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I have 54 acres of land and she won't walk to the greenhouse to get tomatoes unless i fetch them....(she just saw that and said I'm unfair. But the gooseberry crumble still hasn't appeared- she did pick the berries 2 days ago..)
BogBeast
Member
I was only half joking. The rate at which motorised personal transport is increasingly seen as 'unacceptable' I would not be surprised if something like this might happen one day. Hopefully, I will be dead by then...
ACarneiro
Active Member
We've been trying to be Eco for some time. Apart from being ahead of the pack I'm not sure how well we are doing ...
When we moved into this house 12+ years ago I started reading the meters each week (and making the Geeky Spreadsheet) and we cut Electricity by 50%, Heating Oil by a fair bit and then changed to Biomass ... moved from sports cars to Eco Boxes (and got shafted by DieslGate never ever buying a VW again), reduced aeroplane flights and meat-meals and some other stuff ...
So I thought it was time to reassess whether what we have done is enough ... or pitiful ... so I've bought a book
But I rather think I'm on a transformation to become "that guy" too
I suppose it all helps, however little or much we do to reduce our footprints. When our M3 arrives we will be 100% EV, compared to 100% ICE 18 months ago. Our electricity tariff is 100% renewable energy (I realise that doesn't mean our actual physical supply is green, but at least we are only paying for renewables to support that market). Our house is pretty efficient (air source heat pump, decent modern insulation etc). We eat virtually no red meat too. But then it all goes horribly wrong with air travel as we have a holiday home in Canada (BC). I haven't worked out yet if we are just pissing in the wind with our domestic eco improvements, but at least it's a step in the right direction!
That's what I feared, but then the flight is going there anyway whether we're on it or not!
If more folk stop flying then there'll be fewer flights. In fact not jetting off on holiday is the number one way to reduce a carbon footprint. I miss the carribean.
Of course, that's obvious. But that only works if many people actually do stop flying, which I'm seeing little evidence of. It would probably help most if budget airlines didn't exist and flying was properly expensive again. At least buying an EV has a direct benefit regardless of what everyone else chooses to do. If we stop flying to Canada a couple of times a year I really don't think BA will cancel any flights, so I don't see any real benefit there. For various reasons we didn't actually go last year, but I know the flight went ahead anyway
Yeah, that was my point. Anything you can do without compromising your lifestyle is worth doing, however little that is.
I'm too old for it to make much difference to me but 10% ain't gonna cut it 'cos there'll be 10% more people by then. It would take a huge compromise to lifestyle and there's no public or political will for that. Air travel is (sorry) taking off in Asia & far East and getting rid of a ew carrier bags and ear buds is like spitting into the sea. Marching around demanding someone save the planet and then 120,000 people burning fuel (even electric) to get to glastonbury in their imported clothes, plastic wellies and disposable camping gear and the latest mobile phone...
..You're all doomed, doomed I say, doomed....
..You're all doomed, doomed I say, doomed....
WannabeOwner
Well-Known Member
Can't start with that argument I'm afraid. No rain drop thinks it is responsible for the flood
but I feel very strongly (you too by the sounds of it) that dictating to people will mean nothing happens. "You must become vegan" will be seen as hard, whereas "Cut out one meat meal a week" is achievable ... and then follow that up in a few years with "cut out another one".
I'm pretty sure that "5 a day" (Fruit and Veg) used to be 3-a-day (and indeed is now being promoted as needing to be 10-a-day).
You could consider offsetting for your flights? Personally I think that is a cop out for most people "I'm offsetting so I can fly around the world as much as I like" but given you have sorted everything else in your life I think you wouldn't be doing offsetting just in order to carry on regardless. But I'm definitely not dictating to you ... of course
Although I quite like the idea of a 3-masted-schooner and a crew to get you to Canada ? Or TeslaSunSeeker ... or, coming soon, TeslaPlane
But when lots of people do they will. Same as pressure on Oil companies as pension funds etc. start dumping their oil Stocks. And I presume BA are busy trying to figure out how to be more Eco / attractive to Eco Worriers. We drive to ski, and have cut our foreign holidays from 2 or 3 flights a year to a single bumper blowout every 4 or 5 years. But we don't have the holiday home destination issue ...
I'm interested how my kids generation are viewing this. Aged 25, professional type of job, and avoiding all sorts of things. They are making the lifestyle adjustments from day one, so that's their "new normal" which of course makes it easier.
My parents generation were hopeless at Drink Driving, I think my generation are a bit slack about "one drink is fine", my kids are quite simply "designated driver doesn't drink". Much the same early up the ancestry tree for seat belts ...
I just wish the government would get on with forcing everyone in the right direction. Start taxing Carbon, or dramatically incentivising "no carbon" approaches.
The young may not have our excesses but they have their own - I suppose it's hman nature. I used to be amused (in my rc flying days) of turning up to the park on a saturday to find hundreds of cars so folk could do the weekly park run. In my day we didn't need a gym 'cos we walked to school, cycled to work and played sports.. then car ownership came on..but when we bought our first house it was a pigsty that had to be stripped out, repaired, repainted and second hand furniture to strip and re-upholster etc after a 10-12 hour working day - i didn't get lazy until i was knackered and half a century old and finally stopped doing locum jobs in my holidays and actually took one.
But that risks getting into the baby boomer- millenium argument. It was a different world with different expectations but you could get an appointment with a GP....
We're now completely off the original post. I'm happy for a low speed sound generator to help the deaf (and the daft) but I think it will be a shame in cities - just a whole new drone of traffic. One would think some other tech solution might be found for the hard of hearing such as an ultrasoud tone that hearing aids recognise and translate, for instance. But then i accept I'm odd.. i drive my car mostly with no music or radio and happily stick with my own thoughts. Folk not paying attention would be culled...
But that risks getting into the baby boomer- millenium argument. It was a different world with different expectations but you could get an appointment with a GP....
We're now completely off the original post. I'm happy for a low speed sound generator to help the deaf (and the daft) but I think it will be a shame in cities - just a whole new drone of traffic. One would think some other tech solution might be found for the hard of hearing such as an ultrasoud tone that hearing aids recognise and translate, for instance. But then i accept I'm odd.. i drive my car mostly with no music or radio and happily stick with my own thoughts. Folk not paying attention would be culled...
Fullerene
Member
Hard to choose which thread to put this on...
I love bikes but the bikers love of noisy exhausts (many car drivers too) is just another form of pollution. Save it for the racetrack, no issues at all, not on the streets. Hopefully EVs won't trip this:
New noise camera trial to crack down on illegal vehicles
I love bikes but the bikers love of noisy exhausts (many car drivers too) is just another form of pollution. Save it for the racetrack, no issues at all, not on the streets. Hopefully EVs won't trip this:
New noise camera trial to crack down on illegal vehicles
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