Following the quiet introduction of the Smoking Ban, Gareth Kane wonders why we're so reluctant to use the full force of The Law to save the planet?
So last week England went smoke-free just like the rest of the UK, and, apart from a slight hiccup in Stoke-on-Trent, there doesn't seem to have been much of a fuss. This made me wonder why we are so afraid to use legal measures to make us more eco-friendly?
Industrialists will howl at what I've just said as they struggle with the latest legislation to come in - the Registration, Evaluation and Authorisation of Chemicals (REACH) directive and the Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment (delightfully known as WEEE) directive. So let me be more specific - why don't we use the law to make the lives of us citizens more eco-friendly? Other countries have banned (or taxed) plastic bags, introduced compulsory recycling of beverage cartons and require 'pay as you throw' waste charges to encourage recycling, yet our Government is reluctant to consider any of the above.
The answer is because we won't let them. Last April's indignation over alternative weekly collection caused whole councils to change in political control. Back in 2001, the fuel protests almost brought the country to its knees over a relatively small increase in the cost of driving (BTW the organiser of the protests is currently standing for the BNP in the Sedgefield By-election).
The big problem here is that ecological damage is caused by a combination of production and consumption. All our environmental laws focus on the production side of the equation, but allow the man in the street to consume unhindered. The recently published blueprint for "Zero Carbon Britain" published by the Centre for Alternative Technology calls for an international treaty to restrict carbon emissions in each country and Tradable Energy Quotas ('Tex') for individuals within Britain. The report claims this will be a vote winner as it will redistribute cash from the affluent who consume more to the poor who consume less as the latter could sell TEQs to the former. Whoever wrote that has never taken part in a local or national election as carbon rationing would be manna from heaven for unscrupulous opponents.
But there are chinks of light - the congestion charge in London and the forthcoming introduction of variable parking charges in Richmond have shown that the public are starting to accept restrictions in their consumption. The smoking ban worked because the time was right for it. Hopefully the time for more radical environmental laws will come before it is too late.
Until next time,
Gareth
Gareth Kane
Eco-living Blog
Terra Infirma
From: BEST OF 2008: Eco-friendy and sustainable shoes