That list is not accurate by any means. A handful of heavily polluted cities do have such a scheme eg Athens but is restricted to a very small area of the city centre. It's a complete lie to include Paris, Oslo, Milan, Rome etc in that list as they do not have any form of permanent alternate-day travel scheme. Paris has indeed on a handful of occasions instituted such a scheme for a few days but it's not the norm.
Skies are clear
- Thread starter Bobajob
- Start date
Our collective life style, it's expectations and sense of entitlement is destroying the planets eco system.
Without large changes in what we do and the way we do it then the life support system is screwed.
The economic arguement is based on Keynesian economic theory and is demonstrably flawed. The main precept is that there should be constant growth in the economy. We live on a finite planet with finite resources ergo, perpetual growth is impossible. For years governments, and their masters the banks, have massaged the figures to show them in a good light. But the bean feast is coming to an end. The current money printing fest is the final blow out of a worldwide monetary system that is deeply structurally flawed. The current crisis would have happened anyway, covid is just the catalyst.
Here we have an opportunity for each one of us to look within and examine our own portion of responsibilty for this mess and make the changes necessary.
May (insert own personal choice of deity here) help us all.
Without large changes in what we do and the way we do it then the life support system is screwed.
The economic arguement is based on Keynesian economic theory and is demonstrably flawed. The main precept is that there should be constant growth in the economy. We live on a finite planet with finite resources ergo, perpetual growth is impossible. For years governments, and their masters the banks, have massaged the figures to show them in a good light. But the bean feast is coming to an end. The current money printing fest is the final blow out of a worldwide monetary system that is deeply structurally flawed. The current crisis would have happened anyway, covid is just the catalyst.
Here we have an opportunity for each one of us to look within and examine our own portion of responsibilty for this mess and make the changes necessary.
May (insert own personal choice of deity here) help us all.
We never do, the rules are from parliament which is overwhelmingly majority elected by the rest of you.
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No lies.
They are in their legislation and permanently available to be switched in as needed, as they all have been.
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What's the point of being filthy rich if you can't do something with it?
Money has to keep moving to benifit all, thats my excuse.
Totally agree. The sin is in sitting on it in accounts, rather than spending it to help everyone.
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What I fear the most, that at this time of reflection the worlds super powers are pumping more money into the system, near to 4-5+ trillion dollars so far and this in turn stands to increase pollution and aid the wealthy to increase their portfolio while saddling the poorest with more dept, which most will become liable for at some point in the near future through taxation.
I don't think a few of the super rich swanning around in their private jets causes much of a nuisance. It's all the people having holidays in Thailand or Sri Lanka or Disneyland causing the pollution.
That & the absolute madness of flying flowers from Kenya or asparagus from Peru to the UK.
Hold that thought. This pause allows us to step back and view the frantic madness that we have been enveloped in to the detriment of ourselves, flora and fauna and the eco system.
I have no doubt that Boeing, Lockheed and Air Bus will soon be joining the airlines themselves in the lobby clamour of selve interest. We can only hope that the governments current vogue for, 'Following the scientific advice' transfers to listening to climate scientists. Don't hold your breath though 'cos so far they've only said they might pay lip service to them.
The current lock down (with all it's inherent economic implications) shows what can be achieved when there's a gun to the head. The climate gun seems to be invisible however.
Recently Cumbria gave permission for a new deep coal mine to go ahead. The claim is that it will be carbon neutral as it will prevent other coal from being burnt. GIVE ME STRENGTH ! And of course it's the jobs arguement, it will 'produce' xxx hundred jobs. With this kind of wooly logic coming from so called leaders we're screwed. The mine will produce steel coal which is needed for it's carbon content to produce steel from iron. But look beyond boys, there's a conversion that uses hydrogen - no carbon.
It's throughout. It's the whole way we live and what we expect. It's the way we seem to regard the enviroment, physics and chemistry as adversaries to be overcome, rather than allies to be worked in concert with.
It's mindset change time boys and girls - and we all have our part to play.
I have no doubt that Boeing, Lockheed and Air Bus will soon be joining the airlines themselves in the lobby clamour of selve interest. We can only hope that the governments current vogue for, 'Following the scientific advice' transfers to listening to climate scientists. Don't hold your breath though 'cos so far they've only said they might pay lip service to them.
The current lock down (with all it's inherent economic implications) shows what can be achieved when there's a gun to the head. The climate gun seems to be invisible however.
Recently Cumbria gave permission for a new deep coal mine to go ahead. The claim is that it will be carbon neutral as it will prevent other coal from being burnt. GIVE ME STRENGTH ! And of course it's the jobs arguement, it will 'produce' xxx hundred jobs. With this kind of wooly logic coming from so called leaders we're screwed. The mine will produce steel coal which is needed for it's carbon content to produce steel from iron. But look beyond boys, there's a conversion that uses hydrogen - no carbon.
It's throughout. It's the whole way we live and what we expect. It's the way we seem to regard the enviroment, physics and chemistry as adversaries to be overcome, rather than allies to be worked in concert with.
It's mindset change time boys and girls - and we all have our part to play.
