The UK: Outlook Far From Bright?

As we skate dangerously close to cut-off time, and this writer gets the distinct impression that he’s beginning to mix metaphors - the big question then: how does the UK feel it views environmentally pressing questions?

Looking to members of the website generous.org.uk I asked them what they felt. Commenting on my earlier blog concerning biofuels, Andrew Fleming gives a full and well-informed account of his personal views. Over to Andrew then:

“Biofuels are not a simple answer - until all the starving are fed, I would prefer that we feed the poor, rather than fuel the rich. It is not a simple question. If we do not alleviate climate change which is happening, then we will lose more land from active crop production due to global warming.

• » See also: #4 Copenhagen, Denmark: Great Bicycle City Photo Tour
• » Get EcoWorldly by RSS or sign up by email.

“I strongly suspect that the amount of land which would be needed to produce enough biofuel to prevent further global warming would mean that there would not be enough land to produce food - unless more rain forest was cleared - which would mean an even greater proportion of the crops would be needed for biofuel, since there would be less land given over to forests which reclaim the CO2 from the atmosphere.”

Gordon Brown has recently gone ahead with nuclear again. Andrew, your thoughts?

“I do not think that nuclear fission is the answer either - at least until we have found a fissionable isotope which results in something with at least a very short half-life - or better still which is atomically stable. Nuclear fusion on the other hand - if it could be tamed - would (or at least at the moment seems likely to) be a good solution.”

But the broader picture. The UK’s general views to the environment. Do we even care? I stated that the national press, certainly The Guardian and The Independent, had environmental sections, which in turn suggested a strong reader demand. Rosalyn from Birmingham perhaps put me right here:

“I wonder if the national press has embraced the environment [though] - have The Sun or Mirror recently had any articles [regarding the environment]?

“I think it has got to the point where recycling is seen as normal and not excessively green. Amongst the chattering classes it has got to the point where people will pretend to be more green than they actually are.

“Supermarkets now have their own green ranges. Yet this has happened before and they stopped when demand decreased again. I’ve noticed a lot of 4×4 drivers use Ecover washing up liquid.”

Certainly, this suggests hypocrisy amongst some so-called environmentally aware UK folk.

And Huw? What are your thoughts?

“I must say I feel a lot less positive than most.

“We have just been away for a week with two other families - both very educated, informed, responsible, middle-class and evangelical Christian.

“As ever, I pointed out that the foil lids on our yoghurts and the foil dishes our takeaways came in were (unless I am mistaken) pure aluminium and should be recycled. They looked at me in surprise. Really?

“Recycling aluminium must be one of the easier and most obvious ways to avoid absurd energy waste, and I would guess that it is 30 years or more since the green movement started urging people to do it. If the message hasn’t got through yet, it doesn’t inspire much hope.”

Huw, I mentioned that an environmental section in The Guardian must at least offer what is now fast becoming a dwindling hope? Positive feedback please …

“My other big bugbear is plastic. Since I read recently that there is something like 100 million tons of plastic floating in the Pacific, and that this vast soup is expected to double in size in the next decade, I have had a horror of unnecessary plastic packaging, bags and (especially) bottles.

“But I can’t bring myself to say anything to my family, let alone my educated, informed friends, because I think they’ll just think I’m bonkers. My impression really is that green consciousness has made few inroads into even the leftie broadsheet-reading population of this country.

“I rent an office in the house of a Guardian-reading social anthropologist, who leaves his TV on standby 24 hours a day and has not a single low-energy lightbulb in the house (except the one I’ve put in my room!).

“Again, I don’t feel able to say anything because I don’t want to be labelled an eco-fanatic. These things are so far from being second nature even to the small minority in this country who read the greener newspapers.”

My sincere thanks go to Andrew, Rosalyn and Huw for their feedback. The UK then: a nation with a long way to go?

Picture source:

Courtesy of flickr

Tweet This Post