No, not recycling the festive season itself...
by Michael Smith
Households in the county of Kent, the neighbor to my own county, produced 22,000 tonnes of waste over the Christmas and New Year period last year.
Now the Green Party in Kent, as well as Boris Johnson, the Mayor of London, have issued the challenge to their respective residents urging them to have a greener and less wasteful festive season.
Dr Hazel Dawe, the party’s chair, said: “We want everyone to re-use packaging, re-heat appropriate foods, redistribute usable goods to charity shops or use them as presents.
‘Reclaim unwanted furniture for secondhand use, rot down all kitchen waste into compost, recycle what cannot be re-used and above all re-educate the whole household about redeeming the maximum benefit from the money we all spend at Christmas time.”
Mayor of London Boris Johnson has urged Londoners to make a concerted effort to recycle this Christmas, saying that "we need to stop thinking of rubbish as 'waste' - it is in fact a resource."
"This is a time when we produce acres of extra waste," the Mayor told the London Waste and Recycling Board.
Last year in the county of Kent only 23 per cent of the waste, 5,000 tonnes, produced in the county last Christmas and New Year was recycled – despite the fact that 80 per cent of household rubbish is recyclable. The rest ended up being sent to landfill.
Nationally, the Institute of Environmental Assessment and Management estimates that this Christmas the country will create three million tonnes of rubbish – enough to fill 400,000 double-decker buses.
Kent County Council is keen for people in the county to have a green Christmas and is launching a new campaign working with the national Waste Resources Action Programme (WRAP) to encourage people to recycle small electrical items at their local recycling center rather than throwing them in their dustbins.
A spokesman said: “Radio adverts will start on Boxing Day in time for the sales. The main message is ‘Bring It, Don’t Bin It’.”
Computers 4 Africa, a charity based in Maidstone, takes people’s unwanted PCs and laptops and sends them to schoolchildren in Africa, which has the lowest ratio of computers to people in the world.
While this is a nice gesture I am sure there are also deserving children in this country that cpuld benefit from having such a PC or laptop given to him or her – especially with a safe operating system – and a free one to boot – installed upon the system, such as Linux Ubunbtu.
The wrapping paper used for the country’s gifts is equal to 50,000 trees, according to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, and is enough to giftwrap the island of Guernsey.
Christmas trees can also be recycled alongside your festive greetings cards. The charity Action for Sustainable Living estimates that around six million Christmas trees are bought each year in the UK, but only 750,000 (12.5 per cent) of them are recycled.
The best idea is when it comes to a real Christmas tree is to buy one that is potted, use it for the festive season and then either plant it in the garden or have it planted in a wood or a park. Obviously, if you have a garden of your own you can plant it there and use it again next year. Beware, however, those things grow.
Dr Dawe had some wise words for this Christmas, which is set against the gloomy backdrop of the credit crunch.
She added: “The eight ‘Rs’ – re-use, re-heat, redistribute, reclaim, rot down, recycle, reeducate and redeem – will help to keep household debts under control at the most challenging time of year.
“By all means, have a happy Christmas and New Year – but remember, now is the season of waste, not just good cheer, and why waste money if a little thought will make it go further?”
Alas, Dr Dawe forgot a couple of “Rs”, namely repurpose and rework. She also omitted the most important one of the “Rs” and that is “reduce”.
As Mayor Johnsaon said, waste is not something to be thrown away, it is a resource, and one for a variety of uses.
We have to come to look at so-called waste and rubbish or refuse in a new light, whether domestic or commercial. Much of it can be made into new of some sort or another and not just by commercial recycling. Craft recycling is a great way to go and much of the refuse that is about could find its way back to people to be used as something else, be this waste leather, waste wood, PET bottles, or whatever else.
If you are looking for recipes suggestions to try with your leftover turkey, stuffing and party food try the Love Food Hate Waste campaign’s website www.lovefoodhatewaste.com.
