Thoughts on climate change

[dadadreamer]

At the weekend, amongst other things, I went to see An Inconvenient Truth, the documentary by Al Gore about climate change.  I would recomend it as something you might want to go and see, even though you might think, as I thought, that a film by a politician is inevitably going to be incredibly dull, or that you know what you need to know about

Comments

[pollitesss]

I share many of your frustrations.

because of the housing situation in this country, especially in London, which is not only bad for the financial security of people my age, but is also bad for the environment. I've been doing some research - a vague preliminary for perhaps writing a very pissed off essay/ article about finding shared housing in London. Unfortunately any government drive in this area (insulation/solar panels) will be for owner-occupied homes which, even in London account for some 70% of accomodation. Much of the remaining 30% that is rented accomodation is social housing (mostly housing association/council). The buy to let/ owner non occupied proportion of housing stock seems surprisingly small to those of us who are stuck in the hell of being a tennant in it (and finding a place!!). The proportion of rented accomodation as a whole falls to an average of about 15% outside the M25. This is not to say that the government shouldn't do something for the rented sector but I cannot see this ever being a priority

[dadadreamer]

By the way, you may be interested to know that Ecover is owned (or at least part owned, reports seem to vary) by Group 4, who as you probably know are responsible for abusive treatment of detainees in Campfield House Immigration Detention Centre. They also have a policy of animal testing which says that they will not use any ingredients which have been tested on animals in the last five years, but this is a rolling policy, so something which is being tested on animals right now could be used in their products in five years time

[pollitesss]

Then there's always Savon Marseille, a bit of elbow grease and sunlight (ha ha ha in a British winter!) but that, like most vegan margarines is full of palm oil from indeterminate sources. Planting of palms for their oil is leading to very rapid deforestation in, amongst other places, Borneo. This is putting additional pressure on the already marginal orang-utan population. Of course the most ethical washing choice would be nudity (except you'd need the heating on more) or BO.

It would make my life ethically very much simpler if Tesco wasn't the only place that you can get decent, wheat/gluten free pasta.

As for eco-balls - I'm not going to take anyone's word for that. I'd want to try before I buy, in my own washing machine. It sounds a bit private eye as well...

[dadadreamer]

Yes I completely agree with you, it seems petty to be worrying about what washing powder to use when you compare it to the energy used and pollution produced by multinational companies and big industry around the world. Still I can't help having these feelings of wanting to do something to improve the situation, and take away the seeming inevitability of the worst happening.

Re the washing balls, it has been suggested that they're a bit of a scam and that warm water is sufficient to remove general dirt from clothes. I think I'll give this a go first.

[mzdt]

It is important, yes, and I know I could do more

[dadadreamer]

I don't see how the boat is an indulgence on an environmental front, or any other front for that matter. Your not pushing up house prices anywhere and pushing people out of the country, and you're using public transport to get there. The boat can't be highly polluting in the same way as a car is.

[mzdt]

still an indulgence, if not as bad as say if I took up JCB racing. ;-) I still maintain that the connection with a more natural environment is very important and outweighs the fact that I now own an internal combustion engine running on fossil fuel.

thanks for the reminder about the demo - should be a good day.

[dadadreamer]

Both good points. I like to hope that when people come round to our house and see our composting set up, they might ask questions and maybe get into it themselves.

[the_beanio]

This plays on my mind almost everyday, anything can remind me of it; litter on the street, hairspray, adverts on television, the weather etc.
Me and mum were having a conversation tonight about getting some solar panels put in using Dads money, and I think he would approve.

[dadadreamer]

I think that would be a great idea. And the investment would mean that you'd save money on heating bills in the future and eventually get the money back, I think he'd approve of that too!