cuts some emissions too.

Our four hens provide us with eggs and poo for activating compost heaps. We compost as much as possible and recycle as much as possible, either in the wheelie bin which is emptied fortnightly or by taking it to the recycling centre. Our land-fill wheelie bin is half the size and also emptied fortnightly but is rarely more than half full.

What does worry me is that France seems to export a lot of its "recyclable waste" to the far east or Africa where i'm sure it ends up polluting lives and rivers there instead of here. That needs fixing.

 

I wouldn't say that it's not my problem, but even if everyone in UK and Western Europe 'did their bit' it's a drop in the ocean compared to the damage being done by Asia and America. Neither of those continents will be inclined to radically change. If that's what you mean by 'everyone', then it's not going to happen, and I'm damned if I'm going to be made to feel guilty or live like a troglodyte so I can join in with the current trend for virtue signalling.

 

I totally disagree that it has anything to do with virtue signalling [ which is just a horrible way of saying, trying to do the right thing] It is nothing to do with living like a troglodyte and everything to do with making small changes to your life, to help save the planet.
How do you know that there are not lots of Americans who feel the same, because I think there are?

 

Once the expression virtue signalling gets trotted out then we can agree you're not coming from a position of wanting to have a positive conversation about the future of the planet. Green measures shouldn't be divisive they should ideally unite us to go after the super polluters but to also improve our local environment.

A very tangible goal is the dire quality of bodies of water around the UK that has galvanised many local communities to stand up to the Environment Agency and the water companies. We need to harness this kind of collaborative spirit to make any inroads with any green initiatives, it affects us all we can't just delegate everything to the government.

One of the few clever things Labour has come up with is that any local schemes for producing green energy have to benefit the community that is hosting the installation. We need that kind of reform that gives local areas a sense of achievement and positive change. The overall conversation otherwise turns into a very unhelpful generalised argument that is very opaque to read by most people.

 

My carbon footprint is smallish due to the fact everything is so expensive these days, so I dont think its a choice that I'm making its something I have been forced into.

I could spend my life savings putting in new heating system, solar panels. buy an EV.
But by then I would be broke, and I dont want to spend the last years of my life huddled in one room with a blanket wrapped around me, that is not what I saved for.

I find most of this agenda that governments have whipped up to be quite false, as they are doing nothing regarding world population, its like weeing on a bonfire and throwing petrol on the other side.
Bloody dangerous.

 

France also exports the highest quantities of hazardous waste out of all the EU Member States. I am not sure much of the waste generated in the EU ends up in the far east as previously, Turkey seems to be the main destination for waste from the EU states. To think that waste from the EU to non EU countries has increased by 75% in the last 20 years, but imports of waste into the EU have decreased. Yet there has been tendency to blame all the polluting of sea's and rivers at the doorstep of the Far East, hence why they will not except as much waste from the EU anymore.

 

"these people"?

 

I think you need to read back and see what people I am referring to.

 

Sorry Pete, you're going to have to help me out - I've gone back through the thread and can't find 'these people'...