© M Smith (Veshengro), December 2008
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Local Councils in England ask people re-reuse and recycle this festive season
Staycations & Fakeaways
by Michael Smith
In this current economic downturn, or maybe we should really truthfully call the baby by its proper name even though the eggheads try too still deny it, namely recession come depression, in Britain and in other developing nations, “stay at home vacations”, that are even beginning to be called “staycations” and also “fakeaways” - in the USA one would probably call them “fakeouts” - the make at home version of the “takeout”, the “takeaway”, as it is called in Britain, are becoming somewhat the norm now, it would appear.
It started this summer where the beginnings of the credit crunch were becoming obvious and people realized that they needed to keep an eye, a very close one, on their finances and there were also some that did it in order to aid the environment, to do the “green” thing. It was then when at first the new trend of “staycations” was beginning,, for one reason or the other. We then saw it continue into the holiday season in the USA with Thanksgiving being very quiet at airports and on the roads. People stayed home, to a great degree, for the holidays rather than to travel hundreds of miles. An additional factor in that case was the high cost at that time of gasoline as well.
Home appears to be now a great new holiday destination and in the UK also vacations in the country were up by over 60% for the summer 2008 compared with previous years. Good for the holiday resorts in Britain, I am sure. It is also no bad thing at all. A lower environmental footprint for starters and no huge amounts of air miles accumulated.
It certainly will do the environment and our planet a world of good – pardon the pun – if people indeed spend their vacations at destinations within the country, or in the USA State or neighboring State and not further afield, or even right at home in their own home and in their own town and area.
Why fly down to Spain to Costa del England – as the Costa del Sol is often jokingly referred to – when one has not even seen the sights in one's own country, often not even in one's own county?
How many British families have been in the Tower of London and seen the Crown Jewels and such? How many have seen Stonehenge properly? No, but they have been to the Louvre in Paris, or the Pyramids in Egypt even.
While the working class that tend to travel on package holidays to the places in Spain and such that are nothing but an extension of England with their nightclubs, cheap booze, etc., etc., and may not have all that nice homes staying at home still would benefit them more than anything. They often take out loans to be able to do those vacations. Doh? Or the save all year for it. Why?
Why not stay home, especially if one has a nice enough home and parks and open spaces and woods and seaside one can go and visit as and when the weather permits? That is a much better choice, and it does the environment good as well.
The towns and cities of this country and also the countryside are full of history but people seem to rather want to experience foreign places at rip off rates. Mind you, then again, a visit to the Tower of London certainly is not cheap at £17 per adult and £10 per child. I assume that families could get a slightly reduced rate on a family ticket but still it will make a visit to London and the Tower a rather expensive trip. Something must be done to make such visits more affordable, especially for those of the lower income bracket.
Fakeaways
With the costs rising left, right and center, whether utility bills, or fuel costs, people's habits are a-changing and the take out meals are replaced by the DIY Indian, Chinese or whatever meals at home.
While this may not be all that good for the restaurant industry it must be good for people's wallets and maybe even health. Do you really know how clean those kitchens of those places are? Do you really know what ingredients go into that curry? When you do your fakeaway Indian at home, however, you know where the ingredients have come from, who touched them – at least at your place that is – and how they were prepared and how clean the kitchen is.
Also, when you make your own exotic dishes, your takeout equivalent, at home the ingredients will be fresh and guaranteed cooked – probably – just that once and therefore any leftovers can be kept and used again the next day in one way or the other. Something that I would advise against if it is a take out meal proper, so to speak, as that food, more than likely was cooked and then reheated. In the case of rise, for instance, this can cause fatal botulism to develop. DIY and be safe and also green, though not as in color from food poisoning, but green as in environmentally friendly.
BYO Lunches
Another thing that the credit crunch has brought about, but also some of the “green” concerns, are the BYO Lunches. For many in offices both reasons, that of costs and that of being “green”, have lead to the renaissance in the bring-you-own lunch habit. For many manual workers it has always been the case that you made and brought along your own sandwiches and whatever and it used to also be the case for many office workers and even managers. Then came the sandwich bars and such and people began to buy their lunches out.
