One Town’s Approach to Climate Change Mitigation: No Politicians
Here’s an unusual twist on attacking climate change at the community level: make it happen at the community level, with lots of peer pressure, but in the complete absence of politicians.
It hasn’t been a great time for politicians, at least in the U.S., in a very long time (think Mark Twain). But this is especially the case now with the two dominant parties. Yes, the GOP is in cinders, but if you think the Democrats are the answer, look at what the U.S. is doing in Yemen (to take one of dozens of horrific examples of our state-sponsored terrorism).
Yet even in the presence of all this stupidity, cruelty, and corruption, I still like to think that we can have decent people leading our country. Call me naïve.
Well done these communities !
It’s a sad observation on the local MP that the people of this small community didn’t feel he was one of them.
The village of Ashton Hayes is located in the very scenic County of Cheshire, in the north west of England and well worth visiting.
The article highlights :
“Sometimes, efforts to reduce greenhouse gases involve guilt-tripping or doomsday scenarios that make people feel as if the problem is too overwhelming to tackle “.
“We don’t ever finger-wag in Ashton Hayes.”
“The village has kept the effort separate from party politics, which residents thought would only divide them along ideological lines”.
“Ashton Hayes to become, as he put it, “Britain’s first carbon-neutral village.But even if we don’t, let’s try to have a little fun.”
These are all very commendable positive attitudes. No grandiose demands, no preaching, no apportioning of blame, no coercion, just positive cooperative action to establish small projects producing tangible results.
Well done !
Community involvement/action is an important thing, but it should not be an excuse or alternative for political/corporate inaction or worse obstruction.
Some of the most effective actions are taken by satirists like Mark Twain. It may not be entirely coincidence that there is a resurgence in political satire when news media seems to become owned and assists corporate/political interests in contrast to fostering debate and information.
@ Breath on the Wind
I’m not sure you’re right about the media. We all complain about the modern media, but I don’t believe it’s any more influenced by corporate of political interests than it ever was.
With the advent of electronic media, there is a much greater and diverse media than ever before.