Less talk, more action

Yesterday's Independent, which I read cover-to-cover during my commute, had more words on the environment from both Gordon Brown and David Cameron (clearly the paper feels Blair is now an irrelevance, and I can see why, when you consider his pathetic response so far to environmental problems). Today the WWF and Green Party have called on David Cameron to start furnishing details of his party's response to global warming and other environmental problems (see here), and rightly so.

Yet, it doesn't matter how detailed Cameron is with his plans, until he forms a Tory government there's not a lot anyone can do about it. So while everyone starts putting pressure on him to add substance to his spin, we shouldn't forget that at this precise moment in time only one political party is in any position to actually start doing something.

Sadly, with Prescott's obsession with concreting over vast areas of land to provide more housing, Beckett's obsession with flying short hops from London to Derbyshire, Brown's obsession with market forces and Blair's obsession with Bush it seems that very little is actually being done.

We look to our leaders for leadership, but sometimes the best action is to take the leading role ourselves. When it comes to the environment, "think global, act local" is the mantra to follow. Forget about what a crap example Labour are setting you, don't wait for taxation and other carrot-and-stick measures to force you to change your wasteful ways, ignore the fact your neighbour still puts out eight bags of rubbish every single week (lazy feckers, because they clearly don't recycle a damn bean) and concentrate on cleaning up your own act.

Will you make a difference? If we all grew up a little and started taking responsibility for our own actions then maybe we'll start the sea change to a more sustainable way of living (you know, the kind of life that will last for generations, not just until our children grow up and discover what a great legacy we've left them). But if it's too much trouble, be sure to tell your offspring why their future wasn't worth fighting for...

[Listening to: Cosy Prisons - Radio Edit - A-Ha]