However, it would appear that we are headed back to the bringing your own lunch to work and elsewhere. The packed lunch is also there again for visits to parks and elsewhere where still a while ago people would have flocked for sandwiches and cakes and coffees or teas to the cafés. The only thing that people now, when visiting parks seem to purchase from the cafés seem to just be ice creams for the children.
Again, while this, unfortunately, may be impacting adversely on the catering industry, I would think that the environment, people's wallets and people's health will benefit here.
Firstly because sandwiches and other lunches that can be bought from those small and large places are certainly not cheap – far from it. Who, in their right mind, is going to pay £2 for a cheese sandwich? Well, some people seem to do in London's financial districts. Therefore it makes more than financial sense – strange the financial gurus don't seem to see that – to bring one's own lunch to the office or the workplace in general.
Secondly, as to health the story is the same as regards the take out places. You do not know how clean or not the food preparation areas are in those places and even if the lunches are bought pre-packed – and then comes the thing about the packaging too – from food factories and are just retailed by the stores one does not know as to how safe they are as regards to food poisoning bacteria and such like.
Make your own and take your own lunches to work and you save money and you also may just protect your body and your health as well.
Staycations and fakeaways are certainly the way to go, and that for both the environment and the wallet. In some instances also health. Both staycation and fakeaways also are a great idea and way to simplifying life.
© M Smith (Veshengro), December 2008
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Tough times put focus again on 'fixer-uppers', of the technology kind and other
by Michael Smith
The one thing that seems to happen when the economy takes a downturn or even worse is that it makes people accidentally “green”. This includes holiday tech gifting.
I have indicated that in the article about the DIY Christmas gifts and it holds true for other things too.
Apparently gadgets sales, in the US at least, have dropped for the first time this year during the after-Thanksgiving holiday rush. So what are people focusing on in the techy sector if not new devices?
They are focusing on adding to, improving or upgrading they old gadgets and such, and that's what it looks like for sure. Not a bad thing, I am sure.
Cheaper alternatives to a new desktop computer, including notebooks, also should do well, as heavy discounts have brought some laptop prices down to $500 or less. While those may not be the top of the range they are good enough for most users.
Another possible hot PC alternative is the NetBook, the small, lightweight laptop designed for e-mailing and Web surfing that tends to be slightly cheaper than a laptop, but just slightly.
I must admit that I have gone out this year twice now and actually spent money on new computer equipment; once for a new laptop and then, as a Christmas present to myself, I am afraid to say, to by an ASUS Eee PC NetBook.
A Netbook, however, is much more the ideal companion if the computer is to be used “on the road”, so to speak.
With some of them having rather big hard drives installed – but that makes them somewhat pricier – they can replace a standard laptop even.
The Eee PC that I got myself has a 16GB solid State hard drive – e.g. a flash drive – and, as far as I can see, that will be sufficient enough for my needs.
On the other hand, however, I very much believe in fixing up things and that is why my place is cluttered up with old(er) computers in the same way as the garage is full of abandoned and thus found bicycles. All to be fixed up at some stage, or broken down for spares, and in order to upgrade others.
Director of community at Retrevo, a search engine that focuses on consumer technology purchases, Adrew Eiser, says that it looks like consumers are focusing on adding to the devices they already own instead of making big purchases. Rather than new gaming consoles, for instance, they are buying just the games.
This year will be one of "technology as a fixer-upper," said Stacy DeBroff, the chief executive of Mom Central, a Web site for mothers.
"That's where you see, 'I won't get you the latest iPod, but I'll load up your iTunes,'" DeBroff said. "That's technology augmenting what exists, instead of making a big splurge for something that's new."
In addition to this there will be fixer uppers in other areas as well, as regards to presents, especially for children, of that I am sure. And there is certainly nothing wrong with it. The bicycle that someone else's child has grown out of and which is perfectly good in other ways but just needs to good thorough cleaning and such; the bike that is fixed up from another, or whatever, they are all, in my opinion, acceptable and the children should be happy with it and they will be if raised the proper way.
While it may be difficult for children – if they were not used to it – to understand this initially it will put them in good stead for life further down the road and I do not mean in case, which may still happen too, the economy dives even further.
