To Vic to answer your question, you ask how to get the message to the masses
Make the problem smaller, global issues are harder for the masses to feel they can make a difference, make it personnel not global bit like the messages in ww2, reward more/ punish less and switch some of the responsibility to the manufacture, they are the ones creating the problems
1. Include energy usage into the kitemark standard, each appliance is only allowed a max energy usage rating, ie there is some very low energy use kettles on the market adopt this as minimum standard, the same can be done with fridges (the fashion for big yanky fridges…….12x more power usage than the bog standard British one), TVs, DVD players etc. you know more than me if this could be done from a design side.
2. 2 tariff electricity, each house is allowed a allowance based on the council tax banding, this allowance is charged at reduced rate exceed it and you go onto a higher rate, the electric companies are happy to give us free bulbs lets see how serious they are, it encourages and rewards people who do their best not to waste energy
3. Cars
A. higher road fund tax on new cars, 50% reduction once they reach 3 years old, and reduced until they 7 years old where no tax is paid, yes every year cars get more efficient but have to at the whole product, look at the resources and energy used to make a new car and recycle it at the end of its life, compared to keeping a old one on the road with slightly higher emissions
This would discourage people from dumping older cars and reward the ones that don’t
B. set a max emissions for any car, if you can’t meet it then it is not legal to sell, give the car makers a set of regs like karting and they have to make the best they can within them limits for the target market
All these reward the end user and push the supplier to be more “energy usage focused “, it easier to address the problem from the supply side than ask the masses to adjust with equipment that can be used too much, solve it at the root
All these would have an affect on the companies supplying and their profits short term but may protect against the “end of days” future our leaders predict and common sense hints at
Global climate change is the worst thing that has happened to green issues, keep it simple ……..reduce pollution and mange our resources is easier for the man in the street to understand and believe he can make a difference (and women)
Ian, your statement shows the problem of dealing with it as a global issue, you wont give up your vices until everyone in the country is forced to, our country wont give up their vices until everyone in Europe does, Europe wont until the rest of the western world will and the western world has very little control of areas outside of it………so where do you start….personnel responsibility , if you believe you live by it, promote it , if you promote but don’t live by it then no one will listen or believe to you, you will be judged as being hippocratic, are you right about GCC I don’t care, I don’t need to read any papers to realise we the human race has an effect of the world, common sense tells me that……..so don’t worry about the why but look at better ways you can reduce the impact, then our country……….think of all the energy you have wasted posting about the why but in that thread you haven’t posted how to solve it, being right means nothing solving the problem is everything
Know the pair of you will have fun with this post
All this is the ramblings of a man on the street ( for 4 hours, 5 days a week ) and no google copy and pasting was used…….just a bit of what i believe is common sense
Kudos, the postman
no CAPITAL letters were harmed in this post ; ), any spelling/grammar abuse i apoligise for : )
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