It could happen. I can't help thinking that many company bosses will be wondering why they've been providing hugely expensive giant office blocks and sometimes even been subsidising travel, when most functions have been working so well via employee's homes. We could see a new era of mini HQs, providing not much more than a customer telephone interface.
It would be a property market disaster though, severely denting employee's future pensions.
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When this is all over I imagine Businesses will be looking closer to home to purchase their Parts and Supplies , certainly less of this just in time nonsense . It might have worked internally in Japan from where it originated. but the Virus has put the spotlight on it . As far as Steel Manufacture is concerned we will have to rely on other Countries for the raw materials as we have no Coal or Iron Ore now . Port Talbot gets it`s Coal from South Africa , Russia , USA , Australia and Colombia . Iron Ore comes from Brazil , Canada , N and W .Africa and Sweden . The Low Cost Airlines will surely take a long time hit and perhaps in the future people will be allowed a certain number of flights a year for Holidays and anyone wanting more will need to buy them from someone who doesn`t want to use their allocation . I don`t think life will carry on as before , no need for Climate Campaigners to get so upset in the future .
”getting back to normal”
as a 58 year old asthmatic I walked out of work weeks ago as at that time there was no attempt at social distancing, I’ve since been furloughed.
now I’m cycling most days and doing a lot of DIY and I have a stack of projects that I never had time for before. This is my new normal and I don’t want to go back to work.
It may be tight but if I survive this crisis I’m seriously looking at early retirement
as a 58 year old asthmatic I walked out of work weeks ago as at that time there was no attempt at social distancing, I’ve since been furloughed.
now I’m cycling most days and doing a lot of DIY and I have a stack of projects that I never had time for before. This is my new normal and I don’t want to go back to work.
It may be tight but if I survive this crisis I’m seriously looking at early retirement
I did that at 54 and have never regretted it for one moment. There's far more to life than just money.It may be tight but if I survive this crisis I’m seriously looking at early retirement
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i had a plan that kept me working up-to 60 (18 months away) but that relied on me earning and adding to savings, enough to keep me going to 65 without drawing my pension early. No kids and living by myself means I don’t have to leave anything after I’m gone
I'm 57 this year and thought about retiring but to like the interaction of my job for the last 30 months 4 on, 3 off & 34hrs as beginning May I have changed my hrs to 21 and 3 on, 4 off. I will work Friday to Sunday and have four nice days off in the week.”getting back to normal”
as a 58 year old asthmatic I walked out of work weeks ago as at that time there was no attempt at social distancing, I’ve since been furloughed.
now I’m cycling most days and doing a lot of DIY and I have a stack of projects that I never had time for before. This is my new normal and I don’t want to go back to work.
It may be tight but if I survive this crisis I’m seriously looking at early retirement
With no mortgage having worked hard, the wife and I over paid our repayment mortgage by double to save tens of thousands in interest that was 8 years ago.
My wage pays all the bills plus my ebike bug of buying kits and various bike parts, for now the nest egg is still growing. Eventually maybe in three years time go down to just working the weekend , the main benefit from the job is a small annual dividend payment a/discount on the shopping bill of 10 -15% worth it on a larger shop as well as discounts else where.
The extra will pay off eventually as it gives me another day for my bees should I need it and more ebike time.
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Ditto.No kids and living by myself means I don’t have to leave anything after I’m gone
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A couple of weeks ago, whilst out cycling, I went past a guy and his daughter. I'd say he was in his early to mid thirties and she was around 5. They were ambling down the road, no pressure to be anywhere, just chatting away.
Somehow I knew that that guy had never had time to be with his daughter like this. Will he really want to go back to the frantic grinding pressure ? Let's face it most people of that age are working 10 or more hours a day, just to earn a crust with the ever present threat of having it removed - or is that just my experience of being employed?
It seems to me that a lot of people, whilst wanting to be useful, are not in jobs that 'Light up their inner lives' and are merely surviving. Will they really want to go back to that life/time sapping grind?
It's the reason I went self employed around 20 years ago. Now I get a state pension but still work - but I can pick and choose my jobs and generally don't work beyond my daily energy limit, which is variable.
So, off to the workshop now to finish an aquarium stand for a customer
Somehow I knew that that guy had never had time to be with his daughter like this. Will he really want to go back to the frantic grinding pressure ? Let's face it most people of that age are working 10 or more hours a day, just to earn a crust with the ever present threat of having it removed - or is that just my experience of being employed?
It seems to me that a lot of people, whilst wanting to be useful, are not in jobs that 'Light up their inner lives' and are merely surviving. Will they really want to go back to that life/time sapping grind?
It's the reason I went self employed around 20 years ago. Now I get a state pension but still work - but I can pick and choose my jobs and generally don't work beyond my daily energy limit, which is variable.
So, off to the workshop now to finish an aquarium stand for a customer
Now that the rods are empty, I have the impression that people are driving more safely, at least around where I live.
I noticed on the main road that cars now go fully over to the far side of the white line when passing me, and are not at all reluctant to slow to a crawl if I am going around a sharp bend or even passing a parked car.
I noticed on the main road that cars now go fully over to the far side of the white line when passing me, and are not at all reluctant to slow to a crawl if I am going around a sharp bend or even passing a parked car.
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