While this is the present trend, so to speak, that it would appear that people are going for the fixing up rather than buying brand new this may still change if people, in light of the prices falling due to, such as in the UK, reduction in sales tax or just simply because there are closing down sales, as in the case of Woolworth. Folks then might decide to buy new things at a greatly reduced price but... to be honest, I cannot see people going out to spend lots that way especially not if they realize, which i am sure they will, the way we are headed, namely further down the drain.
In a way this is good green news.
What we’ll hopefully see is less new electronic hardware sold, a growing use of already owned gadgets, and a higher purchase rate for used electronics. If this is the case, like many industry analysts predict it will be, it’ll be a greener winter (and not in the global warming sense).
© M Smith (Veshengro), December 2008
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Boris ditches part of C-Charge zone
by Michael Smith
Boris Johnson, the Mayor of London, not to be confused with the Lord Mayor who is the Mayor for the City of London, the so-called Corporation, has announced that he is scrapping part of the capital's Congestion Charging zone in response to public demand.
Resultant from an in depth consultation with Londoners, the Mayor said he will take steps to remove the Western Extension, which includes the affluent areas of Kensington, Notting Hill, and Chelsea.
Some, I know, have said that he is pandering to the rich of the Royal Borough of Kensington & Chelsea, especially the drivers of the Chelsea tractors, that is too say the large SUVs that never ever go off road.
Nearly 28,000 residents and businesses responded to a consultation on the future of the Western Extension earlier this year, with two-thirds of residents and 86% of businesses calling for it to be scrapped.
Businesses have been on about it for ever since the initial Congestion Charge was introduced under Boris Johnson's predecessor Ken Livingstone.
It comes just months after Boris Johnson scrapped another anti-congestion initiative launched by his predecessor Ken Livingstone which would have raised the daily charge for entering the Congestion Charging zone from £8 to £25 for the most polluting vehicles, in this case especially yet again the aforementioned Chelsea tractors.
"During the election I promised Londoners a genuine consultation on the future of the extension," Mr Johnson said.
"I promised that I would respect their opinions and I promised that if clear support for a particular way forward emerged then I would act on that opinion.
"Londoners have spoken loud and clear, and the majority of people have said that they would like the scheme scrapped."
He said Transport for London (TfL) was still working on a series of measures aimed at easing congestion in the capital, such as re-phasing traffic signals.
TfL estimates that traffic returning to the Western Extension will result in a small increase in emissions of air pollutants and carbon dioxide, but said it is "unlikely to have any material effect on measured air quality" in the area or on its boundary.
But Green Party London Assembly member Jenny Jones said: "Scrapping the Western Extension will almost certainly lead to a sharp rise in traffic, more congestion, more air pollution and more climate change emissions."
She also raised concerns that the drop in income from Congestion Charge fares could lead to a rise in fares on public transport.
TfL will now begin the legal processes necessary to remove the Western Extension, but it is expected to remain until at least spring 2010.
While Mayor Johnson is correct in honoring his commitment to the London electorate the removal of the Western Extension will surely, as the Green Party member mentioned, lead to an increase in traffic, especially in those areas that have the charge removed.
The loss of revenue from not increasing the charge for the most pollution vehicles will also be sorely missed, I am sure, by TfL. In addition to that this fact also means that those vehicles will continue to travel into London and continue to pollute the air.
While one might not wish to impose and enforce certain restrictions on people as to which cars they may or may not buy, own and use, those highly pollution SUVs especially that have no other use than to make some people look big should, in my opinion, but this is my opinion, be banned from being sold bar to those that have a need for them, such as people who do actually live and work in the countryside and such like.
But, I know, I am skating on thin ice here as some people really will not like being told things like that and might be getting very angry with this. However, while I am at antagonizing people I might as well suggest, yet again, that the government must get its fingers out and create a public transport system that is reliable and affordable and then must encourage drivers off the road and into trains and buses.
