General Chat

I've long thought that looking after the environment is a good idea. Some 30 years ago I was teaching about conservation to my primary school kids.

But that was because we live on a planet with limited space and resources so turning it into a rubbish dump has never seemed a good idea.

We recycle what we can. We've had solar heating (to do our hot water) for nearly 20 years and done what we can to insulate our house. This saves on heating bills considerably.

When I was doing my O level geography many years ago it was a coming Ice Age which the experts were predicting!

Certainly winters were much colder when I was a child and even in the 1970s and 1980s we had several very chilly snowy spells. We've not had heavy snow in my part of Somerset for well over 25 years.

However in doing family history I've read about spells of really cold weather when rivers froze solid and warm medieval spells when vineyards flourished in many parts of England.

I am still not 100% certain that global warming is all our fault and not simply part of the natural ebb and flow of the climate BUT doing our best to keep the planet lovely and trying to preserve what we've got must be the right thing to do.

Sue

I think that Denmark used to have the best policy for recycling bottles. They didn't recycle as such ie they didn't melt down the glass/plastic and make new ones.

Instead they used to limit the types of bottles that could be made eg for beer, milk etc. They then used to re-use them in the same way that people used to use milk bottles and the old fashioned lemonade/soft drinks bottles. If only we could do this.

Plastics are not collected in my area and it really annoys me as I sort them. But there is a plastics bin at out local supermarket so when we do our weekly shop I put them in a really big reusable bag - I dispose of them first and use that bag as well as a few others after for our shopping.

I try to use carrier bags as little as possible - but if If I dont have an appropriate bag I will use them.

Now wouldn't this be a good idea if it works:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/nottinghamshire/7315059.stm

I'm not holding my breath about the glass collection in our area. There's a nasty smug 'we've done it' air about my local council!! lol

Maggie, ours didn't include glass at first but now it includes glass, plastic, paper, tinfoil, cardboard etc and you just have to put it in a recycling wheelie bin (clean) but you don't have to sort it. You can just chuck it in. I cannot really complain yet.

I have a fortnightly rubbish collection and recycling collection, but it doesn't include glass - however it does in nearby towns served by a different council.
I'm not prepared to have glass hanging around the house or garden waiting for a favour from someone though.

I also agree it's a natural proces - as is coastal erosion. The coast has never been static, Dunwich all but disappeared 200 years ago - it's just that society nowadays seems to think it should be able to control Mother Nature!!

Squirrel I agree but everyone seems to think earth is warming because of what we are doing to harm it, rather than seeing it as a natural progess that we aren't helping.

UHUH Im like SRS my recycling is collected weekly but my Bin only fortnightly and the lid has to shut - if it dosent they throw the top bag at your house and only take the rest.

Bt we have to sort out recycing even though we only have a black box. I had to pay out my own money for the stackable boxes we have.

The thing is.....we (as humans) have a vested interest in slowing down global warming.

If we are speeding up the process, it is already having an effect on countries around the world including our own. There have been droughts in some countries and floods in ours.

And what about our children?

Maggie, where I live we have a bin for rubbish and a bin for recycling.

Something like that would probably suit you better.

They don't do more pickups than usual - they pick up the rubbish bin every 2 weeks and the recycling bin on alternative weeks so it doesn't use extra petrol,

is it really all changing because of man??? or is it just that man speeds the process up?

Think about it the earth has had hot/humid jungle and cold/ice age weather in past long before airplanes, fridges car exhausts and aerosols etc.

Just a thought!!!!!

Maggie I lived nd worked in London for over 20 years (without a car) before I moved to the West Country.

I still use a bus most days to get to work I pay for an annual ticket. My bus ticket for less than four miles costs more than when I worked in London and had a zone 1 - 4 travelcard for busses trains and tubes.

I have a choice of two buses and the stops are a ten min walk apart so I have to make a choice - bus that runs twice an hour but is direct - or a bus that is supposed to be every 15 mins but goes miles out of my way to get to the same destination.

Driving is more and more appealing although my bus pass runs till Nov so will use it at least till then.

Recycling is fine if the lorry comes to the door. We don't have a glass/bottle collection, so people have to drive their cars to the nearest bottle bank - thus creating more unecessary pollution and negating the energy saved by recycling.
Then there are the awkward Bu**ers like me who don't own a car and am certainly not going to walk 2 miles with empty bottles either after a days work or at the weekend!!! I occasionally store them for my daughter to take to the dump, but usually end up putting them in the bin because glass lying around the house/garden is a wee bit dangerous!!

I was just warning you Tuna so you didn't go out and buy all those bikini's so soon. Make a room in your drawer for thermal underwear lol

Yes it is warmer in the winters than it use to be 20 years ago. I wonder how long it will last?

Oh dear... I did say I was a useless debater..

I know that 20 years ago when I worked outside, winters were far harsher than they are now so something is changing.

We will adapt.. and the future generations won't actually be able to appreciate how it is for us now, as we can't really appreciate the life of the caveman.

Maggie, you're right. We should do our bit where we can but big business has a lot to answer for and this needs to be addressed.

Hi Tuna :-)
I hate to tell you this but there's a theory that global warming will make the UK colder. I think it is to do with the melted icecaps causing a disruption to the gulf stream which keeps us warm. We are on a parallel to Moscow and New York which are bitterly cold in winter but the gulf stream keeps us warm. When the gulf stream moves, we will become as cold as they are in winter. I'm no expert either so stand to be corrected :-)

I totally agree with recycling, it's a very worthwhile practice. It will not necessarily help much with changing the planet in the near future... only long term, so well worth it. I don't see how it will help the ozone layer initially other practices need to be addressed first.

Aha Maddie, but if we had an affordable reliable 'go everywhere' public transport system, people could get by without cars!! :o)

Countries, yes Squirrel, and I agree each person can contribute their little bit, but more use would be done by big firms doing their bit first, and the Government doing their bit by making public transport affordable and linked!!
I can't go anywhere on a Sunday as there are very few buses and I refuse to pay rail prices eg Winchester to Petersfield bus fare £4.50 return. Train fare £13 single, £19 return!! Almost makes me want to go out and buy a car!!
When they go on about what you can do, it is totally irrelevent to me - always has been, and I'm sure I'm not the only one and why the hell should I put myself out when the 'powers that be' go their own merry way!!