Tuesday this week was Earth Day. No, I didn’t realise either. Apart from Google adding a turtle and some trees to its logo, Earth Day made about as much of an impact on me as handwriting lessons at school. However, a bit of digging about led to the discovery that we should all have been urging our government to take action against global warming and going to the Green Apple Festival, whilst serving our canapés on biodegradable plates made from leaves (available from Ganesha, if you were wondering). Apparently half a million people in 170 countries celebrate the day, but living in England you wouldn’t know it.
This observation ties in rather nicely with my last blog about green electricity advertising being rather lacking in…well, everything - but especially information. For example, when we buy into a carbon offsetting tariff how do we know someone’s planted a tree for us? Should we ask for a photo and a certificate, like when you adopt a donkey? When I read a few articles about carbon offsetting, I found that it’s a bit of a hazy area. How much CO2 does a specific tree absorb, for example? Vaguely-recalled biology lessons reminded me that during photosynthesis trees remove carbon from the atmosphere and store it away; but not all trees are created equal (apparently hawthorns are the best at soaking up CO2). Perhaps suppliers could provide a bit of information about the type of tree they’re going to plant for you and how it will help the environment – for most of us the details of offsetting are unclear, so harnessing the power that comes with knowledge could be a fine idea. Perhaps they could provide bi-annual updates on how the tree’s doing; “Spends most of his time with the birds, but seems to absorb rather a lot when he puts his mind to it,” etc.
Much has been made of carbon offsetting schemes as being a way to silence environmental protestors while keeping the status quo. You know how the Sunday after a rather self-indulgent weekend you drink water and eat salads, blissfully unaware that your efforts are useless because the damage has already been done? Well, that’s how some people – Friends of The Earth included – see carbon offsetting. Their website describes it as a smokescreen to ward off legislation, and says it encourages people to continue polluting: “It’s ok for me to fly from Birmingham to London, because I offset last week. While I’m at it, I think I’ll leave the laptop and TV on standby as well…” I can see their point. Offsetting doesn’t actually reverse anything, just tries to redress a balance. But isn’t it something, at least?
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3 comments:
So Earth Day slipped by without anyone knowing, even the turtles may have been ignorant of their special day. This lack of enthusiasm is hardly surprising though - we love to buy our 'green' canvas bags (as long as they compliment our outfit) and probably purchase some 'green t-shirts (although blue is really my colour) but then what? Exactly - we carry on with our normal live but all the while thinking we are actually doing some good. I am as guilty as the next person, yes I recycle as much as I am able but is that really enough? I truly doubt that I shall change my gas/electricity supplier or stop buying carbon-polluting green beans, aubergines etc, but the biodegradable plates do sound rather jolly.
As a fully paid up member of GOMS (Grumpy Old Mens' Society - as if you were vaguely interested) I was expecting to have a good rant. I don't believe it - I'm in agreement with Friends Of The Earth. Carbon Offsetting is a complete cop-out. It's like paying someone to take your speeding fine and 3 points. And what happens ? - do you know ? - does someone plant a wood that they were going to plant anyway ? And then they grub it 2 years later to plant someone else's offset.
If we really want green energy then we need to make tough decisions. Cover all the windy hillsides with wind farms. Line all beaches with wave generators. Build lots of nuclear power stations - they're very green, until you want to dispose of spent radioactive material - so just fire it off to an uninhabited planet.
Why not get on now with things we can do ? Gordon's big idea (until he got tied up in local elections, 10p tax, and Boris as London Mayor) was to consider the possibility of maybe banning plastic bags in supermarkets - don't you just love decisive political leadership.
Do it tomorrow. They did in Corsica a few years ago - did supermarkets stop? - no. People just went (or sent their mums)with their trendy 'green' shopping bags.
And why don't lots of councils re-cycle plastic? - it's not difficult - just do it.
Multiple layers of plastic & cardboard packing in all sorts of products - what's the point - stop it NOW - don't set up a Quango to investigate if it's a good idea.
Thanks, Rachael, for giving me the opportunity to sound off - I feel so much better. Rob
Rob – speaking as someone who lives with the Chairman of the Grumpy Old Mens’ Society, I have to admit that I thought your rant would be expletive-laden and pointless, so I’m relieved to note that you’ve rasied some really interesting questions!
Gordon Brown had been making noises about a 10p tax on plastic bags before he was faced with pressing tasks like hanging about with Nicholas Sarkozy and the Dalai Lama. Obviously tasks like saving the economy from certain destruction and targeting knife crime can’t be ignored, but tackling green issues at grassroots levels is important too.
Rob’s tirade against the impenetrable bureaucracy of the British government is spot on: instead of messing about with reports and conferences about where to put wind turbines, why doesn’t the government just get cracking? A 10p charge on all plastic bags means that all supermarkets will be on an even keel, so none of them will have to worry about shoppers changing loyalty because they can’t be bothered to buy a canvas shopper. As well as the fact that plastic bags can hold about 1 bottle of wine and a box of sushi before giving up the ghost, they are hugely dangerous for the environment: many of the 13 billion bags given away in the UK each year end up in streams or trees, needlessly harming our fish and birds. A few months ago I saw some photographs documenting how plastic bags damage nature worldwide – a picture of a goat chewing on a carrier bag, a stream clogged up with plastic bags, trees decorated in – you guessed it – plastic bags. This is a problem that would be so simple to fix, and would open up the floodgates for more governmental action on our environment.
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