Viewing Thread:
"Should we change our ways to save the planet (and can you)?"

Global disaster, lack of food, flood, fire and who knows what...

These are the messages raised by a collection of reports recently released and banded about the press. Not surprising that these should make headline news, as they all but predict the end of the world as we know it.

And with good intentions people will change a little because of it. But how many will keep up the good work and how many will just go back to their old ways? And what, exactly, do we as individuals need to do to change the situation?

For instance, I'm sitting here at a computer that is on all day and all night. I, like many other office workers, should turn off the PC when I go home or at least turn off the monitor when I'm away from the screen. But I don't. Perhaps us office workers could put pressure on the companies we work for to issue a global rule that the workers should turn off their PCs and maybe get this inforced somehow?

At home I recycle rubbish, despite the council's efforts to thwart my attempts by reducing the collections to once every 2 weeks and giving us boxes so small that most families end up using rubbish bins in the end anyway. I could complain, along with many other people, for more services and better organisation for recycling, but I don't.

Perhaps we're living in an age where everything is 'someone else's problem', but it's dangerous and if these reports are to be believed, it will affect our children and grandchildren and maybe even us if it gets worse.

So are you making an effort? Have you done anything to raise awareness of what people can do? Or do you think that you'll just let it pass as another one of those crazy scientist things?

Hedfix wrote:
> Quite a few councils have microchips on bins now so in the future
> your waste can be measured and you will be charged according to
> the volume of waste you produce per month/week.

Its riddiculous, all you have to do is put your own rubbish in an unsuspecting neighbours, or if that doesn't work i can see people dumping their trash in the woods.

I've just finished a similsr subject at school, and we've been told that it will take more then 100 billion pounds to save the planet, and they are going to raise the prices of non-renewable thingys and lower the prices for thingys that can help the planet such as solar powered cars, and there was some other thingys.

Please note: I wasn't listening because my best mate sits next to me in that class and we are in constant p!ss-f!tsi

It's difficult to know what to say on this.
If we are to believe what the environment experts are telling us, drastic action needs to be taken now concerning emissions from cars, aircraft, fossilfuel-burning industry, and deforestation.
So yeah I drop paper in the local paperbank, and bottles in the bottlebank, and I turn off appliances and unplug them when they're not being used ... it hardly feels enough really -

Alfonse wrote:
> i think it should be up to Tesco, Asda etc to get rid of
> unecessary packing on food. I can see a rise in fly tipping....

Isnt that doing just as PB said, thinking its somebody elses problem. Its pretty obvious that some supermarket items are excessively packed yet its still your choice whether you buy them or not.

i think it should be up to Tesco, Asda etc to get rid of unecessary packing on food. I can see a rise in fly tipping....

Quite a few councils have microchips on bins now so in the future your waste can be measured and you will be charged according to the volume of waste you produce per month/week.

Alfonse wrote:
> I'm not sure what will happen when fossil fuels run
> out though.

We'll just start using the more environmentally friendly fuels that are already available but aren't as profitable to companies.

It's not fair that last generation have left the problem alone for so long. It's my kids who will be dying in unnatural natural disasters and of skin cancer.

So I try and do my part by recyling and such but i don't feel it is enough. I'm not sure what will happen when fossil fuels run out though. My plan is that the goverment should offer free liposuction to obese people and burn their fat for fuel. That's probably stupid but whatever. The other plan was to put acouple hundred thousand solar panels in the sahara desert but there are probably laws against that kind of thing.

But that's what I mean...we can get overpowered by the larger things that need to be done on a huge scale and forget about the smaller things we can do ourselves.

There are lots of things that WE can start doing NOW. But are we going to do them and who can encourage us to do more?

It is certainly something which needs to be done; we're killing the planet, and soon enough it'll be killing us in return. The problem is that there are so many stumbling blocks. There needs to be an end to overfishing to preserve stocks, yet there is also a fishing industry which so many people take their income from, for example. Renewable fuels need to be introduced more widely, but the cost of replacing the current infrastructure is vast and complex. Methods of transport other than internal combustion also need to be developed, yet car manufacturers continue to design regular cars, as research and change are both so expensive... it goes on and on and on.

Yes, changes do need to be made, otherwise natural resources will eventually run out, and there is the definite risk of global warming. The problem is getting it done, and sooer rather than later, as no one is willing to spend money on such a variety of schemes; the long term benefits would remain to be seen, but would definitely be of a great use, effectively saving the earth from wanton destruction. We live in hope...