© M Smith (Veshengro), December 2008
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COLORADO SENATOR KEN SALAZAR TO BE NEXT SECRETARY OF INTERIOR
National Park Trust Meets with Obama DOI Transition Team to Outline Priorities
ROCKVILLE, MD, December 2008: National Park Trust (NPT) applauds the announcement of the intention to nominate Colorado Senator Ken Salazar as president-elect Obama’s Interior Secretary. Senator Salazar supported NPT when he was a member of the Honorary Congressional Committee for National Park Trust’s 2008 Bruce F. Vento Public Service Award honoring Senator Harry Reid.
Board chair William Brownell states, “We at NPT are enthusiastic about his selection. Senator Salazar has substantial experience with parks and public lands and has shown a clear commitment throughout his career to reconnecting children and nature.”
Senator Salazar currently sits on the U.S. Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources and the subcommittee on National Parks. Prior to his senate career, he served as the director of the Colorado Department of Natural Resources and as the state’s attorney general.
Recently, a group of NPT representatives met with president-elect Obama’s Department of Interior Transition Team. The group discussed its priorities to achieve the organization’s vision that “everyone will have an American park experience”. Those priorities include creating a seamless national system of parks, adequate federal funding and matching opportunities for land acquisition, and expanding NPT’s Youth to Park Program - a national initiative aimed at reconnecting youth, especially underserved youth, to our nation’s parks.
NPT efforts complement and support the new administration’s interests in promoting the national parks through improved diversity, expanded youth programs, and the protection of strategic lands.
Brownell says, “NPT looks forward to working with the new Secretary and his team to strengthen the integrity of our nation’s parks and our children’s connection to them.”
NPT is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit land trust and the nation’s only organization dedicated to the completion, and full appreciation, of the American system of National and State Parks through the identification of key land acquisition needs and opportunities.
Source: National Park Trust
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Do-it-yourself gifts for Christmas
by Michael Smith
No, I am not about to give you instructions as to how too make gifts for Christmas. Others are doing that enough, methinks, which is good, but...
It seems that everywhere you look in magazines and newspapers – yes, even newspapers – and in television programs, and in their counterparts, whether from the same paper or magazine or not, online, whether those are the counterparts of the magazines, papers or TV programs, the talk is about and there are instructions for do-it-yourself Christmas gifts. This is the same in the Times Newspaper and its counterpart, Times Online, as well as on the website of the US TV program “Inside Edition”, and others.
Everywhere we look it is about DIY/homemade presents for Christmas. There must definitely be something in the air.
This is, obvious, something that I entirely applaud and endorse, as it is also good for the environment. Currently this does have little to do, in most case with environmental consciousness or such but seems to me definitely a sign of the times that we are presently in. We did not see such instructions in the last years past, bar in some special magazines and online media, such as Treehugger and others.
What we are seeing here is what people want and need for they cannot afford too go out and buy all those expensive things that they might have wanted to get their loved on es and friends for Christmas. A definite sign of the times.
This does not, necessarily, mean that this is a bad thing. It may feel like that to those that look at saving their dollars and cents and rather make gifts – and especially to those that do not have the funds to buy presents. In fact this may be a blessing in disguise, for us and the environment.
It may, finally, get us back to the finer things in life and to actually giving and receiving from and with the heart. A gift, whether for Christmas or Hanukkah or a birthday or other occasion, made by the giver expresses so much more than a store bought gift or a gift card.
Also greeting cards made at home, whether “just” on the computers or more elaborate is hardly the matter. In general, I think, home-made cards, and gifts, are, by the people with the right mindset, much more appreciated than boughten ones.
It is time that we got back to the real value of things and a recession or depression, for methinks that we have entered the latter already and left the former a while back, often makes for a rethink and brings us back to what really matters.
As I said, I am not about to give you instructions as too what to make and how to make it. There are enough instructions about already. There are many things that you can make, depending on how good your with your hands, and I am talking here equally to the men and the women of the audience.
