Theres naught wrong with aspirations, however the reality is that it will be a long and arduous path. It will require some inspired thinking and long term planning and it will also need to coincide with technological revolution. All the parties do this glossing over, its not solely the SNP. In order to proceed people need to know the real facts. So that the correct decisions be made. Hindsight is a wonderful thing is a phrase so often used after billions have been wasted due to mistakes that could so easily have been avoided through careful planning and the truth being freely available and open to all.
Actually, the most effective and entirely painless way is simply not to spawn so many of them in the first place. We're all going to die anyway. There is no need for mass slaughter. And the subject is not entirely off-topic. The population explosion has been facilitated by fossil fuel energy. Without coal and oil there would not be 7 billion people on the planet. We have over-run the Earth. The particular type of energy source which fuels the human plague is immaterial.
I'm suggesting that at some point we have to get our heads out of the sand and accept the blindingly obvious if unpalatable fact that the planet cannot support an all-consuming and ever expanding human population ad infinitum. We might begin by talking about the subject and questioning our natural assumption that the endless spread of mankind is a great triumph, an evolutionary success story and a thing to be celebrated, when in fact it is the cause of much destruction, conflict and misery. And the point about contraception is well made. Much over-breeding is driven by religion, ignorance, subjugation of women and an unsustainable industrial socio-economic model based on consumption, not the need to care for the old.
The truth would be a good place to start. And not some truth dreampt up by liars to succour the electorate into following false promises. However this applies to all political parties not just the SNP.
is someone here trying to suggest Scotland isn't doing well and set it self high targets?. apathy ru was that how it went? so where your suggestion then?
Ive set myself the target to bed melanie sykes, Charlize Theron and a young Jane Fonda in an orgy. Doesnt mean the targets ive set are realistic nor possible. Besides the targets Scotland has set are no different to those set by the rest of the UK with regards to reductions in emissions. But the SNP claim they are leading when in reality there is very little difference to those in the rest of the UK. But thats only part of the story. The reality is that unregulated emissions from cooking, TV's and other assorted power usage remains unchecked, yet they form as great if not greater proportion of emissions generated by people. Apathy ru was a reaction to the futility of emissions and energy reduction plans in general. What you save somewhere is just freed up for someone to use somewhere else. We are not reducing emissions or saving energy. There is only one way to do this but no-one listens. DONT USE IT TO BEGIN WITH. Its rather like my walk to work. Theres a school adjacent to my work. During term time the place is a nightmare for traffic. Parents obsessed with the dangers of the roads to their children, drive them to school. Yet when term ends its peacefully quiet. They generate their own self fulfilling prophecy. They endanger their own children by creating the damn traffic themselves. If they all walked there would be no danger and theyd save energy, emissions and money and the kids would get excercise. I would ban parking around a 2m radius of all schools (except for residents of course). But then banning stuff never works does it. We need to reduce emissions by stopping wasting electricity everywhere else in our lives not just on building regulations. For instance process power loads generated during the manufacture of goods are not subject to controls (financial pressures aside). Thus a steel works emits no more emissions than any other factory as far as emissions checks are concerned. Furthermore the reductions we make to curb global warming are not carried out uniformly across the globe. China and the USA are huge emitters. Carbon Dioxide does not respect borders, neither does climate change. I just sometimes feel we are pissing against a very strong wind and the only real beneficiaries are the wealthy and powerful as these just hand them more powers to control us. Just say NO to electricity, gas, coal or whatever. Turn your lights out. Walk. Eat locally grown food and support your local farmer. Tell the politicians to fuck right off. We are no longer the idiots they took us for. The internet has made us all a great deal more globally aware. I'd appreciate some fucking truth no matter how hard it is to take. You get nowhere whilst in denial. What I am trying say, rather badly, is that its not as simple and clear cut as the SNP make out. We all have dreams but they are just that. Dreams.
Good post bootsam, I am all for the simple life if we ignore one or two toys and the odd holiday abroad, but if we stop consuming stuff where is the growth going to come from that our financial system demands. Interestingly the IMF has just come out with a report that suggests global growth has stalled, despite excess manufacturing capacity in the major industrial nations. The US is tapering it's bond purchases which historically have had a direct correlation with global stock markets. Energy drives consumption which fuels growth. Will the runaway train run out of steam and come to a gentle halt or will it smash into the buffers ?
it would be a good post if he could provide some figures. even if it it's southern socialist propaganda.
OK, here's a few points since you ask. Maintaining a reliable electric power supply is a crucial national interest, both for the UK and for every other country. Unfortunately this essential utility and national asset was sold off to commercial interests for a song back in the 1980's. These commercial energy firms were given a whole set of power stations previously built by the Central Electricity Generating Board etc for virtually nothing. It is pretty easy to make good profits by exploiting valuable assets you have been given; but far more difficult to make a profit by investing in building very expensive new assets. As a result, the UK stock of coal and nuclear power stations has been allowed to grow old without replacements being built, or even started. Commercial concerns calculate (correctly) that their financial interests are best served by running these assets into the ground, depreciating them to zero, and then withdrawing from the energy market. A nationalised industry could be directed in the national interest to build new power stations - but there is no nationalised industry, it having been abolished. Short of re-nationalising the industry, the only remaining possible expedient is to throw government money at some foreign-owned company so as to bribe it into investing in new power stations. Hence the recent absurdly generous deal to get Hinckley Point C started, with more no doubt to follow.
cool. i would go for renationalisation with strict control of unions my self. start with changing tariffs low to high depending on usage. instead of rewarding for high usage.
But then you place a burden on industry and commerce fin, which their overseas competitors may not necessarily have to deal with. Thus placing our industries and commerce competitiveness under a disadvantage. This is what I mean by its not as clear cut as politicians would have you think it is. Its a tangled web and unless everyone is playing in the same ballpark, other will always have the edge thus forcing our economy at risk. Jobs could be lost and you would be voted out. What some deity gives with one hand, he takes away with another.
