A flash new diesel SUV in the supermarket and as happens so often the remaining nitwit in the SUV insists on the diesel engine continuing to run, I was away from my own small car and twenty minutes later he’s still got the running !!!
I think some form of bye-law banning this would be in order.
This always annoys me, diesel drivers parked at the supermarket yet the engine running. I was starting to get vocal, the driver oblivious, never mind, gave him a good peep on the horn as I pulled away and twenty yards further on spoke to total strangers … “Theres catastrophic global warming and for twenty minutes he’s been sat there with the engine running”!! Thankfully they agreed.
My own carbon footprint is improving, my walks and nature rambles happily closer to home, saves petrol too and since my washing machine broke down a couple of months ago i actually do prefer the simple manual activity of a plastic bucket. I have that ‘wonder-gizmo’ called a washing line and gravity drains my clothes and the breeze dries them, even on cold days its okay as long as not actual ice. Anyone that can should be encouraged to do likewise. there never has been a tumble drier here and these last few years it has always bugged me as to how long the washing machine took to spin. now, i don’t think i could tolerate its noise. i also do think that my towels seem cleaner and fresher by virtue of manual plastic bucket over electricity consuming washing machine.
What we now need to see is a reduction in street lighting and a reduction in needless use of security lighting for homes as well as industrial. Homeowners often have glaring security lighting for yards / gardens they never hardly enter and that no sane burglar would ever wish to go there ie the place is bare, bereft.
bbc r4 news tells us theres moves afoot here in the UK to be carbon neutral by 2050. Fine, if we are still here (which I personally doubt ie Arctic methane, etc) … but the cringing inadaquecy of the brief news piece at the top of the hour was that we “May have to turn the thermostat down to 19” and also that “We may have to eat less red meat” … wow talk about inadequate!
Ideas for reducing carbon foortprint …
- halve red meat consumption every two years, get inventive in the kitchen.
- ban diesels idling in car parks.
- wash a few items in the sink, get a washing line if feasible.
- drastically reduce street lighting / security lighting and home outdoor lighting say to one third.
- drastically reduce air flights, encourage limiting personal mobility from engine powered devices.
- limit acceleration on bigger SUV type vehicles on open roads / motorways.
- police more effectively forest elimination ie for red meat production.
- population control, a one child policy.
footnote: we read this morning how prescient tv presenter James Burke actually was, particularly the negative side of web and connectivity … https://www.indy100.com/article/james-burke-internet-politics-1985-video-viral-8894851
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Burke_%28science_historian%29
climate-change-briefing 