in General

Environmentalism = Responsibility.

Usually I don’t commentate much of politics, but after seeing Channel 4’s “The Great Climate Change Swindle” the other night, I felt that the programme was some how missing the point.

The programme was very interesting watching. Essentially, the programme says that the whole climate change thing is a figment of everyone’s imaginations, and that authoritative IPCC report published last month isn’t worth the paper it’s written on, etc.

The issue over whether climate change exists or not is not really one I can comment on, partly because I’m not a scientist – but mostly I don’t understand the whole issue, especially if people on the left of the debate say it is happening and people on the right say it isn’t happening, or it isn’t happening as fast as predicted, or man isn’t responsible.

I believe the whole environmental issue is so wrapped up in the whole debate over climate change, it’s forgetting the point.

In my opinion. Climate Change isn’t the issue. The issue is one of environmental responsibility.

Is man responsible for CO2 emissions? I don’t know.
Is carbon trading a waste of time, and doesn’t resolve the true problems? I don’t know.
Is environmentalism some kind of smoke screen to allow communism and anti-capitalism to get into power? I sure hope not.

Currently there is a big debate about who’s fault it is, is it happening, is it happening as fast as they say it is, and is it all some kind of big tax con?

But in the middle, there is a concenous that both sides have largely forgotten about. And that is, that we must take responsibility for the Earth that we inhabit.

These issues are not about climate change, but about managing Earth’s resources; and these, in my view, should be central to changing our society (if indeed we want to change at all).

I hope that both sides of the climate change argument can agree that we must resolve these issues. And fast. If we resolve these issues, perhaps climate change reduction can happen at the same time, without hefty taxation.

  • Landfills. We’re already used up most of our landfills. A majority of our waste is put into massive landfills in China. We gotta stop filling up landfills like this, and start reducing packaging, and increasing recycling
  • Water pollution. What can we do to reduce water pollution, and ensure that water is clean and readily accessible, even to those on less than a dollar a day?
  • Cars & Air Pollution Should we be still using leaded/unleaded petrol, diesel? Is LPG any better? If so, how long will it take to get it as the UK’s standard fuel? Why hasn’t the government put a 5-year cut off date for the fuels that are causing smog, and pollution?
  • Deforestation. Cutting down the rainforest to quench our thirst for paper must be rethought. Can recycling help? What about e-paper?
  • Population. At what point is population going to be a problem for Earth, and her resources? What is the maximum threshold and what should we do about it, if anything?
  • Food. GM foods is said to solve world hunger. But is GM foods going to be free? If not, how can it solve world hunger? It is said that there is enough food for everyone. So why is world hunger so hard to resolve?
  • Recycling. Recycling should be made easy. Regular collections of waste material from households. Incentives like a lottery or some kind of prize would help with recycling

There are tons of other topics, topics which are more to do about managing resources, rather than arguing whether one issue (ie: climate change) is happening or not.

If we can get past this whole issue of whether climate change does or does not exist, perhaps we can actually resolve the issue of responsibility, management and just start taking more care of what little we have.