Environmental issues do transcend the political divide Fez - in that a poisoned fish in a river is not concerned whether the factory which poisoned the river is state owned or a private global player. However, an economic system based on collective ownership of some degree is more adapted to the coordination which is necessary to meet environmental targets. If I live in a small town then a local concern which is either a cooperative, or is communally owned, or is a small family concern is more likely to respect my immediate environment than if it is part of a global player where decisions are made thousands of miles away. It is essential that towns of the future can free themselves from a total reliance on global energy, and financial, systems which could break down at any time. They must be able to create a resilience to external factors through increased autonomy and self sufficiency - growing more food locally, providing their own energy, perhaps even through using local currencies such as the Totnes Pound. It is also important that we rid ourselves of the idea that we can continue to consume, and produce, as before just through the installation of green technology - a kind of technofix solution. We must come to the stage of being able to accept a post growth society, because we are already producing enough, whereas what is now needed is a fairer distribution of what we have.
This is so above party politics... I have it on good authority that there are many young Tories and Brexiteers united on this one... ..and sometimes the law has to be broken....... ...... it is not about the law it is about the future of our planet for our grandkids.....
No morals here...... all have been told where the demos are....... and in any case .... there will be many more seeking medical help if we contiune to pollute our planet at the rate we do.....
Well said as usual... he is talking with one eye on the GE..... and really a prime minister should be bigger than that.......
Amazing how the press and some of our politicians are having their say without thought about the language they use when talking about the protests, yet don't say a word about them giving every MP a tree to plant in their constituency. Just another small thing I know, but lots of small things can make a difference.
So collateral damage in the meantime is perfectly ok?, I doubt you would take that attitude if a contact of yours was trying to struggle through this rabble for a medical encounter.
I rather doubt that you would want to have any reason to prevent people getting the medical assistance that they require, which is why the government is having to spend untold £millions on trying to keep medicines, isotopes etc coming into the country. All unnecessary of course. Far better to provide a healthy environment to prevent some at least needing this treatment. Just imagine how many clean projects could be started with the money.
You are choosing the isolated example of the 'medical encounter' as your only available weapon SH. The truth is that a medical encounter could be, temporarily, prevented by any large group of people - by a demo, a traffic jam, even a football crowd or an expectionally large number of shoppers or revellers - try having an accident on New Year's Eve ! Do all of these groups consist of a 'rabble' ? The difference is not the case (which is the same) but just that you are personally engaged against the one but not the other.
If the desperate remoaners had not tried to nullify the democratic decision of the British people to leave the EU then we would have left by now and normalised the situation. Much of the shortage of medicines has nothing to do with Brexit. Of course this has nothing to do with sections of society deliberately blocking normal medical appointments.
No other groups deliberately set out to obstruct normal business, regardless of the consequences, there is quite a difference.
Can you start offering solutions SH. rather than criticizing others who care about what is going on in the World ? An inevitable problem on the horizon is going to be an incalculable number of environmental refugees in the future - far outnumbering anything we have seen to date. People fleeing parts of the World which have become uninhabitable as a result of our greed - places where the sea level has risen, other vast areas turned to deserts - all as a direct consequence of our lifestyle. Will you then just shake your head and say that 'it's nothing to do with us' ? Most of these demonstrators say 'screw your 'normal business' because it's that which has got us into this mess - and it's that which has to change !
If the ERG had voted for the May deal we would of course have been out by now. That however would have still left the country needing to get the medicines into the country. I have not seen any figures anywhere to suggest that the protesters actually prevented anyone getting to a hospital appointment. Perhaps you have the numbers? As I said none of the hit to the economy was necessary, and the money far better spent on environmental projects that would be good for both the current and future generations.
This 'rabble' includes scientists ecogists medics etcetera... Please try not to pollute every thread with your discriminatory language...
Hope the rabble are not blocking the entrance to my local curry house in Berkhamsted tonight, cheap night on Tuesdays.
My next door neighbour before he retired was an environmental scientist and travelled the world setting up projects that made it possible for people to stay in their own country. Economic and environmental migration has taken place for thousands of years, but with the knowledge we have today many things can happen to allow people to feed their family from their immediate surroundings. Take a barren piece of land in almost desert conditions, and by planting the the right trees and shrubs that can tolerate such conditions, you can create shade. Once you have created shade you can then create or store water. Spread your planting scheme including different trees giving even more shade, and you can then start to grow crops. No it doesn't buy you the latest smart phone, car or TV, but it gives you the chance to have a life. Part of my neighbours job was to educate people about small simple schemes such as this, and see how quite large areas of wasteland could be reclaimed. Once you have produced more than enough to feed your immediate family allsorts of new opportunities will open up.
