Climate change, renewable resources and paper v plastic
Archive - Originally posted on "The Horse's Mouth" - 2008-01-09 07:55:17 - Graham EllisClimate change. End of supplies of fossil fuel. Carbon footprint. Expense of road building. Cost of time lost in travel. Just what effect are we having on our planet - where are we headed and how many of the changes that we see in the climate are natural variations and parts of a natural cycle or just typical variations, and how many are man made? I don't know the answers!
I have listened to comments that a major trunk road built to bypass Westbury would be good for 20 years, but would then provide a magnificent cycle path in the post-oil era. And I have listened to comments that say that our effect on the environment is a pinprick and that the earth will naturally balance for it. Both, I fear, are extreme views.
I find myself as an uneducated but thoughtful member of the public thinking
• I don't know who is right and who is wrong in what they say.
• I don't know which of the views put is complete and unbiased
• I don't know which facts I am told are proven and which are guesses
There's a move to have Melksham become a plastic bag free zone at the moment - lead by an ardent campaigner who feels it's the right and proper thing that we should do. And there are others who suggest that plastic bags are actually very efficient to produce compared to paper bags, can be reused much more, and actually help within landfill by retaining the methane for later energy production rather than wasting it in an adverse carbon way. And I sit bemused on the side lines!