| Topic: | Re:Re:Re:Re:Re:The death toll from pollution is even worse than previously estimated | |
| Posted by: | Mike Warman | |
| Date/Time: | 09/02/21 17:35:00 |
| Richard you do come across here as having the answer you want (people forced out of cars in various ways (price/ onerous restrictions and regulations like 20mph on main roads/ speed cameras etc) and seem to look for any point you can to argue that point of view. Forgive me for saying but it can come across a little like Nicola Sturgeon’s arguments for another referendum on Scotttish independence (“Scots will die because the UK will not participate in the EU vaccine programme” oh whoops when that’s wrong “more old people voted to remain they’re dying out so we should have another ref as young people are more likely to vote my way” and if that’s wrong (similar to young people voting Labour more but strangely changing when they too grow older) then “brexit in has caused a loss of access our major market” then when that’s wrong (the UK is the largest export mkt for Scotland I believe) then “Scotland is rich with oil prices so high and would be better off by itself” then when that’s wrong there is always “the sun rose in the east today a sure sign that Scotland would be better off independent” etc....... I think we all agree that there is work to do (and being done indeed) on reducing emissions both of co2 and other pollutants but like with lockdown potentially causing more problems than the problem it was set to create the more drastic solutions suggested by you and others could easily cause more issues that need to be addressed as David says above poverty is probably the biggest indicator of life expectancy and by nature most of us accept risks and trade offs (I for example accept I may injure myself when I go ski-ing but I take the risk (and so do far have been generally safe you’ll be pleased to hear no doubt!). Should we move to reduce local emissions by adopting electric cars in the discussion above? We are doing just that and are probably a country that is at the forefront of this. Totally understand if you would prefer not to accept the current trade off but would you not be better to move to the country if so? Cities are always likely to be more polluted/ crowded etc but there are trade offs in easy to access public transport, a cafe culture, arts, critical mass to support a more diverse range of activities etc etc, not to mention the fun some have posting on this forum. |