The Environment - Your Thoughts ?

[Selby White]

Following on from the friendly debate on the blaba thread with regards to the Extinction Rebellion Protests thought it be a good idea to start a thread to discuss all our opinions on the Environment.

Just to get us started (please feel free to add) a few questions to start the debate, answer which you have an opinion on -

What do you believe ?

Do you think the Extinction Rebellion people are going about things the right way ?

What do you do to help the environment ?

What things do you believe we should all be doing to help ?

Can we as a nation really do much to help while the likes of China & America and Brazil continue to cut down the rain forest ?

Is over population the reason that the environment is suffering, so should family size be limited ?
Is the potential end game just natures way to limit population ?

[Selby White]

To get us started -

I agree with those that are against the protests, not a fan of mass protests because like most of these things it ends badly because whatever the good intentions of organisers it more often than not gets hijacked by the usual suspects intent on trouble.
Also I agree with others when what you do has a effect on others lives its not the way to win hearts and minds.

However its my belief we should all do something but it must be all the world. If it is only one or two countries they would just suffer economically the world has got to work together. If a few wont play ball then the rest so refuse any trade (either direction) with them.
Similar thing happened when the Western countries introduced more health and safety in industry yet we continued to import cheaper goods from countries with no workers rights virtually destroying our factories, putting people on the scrap heap.

[Deleted User 2747]

The issues regarding climate change have not just popped up over night, it has not just started with extinction rebellion.

This movement has grown out of frustration that this ever increasing threat to the planet has not been taken seriously by the powers that be.

The human race continues to take Mother Earth for granted, raid its natural resources destroying its natural balance and endanger countless species.

This is the future of the planet and the future of the younger generations that is at stake.

[johnh]

To get us started -

I agree with those that are against the protests, not a fan of mass protests because like most of these things it ends badly because whatever the good intentions of organisers it more often than not gets hijacked by the usual suspects intent on trouble.
Also I agree with others when what you do has a effect on others lives its not the way to win hearts and minds.

However its my belief we should all do something but it must be all the world. If it is only one or two countries they would just suffer economically the world has got to work together. If a few wont play ball then the rest so refuse any trade (either direction) with them.
Similar thing happened when the Western countries introduced more health and safety in industry yet we continued to import cheaper goods from countries with no workers rights virtually destroying our factories, putting people on the scrap heap.

Good post SW. I would be a lot more understanding of Extinction Rebellion if it was making some efforts to tackle countries like China and India who probably create more climate change damage than all other countries combined. Instead, they cause aggravation and disruption back here where our record on climate change issues could be better but isn't that bad.

[johnh]

I see Extinction Rebellion has stopped the delivery of certain papers today. The Mirror and Guardian not affected though. Political dictatorship springs to mind. This sums ER up. Force people to accept their view, I suppose it's easier than winning hearts and minds through debate.

[Deleted User 10260]

Think ER are actually having a negative effect and turn people against what is a good cause. Their protests are often hypocritical, block the roads in London causing mass traffic jams just pumps all those exhaust fumes into the atmosphere.
Then of course the clearing up afterwards, remember seeing the aftermath of one of their protests prior to covid and the amount of litter left was scandalous, not much recycling done then and suspect it'll be the same this time.

Still I believe its something that really needs addressing as others have said though its a world problem.

What about a worldwide ban on plastics for a start.

From our own point UK of view would like to see all new house builds be forced by law to include solar panels, high level loft insulation, cavity insulation again to high standard and triple glazed windows.

[Selby White]

I see Extinction Rebellion has stopped the delivery of certain papers today. The Mirror and Guardian not affected though. Political dictatorship springs to mind. This sums ER up. Force people to accept their view, I suppose it's easier than winning hearts and minds through debate.

Talking of recycling what about serving our Fish & Chips in old newspapers, I'm sure its been done before

Although that is a little bit tongue in cheek I do think a lot of old ways are superior if we are talking looking after the environment, certainly packaging on takeaways needs looking at. As for the litter in town after the weekend i really think the takeaway outlets should be held accountable and taxed accordingly to pay for the streets been cleaned.

Also think Milk needs to go back to use again glass bottles rather than plastic, in fact if we go back to milk deliveries it would take power from supermarkets (part of the problem) and create jobs.
Same thing beer needs to be in bottles with a returnable deposit sold from pubs and off licences, again let supermarkets deal with groceries and allow others outlets to grow.
Some countries around the world now do deposits on wine to encourage returns.

[johnh]

In Maidenhead our waste collection is very well managed. We have a separate bin for paper and cardboard, plastic and glass. Never ceases to amaze me how much goes in there every week for just two of us.

[Barlow Boy]

In Maidenhead our waste collection is very well managed. We have a separate bin for paper and cardboard, plastic and glass. Never ceases to amaze me how much goes in there every week for just two of us.

Ditto, Sir John, obviously we have the green bin too which presumably you have also. There is no excuse for people not recycling.

[Selby White]

In Maidenhead our waste collection is very well managed. We have a separate bin for paper and cardboard, plastic and glass. Never ceases to amaze me how much goes in there every week for just two of us.

Same here John, of our four wheelie bins they collect the Grey (household waste) & Green bin (garden) every two weeks but to be honest i only put the household waste out every 4 or even 6 weeks as not much goes in it (which shows we are recycling a lot of our waste). On the other hand the garden waste is always full but that is fine as nothing in there that will damage the environment.

The other two bins Brown (paper & card) and blue (glass, plastic & tins) go out every 4 weeks. The brown one is rarely full unless weve had a few deliveries and a box or two to cut up.
However the blue one is always full, its amazing how much plastic and glass packaging we get through. We previously had a separate boxes which were collected every two weeks with the plastics having their own but since moving to the wheelie bins I believe they have a machine that now does the separation. I'm a big believer in plastic packaging needs eliminating asap even if its a more expensive alternative.

Other stuff we have a well organised council tip where you can take most things and put in designated skips, think most areas are the same and it really irritates me when I see results of people fly tipping, no excuse in my opinion.

Going back to the bins I do feel sorry for those with not much garden or yard space, we are fine as have a decent area for them but some homes don't so i think area communal skips would be good for those.