“A woman should wear fragrance wherever she expects to be kissed”-Coco Chanel
Laura Reynolds looks at some of the cheapest beauty products available
Many environmental lifestyle blogs will recommend that you switch to energy saving light bulbs or start to wash your clothes at 30ºC. We're going to make the assumption that if you're reading this you probably already realise how you can cut down your personal energy consumption. After all, most of it is common sense.
We hope to avoid the common eco-clichés and try to offer you advice that you might not have heard before, or at least will have more fun doing than just changing light bulbs.
It's easy to be sceptical about how much difference isolated individual actions can really make. I mean, it's still important that you make them, and if everybody avoided leaving lights on and appliances on standby then there would be drastic reductions in emissions. However, when big businesses and industries continue to behave badly this just isn't going to be enough, and without leadership from the government, a big enough change is never going to happen. Let's face it, you aren't going to be able to offset a third runway at Heathrow by turning the television off at the wall.
In order to make the necessary cuts in emissions to avoid runaway climate change (when positive feedback loops cause further warming, generally accepted to happen after an average 2ºC rise in global temperatures) we really do need decisive political change. With this in mind, the biggest thing that you can do for the planet is to start campaigning. Start signing petitions, go on marches, and join a campaign organisation (shameless plug: York Uni's People & Planet group meet every Tuesday at 6.15). And, on top of changing the world, you'll meet some wicked cool people and have a brilliant time doing it!
By aiming to influence decision makers, you've got the potential to help reduce the whole country's CO2 emissions and set a high standard to be aspired to by other developed and developing countries across the globe. The lack of political change can be really frustrating, but what we need to realise is that politicians respond to what they think people want to see, not just because it's their job, but also because they have to in order to stay elected! So to make them take the climate seriously, what we need to do is show them what we want - serious legislative changes to make sure that big corporations are sticking to their responsibility to cut down their carbon footprints.
Sounds easy doesn't it? Well it really can be that simple. In 2005 Friends of the Earth launched their Big Ask campaign, which saw unprecedented numbers of people calling for a strong UK Climate Law. Nearly 200,000 spoke to their MP directly, through letters, email, posting a video clip, or in person. After a three and a half year campaign, Parliament voted for legislation which commits the government to deep cuts in the UK's emissions of greenhouse gases by 2050. The first of its kind in the world, the law is a huge step in the fight against climate change, but there's still a lot to be done.
For more information, visit:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=56fvtM-Df6k&eurl=
http://www.foe.co.uk/campaigns/climate/big_ask
Protesting won't make a damn bit of difference if china, the states and russia say otherwise.
All we can do, is simply never vote labour into power again. Climate change lies are as bad as any of their other lies.
Train prices are soaring, bus prices are soaring, the 3rd runway at heathrow has been approved with a 2nd at stansted favoured by labour and opposed by the rest. Parking charges at hospitals are being raised in the name of 'climate change' and 'eco towns' are a threat to the green belt, are so far away from urban districts car travel WILL be necessary (no eco towns have a rail line passing through) and the car industry is being bailed out!!
The attack on cheap flights punishes the poor, while lavish private jets are allowed free reign to touch down and take off wherever they like, carrying hardly any passengers. Empty jets take off from heathrow because the government make it cheaper for an empty jet to fly, then for a flight to be cancelled.
All labour's positive action on climate change has been through EU pressure or international agreements.
The lib dems would cut income tax and increase green taxes. The tories wouldn't build another runway at heathrow. The greens would limit businesses emissions.
Labour have failed catastrophically on climate change. They claim to be the party who cares about it, and will talk, talk and talk again. Yet realistically they have not stood up to polluters, are under the thumb of BAA, have turned the public against green issues by using them as a cash cow to punish the poor while they suck up to the rich owners of oil companies, private jets, airports, luxury car makers...
Rather than waving a banner about in London, punish those who have let us down at the ballot box.
"Protesting won't make a damn bit of difference if china, the states and russia say otherwise."
Protesting affects our gov, the actions of our gov will have an impact on a willing-to-listen Obama administration and the devloping world that requires us to take the first step.
"All we can do, is simply never vote labour into power again."
An odd sentiment: Labour is the only (credible) party willing to regulate emissions by business. Cameron riding his bike in front of cameras with his car driving behind him is all well and good, but the schemes of Schwarzenegger and Merkel he advocates would require the type of regulation the Tories so despise
"Train prices are soaring, bus prices are soaring, the 3rd runway at heathrow has been approved"
I personally agree about Heathrow, but on trains and buses the gov are doing all they can short of renationalisation, which it simply can't afford right now
"Parking charges at hospitals are being raised in the name of 'climate change' and 'eco towns' are a threat to the green belt, are so far away from urban districts car travel WILL be necessary (no eco towns have a rail line passing through) and the car industry is being bailed out!!"
Interesting, though wrong: give me evidence of a national Labour gov policy of such a 'conspiracy' re. parking charges, while the proposed eco-town for York is on a brown-field site (not in the green belt) and would be next to - you guessed it - the train station! Car industry bail-outs: if you or your family worked in this sector, you might be singing a different tune my friend.
On flights - I agree private jets should be taxed more harshly, but existing increases have been quite effective at reducing air-travel
"All labour's positive action on climate change has been through EU pressure or international agreements."
Er, the 80% emissions cut by 2050
"The lib dems would cut income tax and increase green taxes. The tories wouldn't build another runway at heathrow. The greens would limit businesses emissions."
The LDs can say whatever they want because they're not gonna win and won't have to work out how they'd pay, the Tories would build a new airport on the Thames and are just using this for political point-scoring in marginal London constituencies, and the Greens don't know how to govern
"Labour have failed catastrophically on climate change etc etc etc"
See the above
"Rather than waving a banner about in London, punish those who have let us down at the ballot box."
Well, there won't be an election for a while yet mate, so might as well do something in the meantime. As for punishing Labour, you'll just end up punishing the country
David
Chair, York Labour Club
comment deleted by the author i would like to hear jason rose's opinion about this
"Labour are the only (credible) party."
Is the York Labour Club Chair in doubt about his party's credibility now? If so one of few surely.
"Er, the 80% emissions cut by 2050"
Yes, the most incredibly realistic governmental promise yet, and that actually takes some going with this bunch of heroically straight-faced insatiable liars. Of course, they can say whatever the hell they like about 2050, because it's so far in the future that, as said of the Lib Dems, they "won't have to work out how they'd pay". The only conceivable way that cut'll be made is if all the lights go out, which admittedly in future won't be that unlikely on a windless day.
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