One of the few things that I liked about the last government was their apparent good (ish) record on green issues… it appears that they were as rubbish on this one as everyone else. I have seen our seas fading first hand over the past 25 years and it saddens me no end. the article
I sort of agree about the last government. I started working in renewables in 2000 and at that time there was a real sense of "something happening"! It was exciting & I felt pretty optimistic about the environment, for a time. It didn't last long, & by the 2008 financial crisis the momentum had gone.
All they did was create a financial circumstance where renewables & sustainables could flourish. Admittedly that's more than we have now, but it still tried to put a price on the environment and therefore would never be enough to make a real change. Once the planet's resources are gone, or ruined, there's no buying them back.
I'm also saddened by what we're doing to the seas, over-fishing & polluting. I heard that the rules on throwing back excess catches was changing, hopefully to something more sensible. I'm increasingly angry about Japan's continued whaling "for scientific research". Why do we tolerate it??
I understand people are fighting against the Japanese whaling, but not sure how much good they are doing. I just don't know how the destruction of our wonderful planet will be stopped or even just slowed down, until everyone agrees that we have a problem in the first place. Each of us can try, and encourage others to do the same. What else can we do?
I think Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall is doing great work with his Fish Fight, but overall I'm afraid that the outlook is bleak for this planet and consequently for all life on it - including humans!! We (as a race) are just too self-centred, greedy and blinkered, our only real concern being how we can make more money, profit, and increase our luxury at the same time as doing less work. I fear that's never going to change!!
I saw a program on TV last night about the soft corals around our coast, and one tiny bit of area reserved for them. The fisheren had destroyed the rest and were conplainng that the reserve was too big!