PRACTICE WHAT YOU PREACH

It seems ironic that having spent time at South Somerset District Council’s offices in Yeovil attending the Scrutiny task and finish group, looking at the overarching themes and focus for the new Environment Strategy, that one of the issues raised was waste and re-cycling; shortly after the session I stopped by the council’s onsite restaurant, Chambers, for a quick bit to eat, only to witness the two ladies who work there outside the building picking up .... litter! Whilst I believe that we should embrace the ‘save the planet’ agenda, I could not help but think that before we start laying down the law for others, we should put our own house in order first.

When it comes to re-cycling, we seem to have learnt nothing at all from being in Europe. I am hard pressed to think of a less efficient way to re-cycle than having lorries going from door to door, and I fail to understand why we do not pressure supermarkets into doing more.    

Putting my thoughts on that issue aside, the key points raised by those involved in the ‘engagement’ activity we undertook included emphasis on increasing healthy activity, for which read walking or cycling to work. I admit that I am not much one for exercise, and certainly not outdoors in the middle of winter. In my own case though my challenges are twofold; I am often lugging around a large amount of luggage, which it would be difficult to transport either on foot or by bicycle, and given that my working day is regularly in the region of 12 hours, time is of the essence when getting from one activity to another. It is just not feasible for me to take extra time to either wait for public transport (if it existed) or get to my destination by a healthier, slower, mode of transport.

As part of the green agenda, the topic of energy was also raised. Despite the desire to reduce our energy consumption, and where possible generate our own, there is apparently no legislation in place to require developers to install solar panels or electric charging points for vehicles. In my experience very few builders will be willing the install such measures of their own fee will, citing the additional cost to build.

And finally, now that I am on my soapbox, children have put local shopping at top of their agenda when it comes to reducing our carbon footprint. It would seem to me, as a child of the 50s, we have come full circle, before plastic bags and large supermarkets, when we all shopped locally, buying local produce in season, and got our pocket money through the refunds we received when returning empty lemonade bottles. We only have ourselves to blame for the demise of our local shops; and only we can change that.