You set them up, I'll nod them in.

Discussion in 'Bulletin Board' started by Red Mosquito, Jan 12, 2018.

  1. Red

    Red Mosquito Well-Known Member

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    Is this me being cynical?

    In the last month or so, I've seen a raising of the national consciousness about plastic pollution. For example, we've seen one of the most watched TV programmes devote an episode to global ocean plastic pollution. In the last week we've seen stories in the press of plastic pollution on British beaches by storms dredging up what rested on the ocean floor. Within the last day or two on Facebook I'm seeing newsfeeds of surfers cleaning beaches. Then lo and behold, the government announce a far off plastic reduction target that they will never see put in place.

    Was it case of government opportunism, or were friends in high places setting Mrs May up for a nice little header on the back post?
     
  2. orsenkaht

    orsenkaht Well-Known Member

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    Most definitely the latter. While I can't think anybody will disagree with what was said, with the NHS in crisis you would think May might be better addressing that right now than courting favourable publicity about an issue that is going to take until 2042 to resolve.
     
  3. wak

    wakeyred Well-Known Member

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    Its the case of a clueless government with no principles jumping on a bandwagon. For years young voters have been ignored because it was always taken as a given that they can't be bothered to vote whereas the over 50s vote - hence triple lock state pension rises, etc. The last election disproved that theory as young voters turned out in record numbers, now politicians are suddenly looking for things that young people are interested in - the environment being one of them. You can bet that no one in Tory Central Office remotely dreamed they'd be introducing legislation on plastic before the election - different story now though.
     
  4. Dan

    DannyWilsonLovechild Well-Known Member

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    A mixture of the two most likely. What's apparent is she has zero power and only things that are insipid to the tories with a hint of populism will get channelled through to policy without resistance. But as with the shift with car policy, this goal is so far away it will be forgotten about and have plenty of time to be undone. It's not done from belief.

    What is really sad though are the issues stemming from human population. I've been lucky enough to visit numerous countries, but nothing prepares you when you see an area of beauty being decimated through the simple act of human existence. Air pollution, water pollution, rubbish, destruction, slaughter of wild animals.

    I don't think mankind has it in its nature to truly collaborate together to solve true problems on a grand scale or to take the necessary, unpopular and difficult decisions to try and make this floating rock which we all reside upon, to last longer than what it currently will.

    Imagine the day we run out of oil... that's going to be a belter of a day. When the sea can no longer sustain the levels of life to feed a booming population. There are massive issues in the near future, but we're mired in petty populism serving self interest and vanity.
     
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  5. Plankton Pete

    Plankton Pete Well-Known Member

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    Don't think anyone has mentioned the fact that China will no longer pay to take our waste plastic. I'd say this is the biggest driver of them all.
     
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  6. wak

    wakeyred Well-Known Member

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    Interesting, got any links?
     
  7. Dan

    DannyWilsonLovechild Well-Known Member

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    Just search china bans plastic recycling, it was all over the news programmes last week. Our politicians glossed over it saying we could just send it somewhere like Indonesia instead. Having visited Indonesia, the last thing they need is more rubbish to contend with. Would be nice if we dealt with our own ****, rather than fob it off onto someone else.
     
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  8. Red

    Red Mosquito Well-Known Member

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    For me it was so blatant and disingenuous that she might as well have promised all people currently under the age of thirty, a free flying car, a 200" holo-tv and a weeks holiday on Mars in the year 2042.
     
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  9. wak

    wakeyred Well-Known Member

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    I knew a lot of our "recycling" went to landfill in the 3rd world, what a time to be alive.
     
  10. Dan

    DannyWilsonLovechild Well-Known Member

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    Some of it is stripped down further and dealt with, but lots just go into landfill, never to break down.... the issue again, the lazy westerners don't want the none skilled jobs, don't want to get our hands literally dirty and expect foreigners to do this for us. Either here, or even better, out of sight.

    The sad reality of impoverished nations is that they often have large areas of land to manage and look after without money or resource to cover it or deal with it effectively.

    I visited various places in Indonesia and it was a common sight to see litter everywhere in the mountains and forests. Tragic. Maybe some tourists, but often locals, throwing it into channels hoping the rain water would carry it to sea. If not, it is burnt. Plastics, food waste, anything. Why? Because there are now bin collections. Not in the hills miles away from anywhere where a small village with lean to sheds is all they have. Where mains electricity doesn't exist. Where the source of water is a central well.

    We should be helping them collect their rubbish and dealing with it in modern recycling facilities, educating them, paying them for the privilege and turning it into something new and usable. That was just Indonesia on a handful of islands of Lombok, bali and java. I can't comment on other parts of Asia, or South America or Africa, but I wouldn't be surprised if it were an isolated instance.
     
  11. Jimmy viz

    Jimmy viz Well-Known Member

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    My mates working on a project in India turning plastic waste into roads. It’s properly innovative stuff.
     
  12. Dan

    DannyWilsonLovechild Well-Known Member

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    Just think how Murphys or Conway would cope.... good god, a road might even last more than 6 months!
     
  13. pon

    pontyender Well-Known Member

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    I thought this thread was going to be about Kieffer Moore.
     
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