Originally Posted by
TURIN
Well, no! That's not what I said. It is most definitely a thing, but target the right industries and culprits, just taxing an easy target like commercial air travel is ridiculous.
Also, to add to some of the other comments, surface transport, heavy industry and power generation contribute massively to pollution and CO2. Those are the industries that need to sort themselves out first. Halving the number of flights worldwide would only reduce CO2 by 1.5%. Whereas a 10% reduction in emissions from power generation, heavy industry and surface transport would make a huge difference.
Fiddling while Rome burns springs to mind.
Yes Turin there are indeed massive structural changes necessary , particularly heavy industry and energy production.
We may also have to revisit those colossal maritime container ships and specifically how they are fuelled to mitigate the millions of tonnes of pollutants left in their wake
There have been leaps with modern sails and it may be necessary to consider civil nuclear power at some point ; caveat potential security !
Regrettably mothballing of Port Talbot reflects those changes and real humans are laid off as a result. That why the economic models of work (hourly paid) must and indeed will change.
Wind farms (less so wave barriers- that technology simply fails to deliver on not only kilowatts hours produced but introduces environmental concerns of it own) a little of the answer however if the UK needs to produce electricity in the volumes expected we certainly need to revisit nuclear power and soon.
I think we and others made a massive mistake in the 90s on this front - Of course natural gas was cheap and in abundance (locally); the power stations relatively simple and inexpensive to build and compared to coal a magnitude cleaner.