Why Does The Environment Matter?

Somebody asked me this the other day when referring to driving. They were talking about cars and the price of them. Being an intelligent friend who I greatly respect, I was taken aback when they asked this. Of course, they meant don’t let stuff like that inform your car choice. They had weighed up the environment as a factor and decided that access to petrol pumps and affordability were much more important when choosing a new car.

Is our ignorance casting a dark shadow over the countryside?

Have you heard such comments?

It worries me that people know very well about the problems linked to the environment yet still consider them only minor considerations when they make life choices. Not just when selecting consumables, but when making actual decisions about the way they go about their lives.

What am I trying to say?

First of all I am not laying the blame on anyone at all. I am purely saying that now we are over all the uncertainty – climate change is undeniable – let’s get on with dealing with it. There will be teething problems with new initiatives such as the rollout of electric cars. We will have to sometimes spend a bit more on everyday things until changes become embedded. It will take a little effort. But we need to act now! (By the way I am not trying to be Greta Thunberg, she is doing a great job though and is well worth listening to).

It won’t be cheap to fix this problem. But we caused it.

Changes we might see and have to deal with:

– New houses need an extra power supply to be used in conjunction with a charger for an electric car.

– Homes need to be altered to environmentally sound heating using heat pumps, solar panels or simply good old electric heaters.

– Emphasis will be on locally grown foods. This may be more expensive but it has a much smaller carbon footprint as it hasn’t flown around the globe.

– Travel to work needs to be more considered. Work from home is now a real alternative to commuting long distances daily. Work meetings can be carried out on zoom, rather than involving lots of attendees flying hundreds of miles and staying in hotels.

– Fashion needs to be led by the consumers. This is something I fear we may not see happening organically but fast fashion needs to end. Fast fashion involves so much energy usage and often depends on industries in third world countries which are dependent on dirty fossil fuels. The carbon footprint in transporting clothes around is also enormous. Fingers crossed people will start to wear out and even repair their clothing instead of changing their wardrobes every few months.

Of course, I could go on for pages but I just wanted to freshen people’s minds. In a few weeks the UN Climate Summit will begin in Glasgow and it’s the perfect opportunity for politicians to make progress in pushing the issues linked to global warming. I recently wrote another article about being eco-friendly which you can read here.

With any luck you read to the end of this post and agreed with me that we need to make the environment our number one consideration from now on. Let me know what you think below and perhaps consider following my blog for similar content.

Covid Realist or Pessimist?

Maybe it is the pessimist in me that makes me worry about the new attitude people are having towards the Covid pandemic. Many people say that I am a happy and positive person but, regarding this situation, I like to think of myself as more of a realist.

Is it just spiralling out of control?

When I am confused about something or want to make a decision, I usually weigh things up using lists. Here is my pros and cons list about the current situation:

Pros

1) The vaccine is mostly rolling out well (although we still have many who refuse to take it and teenagers who have not been given the chance).

2) Businesses have been able to reopen fully, which means job security and the end of government loans and furlough.

3) That’s where I start to run out of positives but I can see people enjoying themselves, partying and generally having fun.

Cons

1) The UK infection rate is rising rapidly. Roughly 50 thousand people are testing positive daily.

2) Hospitalisations have increased markedly in the past few weeks. Currently 4.5 thousand people are staying in hospital each week.

3) The death rate has reached 96 in a day, heading towards a few hundred a day in the near future.

4) Freedom Day meant an end to social distancing and mask wearing in public spaces.

5) Large crowds of football fans and lots of close gatherings, including nightclub events and celebrations have meant a very quick relaxing of attitudes towards Covid. Such sudden relaxing could easily fuel a steeper rise and the introduction of more variants.

So yes… At this time I do feel like the negative points outweigh the positives. It is unlike me to concentrate on the negatives but I feel there is no choice right now. Pragmatic people can see that the reality is that we have a problem and just turning a blind eye to it will not make it go away.

This was one of my most serious posts yet. I do want everyone to have a lovely summer but fear that if we all go crazy it may be a very bleak Autumn indeed.

If you enjoy posts about reading and the environment then please consider following my blog. Also feel free to drop a comment below.

Here is a link to my recent poem about Freedom Day: https://jamieadstories.blog/2021/07/19/freedom-day-really-uk/