While I must say that I do not really have anyone to give presents to at Christmas but my cards are always home-made on the PC and on occasions I give other handmade gifts, such as knives that I make in the traditional way of my Romany People. I also make gifts from recycling old leather bags and such into the likes of business card/credit card wallets (not that there will be so many folks around anymore using such plastic in the future, maybe).. Business/visiting cards are, once again, back in fashion though. Other leather items I also make for people as gifts, including also scabbards for pocketknives, for iPods, general MP3 players, and other goods.
If you have a mind to think what the recipient of the gift might appreciate, as long as it is not – yet again – a sweater that is far too large, I am sure that you can find something that you can make for someone that will be lived and loved.
Maybe the current economic problems are not a bad thing when it comes to us getting back, as I said, to the real values.
© M Smith (Veshengro), December 2008
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In hard economic times, toys of yesteryear strike a chord
by Michael Smith
In these days of recession and economic hard times may people have to count their dollars and even pennies this Christmas season and hence some clued-up parents are trying to avoid buying high-priced techno gadgets for their children.
Instead many are looking back to their own childhood and are buying for their children those ageless classics such as “Lincoln Logs” or other such toys, including the good old Daisy airguns.
Airguns are always a good bet for boys and girls alike and the use of a Daisy under supervision – at least for starters – will teach them to be responsible shooters and anyone, so I have found, who was taught how to shoot from an early age is very unlikely to ever commit a crime with a gun. The same is true for anyone who has used a knife from earliest childhood, especially if he or she comes from a true knife culture.
Having said this, a good pocketknife also is a time-honored gift and I sure remember how proud I was of the first folding knife that I was ever given, even though this was a used one. That made no difference to the appreciation of the present and I still have that knife to this very day.
Without an apparent definite “must-have” toy fad this season and with parents facing a deteriorating economy, tried-and-true toys are being embraced by parents and toy makers alike - what one analyst calls a "back to the toy box" approach.
I think that this is a step that has not come before time. It was about time we all woke up to the fact that the gadget toys that the advertising media tell us and especially our children that they MUST have are nothing that will last. It is just a fad and that's it. Period.
I remember the few toys – real toys – that I had but one thing there was that I loves, aside from the old wooden tractor and caravan it pulled (both of which were held together by more glue than anything else, I think) and that was the small Mecano set that I had and with which I build so many things.
Without a defnite, as I have said, "must-have" toy fad this holiday season, and with parents facing a deteriorating economy, tried-and-true toys are being embraced by parents and toy makers alike - what one analyst calls a "back to the toy box" approach.
"'Retro' or 'nostalgia' toys can be viewed as the 'comfort food' of the toy industry, and I do think folks naturally gravitate to what made them happy when they were young or what is familiar to them," said Anita Frazier, a toy analyst at NPD Group, a market research firm.
Ken Moe, general manager of Backtobasicstoys.com, a Web site owned by Scholastic Corp. that offers classic toys like "Rock 'Em, Sock 'Em Robots," Slinky and Colorforms, said sales so far this season indicate a rising interest in old favorites.
Though most sales will occur over the next few weeks, Moe said Junior TinkerToys, Lincoln Logs and toy instruments have been among the big sellers in the past few months.
Parents are not the only ones looking again at classic toys. Toy makers also are turning to the old standbys as they face not only weakening toy sales but also steep prices for commodities like resin used to make many toys and tough competition from electronic gadgets.
Classic toys could fill the gap left by a lack of a "must have" toy, as toy makers stick to past hits and avoid taking risks, what Needham & Co. analyst Sean McGowan calls going "back to the toy box."
"Partly, its because they know 'this thing works,' " he says.
On the other hand it is toys that parents played with as children and they know that they will have appeal once presented to the child in the right manner.
Wooden building blocks, and their plastic counterparts such as Lego, have a timeless appeal and so have Meccano metal construction sets. Mind you, Meccano has grown up a lot since I was a child and now it has construction sets from age 2+ upwards.
Hasbro Inc. has found success this season by revitalizing names such as the 40-year-old Nerf brand and Transformers, which first hit the U.S. in the early '80s and are selling well again after last year's "Transformers" movie.
The company also debuted revamped versions of classic board games like Clue, Operation and Monopoly this year.
