Carbon Off-Setting

[Mike]

I agree that we should all feel responsible for our contribution to the polluting burden and think that if we 'as a market' decide not to buy veg out of season or buy highly efficient light bulbs and high efficiency cars then the market providers will respond. I think that is a better process than taxing everyone to oblivion in hindsight!

[Lizzie]

Interestingly though, I have been working with some guys from Ireland this week. One of the guys was telling me he was really shocked by the wastage from plastic bags in the country.

His exact words were that he couldn't believe it when he tried to buy a chocolate bar and they shoved it in a plastic bag- really not necessary. In Ireland plastic bags are taxed at 10 cents each, apparantly this has made people really aware of re-using old plastic bags and waste from this source has dropped dramatically.

I think the UK could learn from this example !!

[johnriley1uk]

I think the thing I really don't like most is the process that contimually bans us from doing things, or taxes us for doing things.

I'd much prefer an encouraging environment where new, less polluting solutions were found and which we would all, hopefully, gladly take up.

Give me bio-fuels made from sunflowers, a wind turbine to generate my own power, and so on. All small steps, all collectively helpful.

[mr_e]

The bio-fuels situation is (sort of) interesting: with Britain being one of the most densely populated countries, we don't have enough farmland to make a significant conversion over to bio-fuels ourselves. There's also some debate over the effects of growing the crops: sunflowers and other similar crops require quite an intensive farming process, which isn't necessarily good for the soil and physical environment in the long term.

Reading this thread, there is a terribly cynical view I'm beginning to take, but I'll have to word it very carefully, so it's for later.