Yes, some of us
do - indeed, some of us never felt the need for these luxuries in the first place! Indeed, there has long been plenty of public support for 'green' initiatives, it just needs someone in government to make (and stick by) joined-up decisions.
And you can't really use the 'I'll give it up when everyone else does!' argument - unless someone starts doing the right things then there will never be any action. We can't entirely blame governments *but* certainly a lot can be blamed on Bush's government for not ratifying Kyoto and actually working in the opposite direction.
If the USA had been taking serious action over the last decade then we would have been in a much better position to influence China and other developing countries.
We can also blame industry, partly because they seem inclined to do anything that will maintain their profits but
also, particularly in UK, because they haven't the initiative or imagination to see the opportunities of new developments in environmentally friendly industry and agriculture.
Quote:
Originally Posted by smartie  It could be done if everyone had the willpower, sure, but we don't, do we? The less developed nations are rushing to acquire all the non-essential trappings of capitalism that we take for granted (and who shall blame them when they see how much easier our lives are than theirs?), and we aren't about to give those luxuries up until circumstances make us, are we?
It's easy to blame governments, but they respond to public pressure and (aside from on forums like this) where is it? Scientific opinion, at least on this side of the Atlantic, is pretty much agreed on the reality of climate change, but that will only get governments energised so far until the voting public gets on board. And that isn't yet happening fast enough, as the effects of climate change aren't yet inconvenient enough for the majority to get their heads out of the sand.
We know some useful steps are being taken, out of a range of motives, but I think things will have to get a lot worse before there is anything like a general mobilisation. |