"One of our core tenets is to reinvent and reimagine a lot of our core brands," says John Frascotti, Hasbro's global chief of marketing, who is 47. "There's an emotional resonance that comes from the quality of the experience people in my or our generation had with the toys, and recognition that the same experience can now shared with entire family and children."
Hasbro plans to continue to update old brands and has a G.I. Joe revival - including toys related to a new live-action movie - set for 2009.
Jakks Pacific Inc. has brought back several classic brands this year, including a 25th anniversary Cabbage Patch Kid doll that is the replica of the original version and a new Smurfs plush toy and DVD.
© M Smith (Veshengro), December 2008
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CFLs vs incandescent light bulb
by Michael Smith
While the latter, that is to say the old Edison light bulb, is less efficient as far as energy consumption if concerned, as it required a higher wattage in comparison to the CFLs to create the same amount of light, it is by far safer than the CFLs with their mercury and, I should assume, hence, in fact, by fare more environmentally friendly than the so much lauded CFLs.
CFLs cannot simply be disposed of willy-nilly, as theoretically, the Edison bulbs can as they just are glass and a bit of metal, because of the fact that they contain mercury - a toxin - and are also a danger to human health when broken accidentally. The advice is to leave the room where the break occurred and not re-enter within 15mins. In addition, in my opinion, there must also be an environmental impact in manufacture that would be by far greater than the impact from the manufacture of the standard and cheap incandescent light bulb, the Edison kind.
It is easy, in my view, to save energy with incandescent light bulbs... by simply using the switch to turn off those that are not needed. Simple, isn't it.
But, alas, there appears to be, yet another, hidden agenda as to light bulbs for why, otherwise, would anyone go as far as to actually physically banning them and making them illegal to be used. That is, at least, a rumor that I have heard, e.g. that in the next couple of years the very use of the ordinary light bulbs will become illegal.
So, who benefits from the new kind of light bulbs? Is it really the environment and the consumer or is it someone else? Methinks the case is the latter. Neither the environment nor the consumer are the true beneficiaries here; certain others, however, are.
We are being forced to accept something we may not need and which may not aid the environment at all – in fact it may cause harm to it – and this cannot be in either the interest of the environment not us, the people.
I believe we must first of all demand that we be told the real truth as to why the CFLs, which after all contain mercury and are hence not very environmentally friendly, are supposed to be forced upon us and the Edison bulb to be made illegal and secondly we must demand to be given the truth as to how much impact, truly, the use of CFLs would have compared to the Edison bulb, especially if people would heed the advice and turn off unnecessary lights. In other words, if we would turn off normal light bulbs which are so cheap to buy and hence, it would appear, also to produce in comparison to the CFLs, would it not be better for the environment after all, as there is no mercury to worry about at disposal of bulbs.
However, the way I see it, there are certain people's profits tied up in this CFL sale and the CFL recycling business. So, I am sure you can work out for yourself as to what is going on.
© M Smith (Veshengro), December 2008
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Spending our way out of the downturn
by Michael Smith
For years and years, especially as regards to the environment and such, we have now been told to get away from being too much of a consumer and consumption society and now, with an economic crises at hand, for it no longer just looming, folks – it has well and truly arrived, we are encouraged by various government measures to go out and spend, spend, spend. Doh?
I personally cannot see how this spend, spend, spend, thing is, supposed, to help the economy and I also cannot see people doing it. What I can see people doing is in fact to hold on to their money in the hope that things are going to get cheaper still., and things will in the end. We are headed, in Britain at least, rapidly for deflation and this means that things will get cheaper and cheaper and people, and that is human nature, are NOT going to buy something now, this very moment when, more than likely, the same product if 20% cheaper by next week or so.
The British Chancellor of the Exchequer, the Secretary of State for Finance, Alistair Darling, has decided that is exactly what they are trying to do, namely to get the public to go out and spend and spend. With this in mind he has reduced the VAT, the sales tax, by 2.5% from 17.5% to 15%, something which has caused nothing bu extra work and cost for retailers who had to adjust all their tills and all their prices. What he should have done instead, if he thinks that lower taxes will make people go out and spend their way out of a recession – not that that is going to work – is to lower the income tax, especially for the lower earners. But he did not do that.
