In what way are they meant to have endangered lives ? Yes they held up proceedings for a while which may have cost a large amount of money but since when was this the main criteria for judging protest ? Do you know how many tons of Co2 a person produces by flying ? And do you not also think that this is a crime when the environment becomes unliveable as a result, or is it not important because those affected (at the moment) live on south sea islands or remote areas threatened by desertification. I would give medals to those protesters not sentences.
What seems daft to me is how the economies of the world have become diverse which doesn't take account of the effects on the planet. An example. When in England a couple of years ago, Mme was looking for and found a bird feeding station to sit outside the dining room window. My daughter who lives in France said she would like one, so as her birthday is next month I went in search of one that I could buy out here. The price of something similar was twice what we paid, so I went online and found the exact match for what was wanted. Knowing that they were quite large and heavy I expected to pay a large delivery cost, but was amazed to find that it would be £6. (£4.50 UK delivery.) Having ordered it I have watched it on the tracking service, and found it came from Dunfermline, Fife and is now with the carrier in Edinburgh. Not sure where it will go from there yet, but they tell me it will be here this Friday. So it is better for this item to buy it from the UK, have it dispatched 1,400 miles, have various changeovers of carriers, use up fuel, etc etc? It might even fly! What we see is a local economy that does not compete. As much as anyone would wish for it to be different, people will buy the best for their needs/wants. High taxes have pushed the French economy to what our beloved President described last week as an economic crisis. A leg of NZ lamb €17, the same for local lamb €43. The farmers are encouraged to export their lamb to help the national economy, but cannot get a decent price to sell it to us locals. There are so many things inter-dependent on other things these days it seems foolish to put forward simple solutions.
What about the people on a plane that is coming to land when these idiots invaded the runway - still because they are causing CO2's they don't matter. Funny how some peoples rights are more right than others. Where do these protests end - mass invasions of the M1 because of all the car pollution?
It wouldn't slow it down much in some places. Today farmers created blockades around Paris, creating fires on main traffic routes. Don't think they will get much support for their cause from those trying to use the roads.
What about the people that could not land because of the idiots on the runway that would have missed connecting flights? Maybe they were visiting a sick relative or attending a family event that they missed - but I suppose in your scheme of things they do not matter. Read up about Fred The Shred and Gordon Clown and their very friendly relationship and of course the wonderful leader of the |Co-Op Bank
Seeing as you don't have to drive on it most days, that's easy for you to say - but causing problems for others is what it's really about.
So causing someone to miss a family event or missing a visit to a sick relative is enough to send someone to prison Of course there were links between bankers and government, the handful of people in charge are all linked, it's been reported. Those Davos events or Bilderberg get-togethers don't happen without anything being said. I wonder if you're still going to blame the next financial crisis on Labour too...The Tories were advocating more deregulation of the banks just before the crash, and they've done NOTHING to prevent the next one. Shame our current leaders won't do anything useful next time round...
Bearing in mind that private transport is one of the major producers of Co2 on this planet, bearing in mind also that the majority of journeys are just as possible using public transport, bearing in mind also that cars kill more people per year than weapons, bearing in mind also how many children in Britain, who grow up near motorways, develop asthma problems. Bearing in mind also that cars have had a major role in lowering the standard of life in most English cities, then it rather raises the question of who is causing problems for who.
Massive over generalisations and inaccuracies and of course the point is not answered. How can you even make a comment such as "the majority of journeys are just as possible..." it's totally meaningless. Unless you live the good life and grow your own food and do not use electricity then you contribute to CO2 pollution - but I suppose as long as long as you protest against others doing the same, that's OK. Whilst the recent Paris summit was being held, 5-LIve interviewed a bunch of super keen middle-class eco-warriors who had this spiffing idea of cycling from London to Paris to demonstrate that cycling was the way forward - they did not seem to understand the irony when asked how they were getting back to London - no prizes for guessing it was not on a bicycle.
Seeing as it was New Labour that introduced the said deregulation of the banks - it's hardly a place to start pointing fingers from.
You opened the door with your original comment ".....yet NO ONE has been to prison for helping to cause the last financial crisis" and I agreed that Brown & Blair should be banged up with their banker mates - it was a New Labour government that was in power at the time and it was a New Labour government that deregulated the banks at the time, so it's relevant to your assertion that those responsible should be sent to prison - just agreeing with you.
Unfortunately Blair will never face jailtime, he has friends in the right places. New Labour just continued Maggie's work anyway, Lawson was a big fan of deregulation too, they just never got round to doing it. I honestly fear for the next looming crisis, Gidiot couldn't manage his way out of his own shirt, let alone fixing a completely broken system. And those 'banker friends' of his are still running amok...
I cannot comprehend this ' world market ' whereby we import foodstuffs from all over etc I know that for the people of Kenya selling their veg and flowers to the UK is great for their economy.. and that 'we' crave' bananas, strawberries, flowers all year round etc etc. But it is all crazy in terms of cost etc etc A really crazy example i think I have shared before was when we were driving to Portugal a few years back. We stopped at a roadside near the portugal border and notice a refrigerated lorry from Falmouth. The driver came over and we started talking. Every two weeks he drove from Falmouth to the North of Scotland filled up with local seafood and then drove to Portugal where the seafood was sold to local restaurants. The cost of that must have been ludicrous but still 'cheap' ... and of course the people eating the restaurants including Brits no doubt enjoyed the 'local' foods
What I meant by that comment was firstly that I decide whether a journey is necessary or not - and then decide on which way is friendliest for the environment. As a result I do not drive (although I can) and have not been inside an airoplane in about the last 20 years. There are obviously other ways which I can reduce my carbon footprint - which I do. Every person has the ability to calculate their own carbon footprint and the responsibility to try to reduce it on an individual level, without having to wait for governments to initiate controls from above.
I respect you for doing that. We certainly could live differently. Sadly the civilization we live in encourages us all to scurry here and there is in our cars. It never ceases to amaze me here in W Yorks. Thousands of people drive to Leeds to work from Huddersfield for example and thousands do the reverse journey to work and this is replicated all over. People spending up to 3 hours a day going to and from work plus the cost plus the emissions.
Unfortunately the sale of luxury products for western markets only benefits certain people and not entire African economies Yorkie. Very often those countries use their most fertile land to grow export crops at prices well below the 'fair market rate', being forced to do so by having to pay much higher interest rates on international loans. All but 4 African countries actually export food to the west - it would be far better if they used this land for grain etc. to feed their own people, or if they got a fair price for their products. I read recently that measured in ships tonnage the actual weight of freight being transported daily is the equivalent of that of the whole year of my birth - in other words has increased over 365 times over in my lifetime. Do we ever ask the question of whether our standard of living has increased at the same ratio ? The sheer volume of world trade is alarming (made possible only by containerization of shipping, inhuman conditions on board, cheap Phillipino labour and the 100,000 litres of oil burned per hour by a large container ship) - but unfortunately the average consumer is not interested in 'how' his product arrives on the shelf.
Fully agree Yorkie, it's one of my pet moans as well - food miles. But where do we draw our personal lines? - as a child we had Bananas and Oranges all year round, but never any salad stuff in winter. So is it OK to eat a Banana from the West Indies because we have for years but not OK to eat Asparagus from Kenya?
Exactly and people should be left to do that without fear or hindrance. I would love to get public transport to my office, but it is totally impractical - the village I live in has 1 bus service a day!
