it's not easy being green

I'm no climate change expert and I'm not jumping on anyone's bandwagon here. I'm just one of those people (most of us) that can't make head nor tail of the variety of viewpoints and mountains of statistics. I'm not sure whether I'm coming or going with the ever-changing, ambiguous demands on my 'green' responsibilities. So this Blog covers a lot of points... all of which are relevant to me in my 3 bed semi in the home counties.

How much do you work to reduce your carbon footprint? Don't tell me, answer the question for yourself...truthfully. Except for a relative few of us who are living in green houses in the forests of Alaska or somewhere, I can't help feeling that the rest of us are just chasing our tails.

I'm not the most green person you'll ever find. I appreciate that climate change is happening, but I'm just not convinced that it's man-made. The seas once covered far more land than they do today, and it quite possibly will again. That's just the cyclical nature of the universe. The ice-caps melted about 10,000 years ago... they probably lost about 80% of the ice in the great melt that we call the end of the ice age. A dramatically, and at least equally, cataclysmic event to that we face today (the ice caps once came down as far as Finchley Road tube station). Not man made, and the earth survived to flourish. So do I feel that we should be trying to be green? I think it's a very noble cause and I am a great believer that we are tenants on this beautiful planet and, like all life forms, probably transient and not necessary to the long-term scheme in the bigger, cosmic picture. If we don't look after the planet, Mother Earth won't hesitate to evict us and clean up the mess herself. Saving the planet isn't about saving the planet; it's about saving ourselves... I think planet is more than capable of saving itself.

My issue is the way we are being green. we're recycling and yet the supermarkets are full of unrecyclable packaging (5 layers on 1 easter egg!!) so are we making any kind of a dent in that area. we are turning our thermostats down a degree, and insulating our lofts and so on, whilst we are at the same time buying Sky multi-room or running PCs, TVs, PS3s, washing machines, dishwashers, air conditioning units, cars (multiple per household) and so on and on. it seems our consumption individually is going up... so are we really off-setting anything? Are we even reducing any levels of output? (and if you've got evidence for me here I'm happy to listen...just make it easy to understand, please?) We want to be green, as long as it doesn't impact our lifestyle too much.. I need the car! I deserve an exotic holiday I've worked for it! I don't recall any companies banning travel to meetings to reduce their carbon footbprints, but I know of a few who did just that and turned their whole organisations to web conferencing as soon as the recession hit! They did it not to save the planet, but to save costs! And the government would have us believe that they can off-set the impact of a new runway and a new terminal at Heathrow airport (possibly in previously mentioned forests of Alaska...but not over Hayes or Ashford or West Drayton or any one of the other towns about to be brought under the umbrella of the new air routes/take off and landing paths (or whatever they call them)...

I suspect that our varying degrees of commitment to the green cause are directly related to the levels of guilt we personally feel for the planet (or the arrogant ignorance of the belief that we can actually really make a difference against the gigantic forces that make our climate system) or how much we believe anything we're told by any alleged authority.

The Governmental scaremongering around climate change and saving the planet also provides quickly justifiable taxes on our rubbish. There are a number of holes in this one:
First, the people who will be hit hardest will be the ones who can barely afford it already. Families with children. And the more children you have, the more your household expenses and the more your rubbish tax!
Second, we are being penalised and taxed for something outside of our own individual control. we don't ask for 5 layers of plastic around an easter egg and its contents, but we have to throw it out!

Why don't the supermarkets provide big bins for the disposal of their own packaging? And they can get the food processors, packagers and distributors to pay towards them.

Of course there is something WE could do...but it goes back to changing our habits and lifestyles. Food never came with all this packaging in the past. As life got faster and more demanding, we needed fast, processed, frozen and storable food. Once upon a time we went to buy fresh vegetables on a daily basis and we got seasonal vegetables - the only ones that grew at that time of year. Now we can have vegetables nicely stored and packed to make them last longer. We could change our lifestyles but I suspect it's a move too far out of our comfort zones for all but a very rare, time-rich, few of us.

Should we be green? Yes...we shold show Mother Earth all the respect she commands.

Are we doing enough? I say yes on our own individual scale (for those of us that have some green or social conscience). Are we reducing carbon outputs? Not on your life!

Is there any way out? Potentially...but you won't like it. Fossil fuels are disappearing and there will be a shortage in the next 30 years or so... shortages that will make the 70's power cuts look like a walk in the park at noon at summer solstace. There simply won't be enough energy to go around. I doubt renewable energy sources will be able to fulfill all energy needs if we continue our usage patterns, and procreation patterns at that, along ouf current trends.

1 child per household
1 TV per household
1 radio/music system per household
1 car per household
PCs at home only - none allowed in the office (encourage a home-working culture and reduce commuting)
Choice of Playstation/X-Box/Nintendo/Wii/ or other - 1 per household

Heating provided to each household at agreed times only (times agreed one an individual household basis)
Lighting at pre-agreed times.

Would anyone actually agree to all this? Probably not. But as long as we are all living like this, accept that our place on this planet, like the dinosaurs and so many other now extinct species, is temporary and but a phase in the bigger cosmic/universal evolution that we enable. We are a cog; we are not the machine!