The pressure to be "green"...

Every time I turn on the radio, I hear reports stating,"Humans blamed for climate change" and "Climate change fight 'can't wait'" and "Scheme to cut 'carbon footprint' ". At home, the only time I ever heard such reports were if I were listening to the science section of an NPR radio broadcast at 8:00am. In the UK, you are given the feeling of desperate urgency about the state of our world's environment. It is as if the UK is now coping with serious problems caused by the climate change. The news reports make you feel like the crops are not growing well and the air is no longer clean.

To encourage Britons to be more "green", the government allows each household only one bin for trash and your trash is picked up every OTHER week. The bins are the kind that have wheels on the bottom and a lid on hinges. You must use the county trash bin if you want your trash collected. If you overflow your bin the lid does not close, you will often see you full bin sitting at the end of your driveway when you get home. You are also given a green bin where all organic waste goes. In addition you have smaller recycling boxes where you can put glass bottles and metal cans. We figured out very quickly that unless we do a LOT of recycling, we will not make it to the next trash collection without recycling. We are forced to find ways of disposing of all our waste in the most efficient way possible.

A family we know here in the village has four children. They found that it was nearly impossible for their family to only fill one bin of trash every other week. They had to beg the county council for an additional bin. Finally a woman came to their house and sorted through all their trash with rubber gloves (YUCK!!) to make sure they were not throwing away biodegradable items! It would make the environmentalists in the States quite proud.

Another way that the government is pressuring consumers to be more environmentally conscience is by levying a "green tax" on fuel. A gallon of gas here costs about $6.80 per gallon. Air Passenger Duty currently ranges from £40 (double for dollars based on the current exchange rate) for standard rate flights to a 'discount' down to as little as £5. When I was recently surfing for airline tickets, I was shocked at the final prices. Most of the time the taxes on the tickets were more than the actual fare! The government is now considering a proposal to double the green tax. Their aim is to enforce the "polluter pays" principle.

The good news is that in their proposal, the government is offering a credit to people who CONSERVE energy. That means money in the bank for all those people that ride bikes! :) Hee! Hee! By the looks of the bike parking lot at the Cambridge Train station, I think this city will be in the black! Everyone start pedaling!