Other governments in the developed world are implementing or are considering similar fiscal measures. The problem is that, so I see it, this is going to do absolutely nothing; nothing whatsoever, and we will be in a recession and deflationary depression faster than we can imagine by going down this route.
OK, I admit, I am no financial whizkid now expert or analyst but I can sure see the writing on the wall and I can see what people are going to do. They are going to say “thanks, Chancellor” and the money will stay in their accounts or pockets.
In times as uncertain as these no one in their right mind is going to go on a spending spree to help the general economy; they are going to tighten their purse strings for the “just in case”.
We are also currently in the, what could be called, “austerity chique” in which even the better off and those with a job are digging up their gardens, or quite a sizable chunk of it, in order to plant and grow vegetables for themselves and their families. Some do it for reasons of wanting some more organic vegetables and also wanting to know where the food actually comes from and what is it it, and others also may do it because it is at present the in thing to do.
This thing of “spend, spend, spend” is morally irresponsible and unsustainable as most of the people of this country and, I guess the same is also true in other countries, and the country itself are deep in debt, to banks and credit card companies. However, we do not seem to learn the moral lesson from this and the government is trying to simply get people to spend more and more. This is simply not sustainable and sustainability is not just something that we must look at as far as the environment is concerned. Our entire life must be, once again, sustainable but it is not – presently – and the government, as said, is not helping here by encouraging spending in order to, hopefully, revitalize the economy. Revitalize it in what way, that must be the question. For corporate greed to be able to continue as is?
The truth is, as said before, that the common punter is not going to go out and spend any money that they may b e “handed” by the government. The current huge amount of government borrowing by the British government as much as others, though the British seem to be one of those that really think that they can get out of problems by borrowing such humongous sums, is not sustainable and means that the public will be hit by tax hikes in the not so distant future. In view of the fact that such borrowings, as said, means more taxes to pay for this later, people are not going to go out onto the High Street and spend all this money that they are receiving by cuts in VAT and such. They are going to keep some of it if not indeed most of it back for the “in case”.
A “spend, spend, spend” approach that we are being encouraged to take up is a non-sustainable way to go and it much be discouraged rather than encouraged.
Are the government of this country, and others, really thinking that we can buy ourselves out of an economic downturn?
Apparently yes. Cloud Cuckoo Land comes to mind, does it not.
Instead of telling the people to take steps and protect themselves in this economic downturn and to make provisions they think that if people will go out with a little extra money and spend that in High Street shops and the department stores of this country. It is NOT going to make any difference and people are not going to go out and spend, spend, spend.
We are seeing already that they are not going to that. Instead they are holding back, though sales have not completely gone down the drain as yet on the High Street, but then it is the Christmas period and also stores are having pre-Christmas sales to lure the punters in.
People are going, and that is becoming slowly obvious, to hold back in general with spending, waiting for prices to fall further. This means that we are headed towards deflation in due course and instead of the economy picking up it will be doing the opposite. And as soon as this is going to become evident to people they will hold back even more when it comes to spending on the non-essentials.
Talks about prices going down does not seem to be working, as yet, at least not as far as food stuffs is concerned. Here prices seem to be still on the up in most places if not indeed all.
Oil prices, on the other hand, do seem to be falling, and not just in the global wholesale market. Even at the pumps we are seeing prices coming down. Whether that will also be seen as price reductions to the home energy consumer, as regards electricity and gas remains to be seen. The problem simply is that the energy companies are way too greedy, even those that claim to have ethics.
But whatever, we cannot spend ourselves out of an economic downturn that is about 2 seconds away from a recession and not all that far from a depression even. It is just the same madness as the way we have dealt with the natural resources. We have spent, spent, spent until now everything is polluted and nigh on gone.
There is only one way out; on both counts: Cutting back and living a simpler life. Period.
© M Smith (Veshengro), December 2008
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