Climate Change....who cares (?)

By Mohammed M-Hasan on Apr 16, 08 12:06 PM in Economics

No really, who does care, or cares enough? (BTW, thanks to Paul Groves for his comments which have arisen me from a mid day slumber today)

I do not mean Greenpeace, or the many campaigners (open toe sandal brigade as someone lovingly called them the other day) or politicians (actually I am not entirely convinced that most national politicians care, I just think they have figured out it is a great way to raise taxes).

I mean who really cares:

Does anyone care enough to rip off the packaging of their vegetables and leave it all at the supermarket checkout?

Or enough to take all their shopping bags back the next time?

Or do they care enough that they will not buy imported food due to the carbon impact (no more strawberries in the off season)

Or do they care enough to rinse and then flush just once after their daily constitutional?

Or (and this is my personal favourtie), do you care enough to not buy Fairtrade because of the distance it travels or to totally boycott coffee for the same reason?

Or do you care enough to order tap water when you are in the finest restaurant in town?

My guess: no not really, we do not care enough, or understand enough or are just so cynical by having to continuously pay more 'green taxes' which do little to help the environment, that there is little chance of wholesale changes to our habits and that which makes us comfortable.

And does green make economic sense for the real citizen?

I seem to recall that there was a near 75% subsidy (apologies if my number is wrong but it was thereabouts) if you wanted to get your car converted to LPG. Not anymore, or atleast not one that I can find a trace of.

And where do green taxes go except to fill up official coffers?

In Spain for example, green taxes pay to employ people at recycling sites to sort out the different recyclable materials which are dumped. (No rubbish mind you, just recyclable materials).

Here, we have to pay more tax and sort it ourselves and the reality is that since we cannot do without processed plastics and other materials, we have to continue to pay the tax.

A friend of mine takes most of his rubbish to the local tip/recycling center. Every envelope is recycled, every piece of cardboard and recently most cartons of milk as well. Why is he not rewarded with a council tax discount?

No wonder people get cynical. Are you already there or will you change my mind?

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7 Comments

Tom Scotney said:

Spot on, people care about green issues right up to the point that it incoveniences them too much. And who can blame them?

This is why green taxes are so popular - make someone else pay for it, so I don't have to worry myself with personal responsibility.

April 16, 2008 1:25 PM

Emma said:

Who can blame them?

Perhaps our children and grandchildren who will inherit a whole wealth of problems because we are too lazy/ignorant to curb our excesses. :(

April 16, 2008 1:48 PM

Mik Barton said:

I care. But I'm not perfect.

I do still drink coffee and tea - and I have yet to cause a scene in Sainsbury's by ripping all the packaging off and leaving it in the aisle.

But I do leave the car at home more than I used to (I built a bike shed out of partly recycled timber). My business uses 100 per cent renewable energy, recycled paper and we don't leave equipment on standby. I also opt for European rather than Chilean or Australian wine.

Yes I could do a lot more - but that doesn't mean I should give up on the positive steps I, my family and my business have already taken.

True, some politicians only pay lip service to climate change - and many have only woken up to the issue since it became more of a vote winner - but there have been some positive steps.

About 70 or 80 percent of our rubbish, by volume, is now recycled. We have a thriving compost bin and all plastic, paper, glass and cans are collected for recycling by the council.

It may not always make economic sense. I do it for my kids.

April 16, 2008 1:57 PM

Paul Groves said:

At the risk of sounding like someone else's grandmother - again - "don't care was made to care".
My biggest gripe is that politicians and to a certain extent the corporate world have adopted a "do as I say, don't do as I do" approach to all things environmental. They say all the right things, dictate to us what we should be doing and then fail to act on their advice.
Therefore, Mr Brown isn't actually very green at all so why should the rest of us bother?
And yet we can make a difference, albeit comparatively small, if we really want to. It might just give you a warm, fuzzy feeling inside too.
From little acorns...there I go again, being all granny.

April 16, 2008 3:46 PM

Ciarán said:

I care enough.

I re-use my bags.

I don't have a car.

I order tap water in every restaurant I go to.

I'm trying to grow my own vegetables.

There are a few of us, and we do care. We think about the bigger picture and not just our own small world.

April 16, 2008 11:10 PM

Paul Thewlis said:

I remain ambivalent about the human impact on climate change - I've yet to see totally convincing scientific evidence on either side of the argument.

However, despite my agnosticism about human-induced global warming, I am fanatical about conserving natural resources and go to quite some lengths to lead a 'green' lifestyle. This is partly a 'Pascal's Wager' line of thinking; hedging my bets just in case humans are the cause of climate change. But it's mainly due to the far simpler fact that, pretty soon, we're going to run out of natural resources. 9bn people will be walking this earth by 2050 - if we carry on consuming at this rate, there will be no planet left.

BBC Worldwide has launched a website aimed at helping people lead a more sustainable lifestyle: www.bbcgreen.com.

April 17, 2008 1:24 PM

Emma said:

Paul, is that because you've done a lot of reading on the subject or because you're waiting for someone to feed you the research?

If you want to do a bit of self-education, I suggest you start here.

April 17, 2008 3:14 PM