It occurred to me that I've said almost nothing about the environment. And you may wonder what the EU flag is to do with this. More about that, later.........Like so many people, up and down the land, I'm still struggling, as I'm confronted with a myriad of different rubbish containers. Bags, wheelie bins, white sacks with pink writing, white sacks with green writing and little bins. I spend more time being informed what I can't put in, rather than what I can.
Oh yes, and they're about to ban plastic carrier bags from supermarkets. The reason is that that are bad for the environment.
"Oh, so what do I put my rubbish in then?" I asked.
"Black plastic bags"
"Ah yes, don't tell me, aisle 14, next to the Persil?"
"Now you're gettin' it!" winked the checkout lady.
So now I'm paying for black plastic bags that don't break down.
That'll help!
I have always agreed that something must be done. But this does my head in. Like anything new, we should expect to be on a learning curve.... (God! how I hate that expression! I hope I don't say "level playing field"..) I am sure that it's top of the agenda....
During the mid-seventies, I saw the firm I worked for throwing out wooden crates and burning them in a field behind the factory! A double tragedy. If they were intent on burning them, couldn't they at least burn them in a furnace attached to a generator?
If they generated greenhouses gas that way, at least this would be partly offset by the saved electricity. Even in those days, the Netherlands were racing ahead of us in adopting, what we now call carbon offsetting practices, in the workplace. The Dutch seemed to be able generate megawatts of power from almost any waste. Dear old England always said that it wouldn't work on this side of the North Sea. The main reason why it didn't work in Britain was that they never even bothered. So I guess they were right!
I joined Labour in 1982. My local party then talked endlessly about the Sandinistas in Nicaragua, fighting the Imperialist American-backed contras. I sided with the Sandinistas, sure, but I wasn't that sure how to get more local issues onto the floor. After the meetings, I asked the question. "How much better off are the people of Chelmsford, now, compared to before the meeting?" At least one was worse off. Labour meetings really did take place in smoke-filled rooms!
Neither Labour or Conservative governments of the day seemed remotely interested in adpoting the Netherland's energy saving practices. I don't recall any Liberal comment either. In many other European countries at that time, there was some movement of policies, that would be helpful in at least, slowing down the huge waste and environmental damage. But not dear old Britain.
In Britain, recycling, through the 80's and 90's, was still perceived to be very "brown rice, brown sandal brigade" led. Perhaps people were worried that they might have to re-use toilet paper? Britain, even today, is still the laziest recycler in Europe, despite any government spin to the contrary. To the government's credit though, there has been significant improvement.
Wind power.Various people commented that wind power
would never work.
"We don't have enough wind in this country" they said.
"We do, just attach a wind turbine to the House Of Commons!"
I am very proud of that comeback!
They would still argue that in the 1970's we didn't have good enough technology. Probably true, but at least we would've known that the technology would improve in the future. We would be investing into a wind power infrastructure. The level of technology would've been more likely, even higher, as the research and development in the field is always better.
I am glad to see that these wind critic's arguments have been blown away!
Britain's record shows that no nation state can, alone, would be able to enact, enforce and most importantly, punish polluters. If the EU can take a central role in this, then we can, at least in Europe, look forward to the promise of environmental recovery.
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