Issue 151

Waterfront Debate: Goverment Enviromental Protection

29th January 2007

Let's tell it like it is. For most people, looking after the environment is a fad.

It is akin to the obsession with 'healthy lifestyles' that sweeps the nation after every Christmas, a time when over-indulgence is celebrated. It is sad but true that whilst for some caring for our planet is a serious way of life, for most it's a fashionable trend that always seems to disappear just as quickly as it surfaced, usually making way for some 'proper' issues.

This retreat seems to be happening now. Bush's State of the Union address was meant to seriously tackle the climate change issue, but its environment proposals were meek and uninspired, thereby leaving Iraq as the principle talking point. A few weeks ago, our 'big three' politicians - Blair, Brown and Cameron - were clambering over each other, trying to look the most 'green' but now the issue seems to have fallen by the wayside.

The problem is human, and most of us have experienced it in a diluted form: we all agree that the washing up in the communal student flat has to be done - but nobody is prepared to make more than the minimum amount of effort to do it, unless this effort is matched by everyone else. We all hate traffic wardens, but deep down we are glad they're there, otherwise driving and parking would be impossible. (If it were left up to us, we'd be parking in the middle of the road outside the paper plate shop).

We are humans, and that means we are lazy. Except for a small minority, most of us can't be bothered to look after the environment by doing the things we know we should be doing. Up until now, we've had our heads in the sand, but the time has come for us to stop relying on the minority to do our dirty work for us. Concrete standards need to be set, so we all know what we should be doing - from recycling household waste to using less fuel. Measures designed to encourage conservation are all well and good, but let's have some stick to go along with the carrot.

We need to bite the bullet. Reliance on voluntary measures will not work.

People would come around to stricter legislation, as long as everyone had to abide by it. All we need now are some politicians with the balls to stick with it when the 'protecting the environment' falls out of fashion.

Daniel Budden