The Ladies Who Lunch..........

"It has become fashionable amongst the ladies who lunch to have durable carrier bags with real green credentials".
A comment in the 'Glass Box', the PM Radio 4 message board last Thursday, in which the current discussion on Plastic Bags played a large part. The above comment was read out live the following night, when Plastic Bags again played an informative role in the agenda. So, two radio discussions on Plastic Bags and TurnLymeGreen didn't add the comments to their website? Why not? Easy answer is that it not only opposed their view, it flatly denied that banning Plastic Bags will make any difference whatsoever,not just in terms of Carbon Emissions and Global Warming, but including the marine environment. The place where fish live, and seabirds find food. Pointless in what terms? Pointless in terms of every aeroplane dropping hundreds of tons of pollution into the oceans. Pointless in terms of the tons of poison, pollution and sewage we drop into our own coastal waters every day. The word is pointless.
Putting the Co-op, or any other supermarket in the frame as 'good guys' is particularly misleading and I stand by my point. If you really want to support a cause against the use of plastic, of which plastic bags are only a minor part in any case, stop buying over packaged goods, leave the plastic on the floor of the Co-op, but whatever, please cease holding the Co-op up to us as any kind of paragon of virtue. Because they're not.
I've had quite a few emails in response to my last piece on this subject, and buoyed up by the hidden and unpublicised public view, I stand by my words.
TurnLymeGreen might have laudable values and intentions, but unless it begins to tackle REAL issues, its not an environmental campaign. And what is the next issue it proposes to address? Energy Saving Light Bulbs!? Again, on the surface, quite laudable, but on the real question of Carbon Emissions, its pointless.
Isn't it time that Lyme looked at the serious question of traffic pollution in our town, and the increasing numbers of motor cars?
During the 'Rising Seas' Fossil Festival last year, I was fortunate enough to have an interview with Sir Hugh Torrens, a leading world expert in this subject. Its in one of our Friday Night Live interviews at the Royal Lion, 4th May 07, and its worth hearing. Also worth hearing is the talk by the Skipper of the Callista at Rising Seas, its in our Jurassic & Heritage category.
If you can imagine that one aeroplane journey is equivalent to 10,000 plastic bags, then you've already cancelled out any good you might have done.
One of the emails I received asked what my personal credentials were to be so 'obstructive'. I'm a long term campaigner against private motoring, and I don't own a motor car.