re-use, re-pair, re-cycle, re-buttal

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Apparently the boffins are now claiming that man’s pollution is having diddly squat effect on the whole global warming malarky. Which gives rise to that subset of internews that revolves around the idea that global warming is a hoax perpetrated by government to make businesses pay more tax.
The point that seems to be missed on a daily basis by both extremes is – does it matter what the exact long term result will be? Whether our pollution is killing our earth or not, is not the finer subtext of the whole argument the question of whether we want to live in clean or dirty air? Isn’t the most important part of the equation the quality of life of not just the rich majority, but every child on this planet?
It can’t ever been seen as a bad thing to cut down on our pollution. There can’t be a loser in a cleaner and greener environment. And the process of working towards this point doesn’t have to be immediate, but it does need to be a path on which we travel and don’t deviate.
Right now there is rubbish being brought back from Brazil where a company in the UK quietly sent it. Toxic and harmful rubbish. Until there is a way to shoot our garbage straight into the sun – the universe’s largest and cleanest incinerator, then we really have to look at a way to cut down on all the crap we leave behind. We really could end up like the planet in Wall-e
Some of the worlds biggest polluters are third world countries, who without the income their industries bring in would suffer a massive blight to their quality of life. Their outputs are cheap, which is why the western world use them, and this means there isn’t much leftover to research cleaner processes. 
As the perpetrators of this commercial relationship, therefore we should all be working together to bring advances to all industry. And we shouldn’t therefore expect that £2 t-shirts are a right. What on earth makes the average person think that a t-shirt – sewn by a person, using woven cotton grown in a field – is worth a mere £2? Disposable fashion is very much a culprit in lowering the expectations the average shopper has, and increasing their righteous feelings of “entitlement”.
Where we live (my family) is the burbs, but it has a village atmosphere. We have a car, which gets used, but fortunately not very often. We walk to school, walk to swimming lessons, walk to the park, walk to the library, and walk to the local shops. On Wednesday’s my daughter goes to drama, where we can’t walk or catch public transport, so we drive. But we take 3 other children along with us. Generally there is one car taking all 4 girls there and then back again on most weeks. 
And I’d buy a hybrid car in a heartbeat if I could afford one.
Our council has just changed their recycling collection to include food waste as a seperate box, so that we now have four different collections – paper, plastic, food and everything else. This is a good change, but many people find the sorting and dividing a hassle.
The argument that most average people give back when told to be cleaner and greener is that their small efforts make no difference. But who grew up with the saying “take care of the pennies/cents and the pounds/dollars will take care of themselves” ? All those small efforts add up and make one big change.
But at the heart of this problem it’s not idividuals, but businesses that are against changing. Because to make industry greener requires money, and they don’t want to spend it. So they’ll argue that industry isn’t causing any more problem than the collected fart gas from the local pig farm. But whether we as a society are responsible for killing off the ozone layer, the greenhouse gases, global warming, Johnny’s asthma or Mr Spiggot’s cat at number 33, don’t we all agree that we don’t want to live on a filthy planet?
Categories: environmental stuff

2 Comments

  • Ingrid says:

    I absolutely agree with your blog post. I am the kind of person who likes to “think green” myself. I am both hands and feet for the whole recycling, re-using etc, and I must say that from the first time that I adapted this new way of thinking (more nature friendly that is) I feel a much more happier person 🙂
    I mean yes I agree, people don’t like the whole hustle and bustle that comes with recycling.. because they haven’t tried it!! They have not given it a chance. I bet that if people just did that for a week, they would not go any other way.
    Thank you for sharing your thoughts, it made all think too 🙂
    Btw, you have a really nice stylish blog 🙂 Nice to read, I’ll be sure to visit u again.
    Take care,
    Ingrid

  • alison says:

    Thanks for your comment!
    I think that there are so many things that might be a little bit more effort, but are generally always worth it. It’s like cooking a meal from scratch as opposed to peeling back the cellophane and microwaving one. The former has GOT to taste better!