I usually leave the environmental arguments to those who know rather more about it (like my friend at Graham's Grumbles) but a few things lately have caught my eye. This article on the BBC news site caught my eye with its controversial title (although the conclusions reached are rather less controversial).
It was interesting to see the question of half-empty buses, trains and planes addressed. Everyone knows that full buses and trains are more carbon-friendly than cars with only one person in, but the question of how partially filled public transport compares, or cars with several people, doesn't make such good headlines. Since I've been learning to drive this year (a process that in itself has probably doubled my carbon footprint!) it's been something I've thought about occasionally, even though I don't yet have my own car, and if I did would try to use it as little and as efficiently as possible.
I also came across this yesterday. In the run up to the climate summit in Copenhagen it's been good to see some focus on not merely the impact of climate change on the environment but on people, on countries that will be drowned, on people suffering the effects of drought or flooding. Here in the west we are to an extent insulated from the worst effects, but some people who have little enough already are finding their lives made worse thanks to what others are doing.
Perhaps some of the increased publicity of this side of climate change will help persuade westerners- and their politicians- to be a bit less selfish, more willing to compromise on their standard of living. But I'm not greatly hopeful. Yesterday I also heard an item on the radio about tumble dryers and the massive amount of electricity they use. We have one in my current house, and I have used it a few times, mainly because since we don't have the heating on much washing wasn't drying properly otherwise, and turning up for work in musty-smelling clothes is not a good career move. Or very pleasant. But as much as possible I do hang things out to dry rather than use the dryer and was surprised to learn that this apparently makes me rather unusual. In some places, apparently, you're not actually allowed to hang washing outside, while others see it as old fashioned or indicative of lower status.
Perhaps that's the kind of thing we should get used to using less- it's not going to kill us if our neighbours see our sheets hanging out to dry, or if we have to keep an eye on if it's going to rain. Compared to the suffering of people in other parts of the world from climate change, it doesn't rate at all. And other measures, like better insulation and more efficient heating actually work for our benefit as they save money on fuel bills- if you can persuade your landlord to install them. The transport issue is a bit trickier, but even if it just makes us think before deciding to use the car that's the beginnings of something achieved.
"The buses are empty, so they're less eco friendly than a car, so I'll drive" is an argument that doesn't work. The reason that their relative environmental impact is so high is because everyone's using cars. If people got out of their cars and started actually using the (dirty, polluting) buses, their figures would improve considerably. Plus, imagine if the 9 people on the bus all drove cars instead: 9 more cars on the road could cause significant congestion, which would slow everyone down and make everyone still more polluting.
ReplyDeleteThe same (mostly) applies to trains, although I think a problem there is that a great many myths about them still propagate (they're always late, you need to buy a full open ticket costing £150, etc) and the actions of train companies and staff don't help this: in danger of sounding like a stuck record, cycle provision on trains is rubbish, which alienates a big market. The companies have equipped and are equipping new trains to be mass-transit pigsties that cram in as many commuter seats as possible, at the expense of being usable all-round transport solutions. That is IMO another reason why they run empty at non-peak times.
I must say, I completely agree about tumble dryers. I've used ours a few times in the recent wet weather, but as long as you do your washing while you've still got some days' clothes left in your drawer, your washing will eventually dry on the line and you'll not have a problem. There's always the option of clothes horse, but a lot of people (my landlords included) just don't think about it. I put a lot of it down to laziness (thouh in the specific case of my landlords, I suspect another reason).
Some landlords discourage drying clothes indoors as it makes the house damp and more liable to mildew etc. But yes, it's mainly a case of thinking about it more.
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