The Greens will need more than a single MP in the UK to help achieve your pipe dream. May I suggest technology is more likely than politics to solve the problems of pollution.
You cannot solve problems created by technology by adding more technology SH. This is like saying that you can keep on producing, and consuming, as much as you like in the hope that technology will solve all our problems - this is a technofix solution which is not enough in itself. The fact that the Greens in England only have one seat is irrelevant - their role is to take votes from other parties and thus influence their manifestoes. They thus act, primarily, as a pressure group. If they take 5% of eg. the Labour vote then the Labour Party starts bringing more environmental themes into it's programme to counteract that. By the way - the Green Party in Germany is currently polling around 25%. It is of paramount importance that we start to question our assumption that all growth is good - you cannot have unlimited growth with finite resources. What is needed is not more growth because we have enough of everything already - what is needed is better (fairer) distribution of those resources. We need to be able to plan for a post growth society.
Morning all. Sunny, but not too hot, so I will be applying some fresh coats of varnish to my shed down the fields this morning. My next door neighbour is very pleased that he has managed to sell his house in the USA. He had to install a new aircon system as his old one was 10 years old, and he couldn't sell the house with something that old despite the fact that it still worked perfectly. Before he retired he worked and lived in many parts of the world, including Oxford for a couple of years. He is well informed on environmental issues as that was his work, and like me understands that just taking a length of hedge out can have huge implications for the eco structure. As our government here tries to get people to insulate their homes with almost free schemes, they find that the take up has been very slow. A new scheme is been being proposed that will come into effect next year, with landlords of rented accomodation being warned that unless standards are improved they could be prevented from letting their properties. Very much a carrot and stick approach. Have a good day whatever you are doing.
Morning all. Quite a lot of high cloud at present, and the forecast of showers tonight. I must get a second coat of varnish on my shed just in case the Météo is correct for once. About two miles away there is a five way road junction leading to villages and countless hamlets. At that junction a large bright red box with a glass front has appeared. It is a 24 hour bread dispenser selling two different styles of loaves. Pop your money in, or use a card, and the glass window will open allowing you to take your pick. I will give it a try, as the nearest baker is eight miles away requiring use of the car. Two miles and I can use the bike, saving fuel, helping with the air pollution, and keep me fit all at the same time. Enjoy your day whatever exercise you intend to take.
Morning all. Broken cloud at present which is expected to roll away as the day progresses. My alarm clock, seldom used as an alarm, was flashing away saying that there had been a blip in the power supply overnight. Could we have had a storm that didn't wake me? Checked outside and everywhere was as bone dry as when I went to bed, so if we did have something it didn't bring any rain. Just how long this can continue we do not know, but many trees are starting to shed their leaves, and some are heading towards an unrecoverable situation. Have a good day whatever you are planning.
I was reading about the thanksgiving service held today in London for the life of Paddy Ashdown. Four former Prime Ministers - Sir John Major, Tony Blair, Gordon Brown and David Cameron - were among the congregation. Sir John told the congregation that Lord Ashdown was a "political opponent who became a friend". "He was always an internationalist, wedded to reason and consensus and dismissive of tribal politics. A man for ideals, not shabby deals." The reason I mention this is because my best friend from Dorset was sat next to him in the cancer department in Yeovil just two months before Paddy died. My friend also had bladder cancer, but fortunately not so advanced. My friend is a typical Tory, comfortably well off , who reads little about politics, but just votes for whoever the local party puts up. He has told me that after his meeting with Paddy he has stopped to think, and without a doubt would have voted for him if he ever had had the chance. "Reason and consensus and dismissive of tribal politics". I think many in the country would be impressed by this in these troubled days.
No doubt if Ashdown had still been involved in politics today he would have been part of the current LibDems opportunistic and undemocratic movement causing havoc in parliament. Did he ever eat his hat?
I am afraid that you have missed the point totally of my non-party political post. It was about dismissing tribalism, and using reason to find consensus.
