WE KNOW WHAT TO DO.
By now we should all be up to speed with the pros and cons of saving the planet.
We have had activists demonstrating, Greta explaining, David Attenborough pleading, and a conference in Glasgow hatching plans and timetables.
Many people have been fired up with enthusiasm and determined to make even small changes which when all joined together can make a significant difference to how we live our lives.
Have they been encouraged or forgotten about?
Despite the Pandemic having demonstrated that the grounding of air and road traffic made a significant difference to the healing of the planet, the big push is back on to get aircraft back up in the skies in order that people can have holidays and encourage business travel again.
ON THE ROAD TO NOWHERE.
There has been little or no mention of establishing ways to find a working balance by a reduction in air travel, quite the contrary. There is public outcry because the air services are being slow to reach previous levels and heaven and earth are being moved to meet the demand.
Fuel for cars has taken an unexpected price hike, but there doesn`t appear to be a reduction of cars on the roads.
Perhaps figures will be released and I will be proved wrong, but despite people saying they will reduce their car travel, there doesn`t seem to be much evidence that this is happening.
Domestic heating is another matter, but due to the time of year, an accurate picture will not emerge until autumn.
My point is that just with these two means of travel, there does not seem to be a concerted effort to cut down on use.
Surely at this time, because of the unexpected constraints, it would have been an ideal chance to turn a negative situation into a positive one by making it worth while to cut down on air and car travel by creating other incentives, instead of trying to get things back to exactly the way they were. It is a missed opportunity.
A huge amount of work needs to be done on other incentives. Public transport has to be improved of course, particularly in rural areas, but that can`t be done overnight. Thinking "out the box" is required to find solutions and creative actions.
Rather than ideas coming from government who tend to be out of touch with grass root problems, local areas could be encouraged to come up with innovative ideas which would suit their own areas.
Given the chance, the public can rise to the occasion.
During the Pandemic, the public gave a masterclass on how to establish networks to communicate with the vulnerable and establish all sorts of positive solutions to the crisis.
A TOP HEAVY WORLD.
It seems that the world is completely out of balance.
Most things, be they business or industrial, seem to be too big and top heavy which pushes out the smaller contributor who is often denied an equal chance to shine.
This is not just in a corporate sense, but also at a human level.
There are many instances past and present and future where indigenous people with their own customs and identities have been forced out by big business, often with the promise of improved lifestyle benefits.
This can work, and often does, but once again has to be done in a balanced way otherwise the original mix will be overtaken by the stronger force.
There are many examples throughout the world. Large conglomerates have moved into exploit raw material in particular, and in doing so have made significant contributions to climate change. A good example of this is in the tree felling and wood industry, which has left large areas of forest decimated along with human populations having their way of life disrupted and their environment ruined.
ARE ONLY THE LITTLE PEOPLE LISTENING?
There is publicity about the main culprits of planet toxicity, e.g. carbon emissions, oceans of plastic contamination and chemical tampering of the food chain, but there are some which we don`t hear anything about and seem to have slipped under the radar.
Carbon dioxide, which is probably the number one enemy to damage air quality, is being used in huge quantities other than the ones we associate it with such as in the coal, oil and gas industries.
It is widely used in the management of food and drink, along with a multitude of other uses in general industry, pharmaceutical, agricultural and medical worlds.
Carbon dioxide in itself is a vital gas for all living things to utilize. Plants and trees convert carbon dioxide into life giving oxygen as do humans.
The problems arise when too much carbon dioxide is being used and not being given the opportunity to turn into oxygen, so it drifts into the atmosphere as a greenhouse gas. Hence the importance of having enough plants and trees to absorb and convert it to oxygen.
The general public are not being given enough information on this aspect of carbon dioxide, as there are many ways that it`s uses could be cut back and modified.
HIDDEN DANGERS AHEAD.
An industry which is already in production and unless managed with balance in mind, could expand to the detriment of indigenous people, and that is the exploration of lithium.
As the world is encouraged to move over to electrically powered vehicles, batteries are required to store the energy. Lithium is an important component in the manufacture of batteries and demand is huge and increasing. Not only is lithium required for car batteries, but also for mobile phones and other technical battery devices.
Lithium is mined in Australia but South America is producing huge amounts from dry salt systems.This industry is a typical example of the potential magnitude of the operations and the impact on small communities.
Yes, these rural areas may benefit by increased employment and other advantages, but unless properly managed, they may lose the heart of their communities and much of the environment in which they lived in harmony.
MORE OF THE SAME.
As I have mentioned in some other blogs and comments, we seem to have become victims of our own success in many ways, but have actually expanded too rapidly for both our planet and ourselves to cope with.
Part of the answer would seem to be to slow down, calm down and take stock, but we are still hell bent on blindly going bigger and better but at such a cost.
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