Thursday 11 January 2018

The Long Grass?


The UK government appears to be attempting to develop a greenish tinge with a media mega-gush of warm words on reducing plastic packaging and microplastics (in facial scrubs et cetera); planting 'Northern forests' with the aid of The Woodlands Trust; doing something about difficult-to recycle disposable coffee cups; proposed post-Brexit changes to farming subsidies and other initiatives (https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2018/jan/09/michael-gove-takes-on-the-throwaway-culture-of-plastic-bottle-waste). All of this seems to have been triggered by the public response to Blue Planet 2 (catching the wave?). There does, however, seem to be a lack of joined-up thinking with no comments yet about abandoning fracking (in deed, some companies are, reportedly seeking to perform this activity even in sensitive, protected established areas), stopping the ill-advised badger cull to reduce TB in cattle; improving the building of new homes without encroaching on what is left of the environment or reconsidering the costs (financial and environmental) of nuclear power developments such as Hinkley Point. The whole initiative seems  a)  to be very long term (so nobody is likely to be held to account) and b) to depend on 'nudge theory' rather than legislation.

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