Is our population split in half into those who agree in climate change and those who do not. Or do the majority agree but eyes aren't opened and we're just too busy to change our ways...
My husband was someone who was just too busy, and now we have solar panels on our roof and a gas bill that has halved, bikes, we travelled from Sao Paulo to Santiago by bus and now its more part of our day-to-day. But how can more of it become part of our day-to-day and what next is the big thing that we can do to reduce our carbon footprint.
In the last 5 years we've had three children, I only ever really wanting two for ecological reasons but then we were blessed with twins! So our car grew, our toy consumption has grown and there is the challenge of reducing food waste with a very fussy eater! Their impact on our home has aged furniture, carpets and walls at a phenomenal rate and trying to encourage a small child to cut something out the edge of a piece of paper seems almost impossible, and I find myself ranting about unnecessary waste. How do you avoid the cheap plastic 'stuff' and toys that last no more than a day. How can we afford the more expensive that can be handed on or will last ten years or more, or have the time to buy second hand.
And I wonder why our precious resources are used to pay for plastic windows that are only designed to last for ten years yet those same resources could be used to make windows that would last for 50 years. Do we need to pull in resources to subsidise resources that must me used with a higher moral and ethical purpose.
Yet our capitalist society means that we must have choice and we can still pull out the trump card that global warming is a myth, and for as long as the American Republican movement has a voice funded by oil the rest of world seems to remain in denial or apathy. So soon may the day come when Nature and its resources can support our economies, we won't recklessly purchase quick hit/fix cheap ephemeral stuff that doesn't last, we'll all be able to afford it! Will that day come too late?
Tony Juniper seems to be a great optimist, so lets open our ears and see what he has to say...
My passion for the natural landscape combined with being a Mum has led me to set up a business that makes, by hand, children's clothing with an environemental conscience using organic-fairtrade farbic, using 100% renewable energy and aiming to be producing zero-waste.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b01ptbwt
SarahSidders.co.uk
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