Next Conservative leader

Message Topic Search Topic Options Post Reply Create New Topic Printable Version Translate Topic

 dr_martinov wrote:

 totallybiasedscarlet wrote:

On the environmental front, the big issues appear to me to be:
1. Greenhouse gases
2. Habitat & biodiversity loss
3. Air pollution
4. Microplastics
5. PFOA's (non-stick coatings)

These amount to the "tragedy of the commons" problem and represent a colossal failure of governance globally. It's not just social and economic inequality that our economic and political models have failed on ... it's the "commons" too. We've allowed big business to s##t in the collective pool to the point that we're now living in our own filth. Of course, environmental breakdown and economic/social inequality go hand in hand very often. It's always the poorest that suffer first and most. Just look at how environmental degradation has affected different civilisations over the course of history. We should be highly animated wrt this issue.

I think you have a good list there - 1 and 3 are probably the same. 4 would include all plastics and synthetics. Unsure about PFOAs actually, new to me. I may look into that.

I'm pretty gloomy about this topic based on er, all of human history, but I particularly am sceptical that too many are banking on a "magic bullet", that is a new technology that solves the problem. Whilst of course new, greenER (note the ER as nothing is completely green) technologies will be very useful the danger here is that it ignores reductionism or societal changes which I believe are also required and in fact, if implemented world wide, would make a much bigger difference faster. Magic bullets are essentially the result of money and how our society works: Governments want a new technology that is worth money and creates jobs etc. Telling people to do less of things loses money and jobs and makes them unpopular, not least when industry is also financing political parties. This is why I am not positive. Take driving. We can easily point out there are too many cars driving at present, contributing to issues above. Solutions proposed are rarely "don't drive", instead we're being told electric cars represent the future. There are understandable reasons why this is, of course, but those reasons don't matter at all in terms of the actual consequences. You can also see that technological advances have indeed improved one set of issues but typically create new, unforeseen ones. 

As a disclaimer I am a research chemist so live in a state of endless guilt and inner conflict about these issues but I'd end with a positive message: look at the story of CFCs. It can be done. It's strange this isn't referenced much, perhaps because the solution was a reductionism approach and that the problem was isolated to a single set of chemicals. Climate change is a lot more complex and linked to incredibly sensitive subjects such as quality of life and even global human population.

I tend to look at air pollution as SO2 and particulates etc. PFOA's are nasty insofar as they are very difficult to break down. They're widely prevalent, even in the water supply. A number of public health stories have begun to come out in the media about them.

Totally agree with your post, particularly the example of cars. We have a transport paradigm that for decades now has been totally car centric. It's been so long that when anyone suggests a different model people balk at it and struggle to conceive of how any alternative could even work. In the end, as you allude to, I can only see that we need an entirely new socio-economic paradigm. One that eschews consumption as a means to generate wealth, one that can accomodate goods with long lifespans, folk able to live a good life within y filltir sgwâr where long distance commuting is a thing of the past. So community based, circular economy, low carbon industries, homes built to energy positive standards and a decentralized grid. On top of that, we have to change our land use. We need to look at tech such as precision fermentation to reduce our need for grazing land and return it to a wild state. Politically explosive in Wales as agriculture is so closely linked to Cymraeg so back to the start ... community based solutions that fireproof communities on an environmental, economic and cultural level.