Priti 4 Witham

My ‘day job’ requires a relative degree of travel, so once again I have boarded a plane to travel to a meeting where I will meet with colleagues from all over the world. Having traveled to Israel last week and with an short break planned for the end of the month, I am beginning to feel as if I should be more proactive when it comes to the whole concept of ‘reducing my carbon footprint. Now I don’t pretend to be an expert in ‘environmentalism’ or matters of ‘carbon offsetting’ (although I know what both are), but neither am I ignorant about our overall responsibility as human beings to stop the depletion of the world’s natural resources and to reduce our own CO2 emissions.My own contribution to the wider cause so far consists of the basics: recycling, low energy bulbs, no use of standby switches and cutting down on car travel where possible. I know that this is not enough, so I am genuinely interested in the practical measures available to consumers and even large business when it comes to doing more.Which is why on World Environment Day and also as we approach the G8 Summit (which by all accounts will be a ‘green summit’), policy makers need to focus less on the threat climate change poses (awareness levels are pretty high now) and instead work with third parties to offer practical measures/solutions (not just carbon trading systems or higher taxes) to enable business to invest and plan for a carbon constrained future and for us mere consumers to be able make a positive contribution in this important area which could ultimately help to change people’s attitudes and behaviour for the better in the long run.

This evening I have been through that painful process of supermarket shopping. Much as I enjoy shopping (for shoes, handbags, clothes, music), I’ve never enjoyed doing the weekly shop – I put this down to the countless hours I’ve spent in my parents shops whilst growing up. So the day after the government announces its belated attempt to improve Britain’s attitude towards environmental waste, I find myself once again cursing the food manufactures and supermarkets for inflicting me with endless amount of excess packaging on everything ranging from my choice of cereal to ready meals for the husband. To top it all off, once I’ve unpacked everything, my front garden which currently houses four recycle boxes from the local council starts to resemble an overflowing rubbish tip. Now I have no problem recycling rubbish and yes I do think the supermarkets still have a long way to go when it comes to cutting back on packaging. However, I am vexed by the prospect of being spied on by a bin chip which reports to a faceless bureaucrat who will then serve me with a bill for the rubbish that appears in my bin.Clearly the Whitehall bureaucrats, all on their above average incomes think its fine to hit hard working families with yet another tax which will come on top of their council tax. Naturally the government claims their policy will be revenue neutral, a rich claim coming from a government which has devised endless ways to tax us both directly and indirectly.

Changing public behaviour on issues such as recycling requires positive measures and not ones which punish such as fines backed by bad legislation. Positive incentives, preferably financial one’s, such as money off council tax could help to change public attitude and behaviour in a positive way on such issues, which legislation alone will fail to do. After all, how often would you turn that kind of gift horse away?