With much of the world bemoaning rising prices and much of the complaint being about the price of fuel, this is bad news indeed. But for the environment, surely, it's the best news. Certainly for those of us who avoid driving it means much less or does it?
Better or Worse?
Bus travel is not particularly cheap in this country. I pay £3.60 for a single 45 minute journey to Oxford! The issue is demand - the buses are full perhaps twice a day. Most of the rest of the day they have perhaps 5 paying customers per trip. The high prices are required to pay for a regular service which not many people use. Higher oil prices should push more people onto buses and reduce prices. Although, of course, the cost of running the service will increase too!
I wrote last week about the positive steps being taken by the Marine Stewardship Council to ensure sustainable fishing practices. Today I saw this article reporting on a study clearly linking declining fish stocks to algal blooms (so-called 'toxic tides'). For me this situation drives home three things about sustainability.
Impact
Issues of sustainability lead through to real impact on people. We may talk about a single marine ecosystem, but in reality there are no isolated ecosystems. While it is tempting to do so, it is always erroneous to disconnect activity from the impact it will have on us.
I have to admit to a fascination with the current US election campaigns. As the world's largest economy, we all have a stake in what happens on the 4th November 2008. Sadly, news this week has put further weight behind my personal fear that economic difficulties will shunt environmental issues to the sidelines.
"Clinton pushes gas tax holiday"
Widely reported this week (here) is the curious concept of a tax holiday. I cannot help but observe that in the UK a gallon of petrol is fast approaching £5 - that's $10. In the US the average seems to be around $3.50! This really proves my point, incomes in Europe and the US aren't too different, yet we Europeans cope with higher petrol prices. How? It is clear to me that in the US they are stuck in a vicious circle. They have got away with having huge, inefficient cars for decades, but now the cost of that inefficiency is beginning to be felt where it hurts.
In less than 20 years, the Grand Banks - a marine region off the coast of Canada - went from one of the richest fishing grounds in the world to a marine wasteland as overfishing destroyed the natural abundance (more).
Fishing is certainly one of the starkest examples of humanity's extraordinary proficiency at extracting what it wants from its habitat. Where no vested interest exists to hold us back, we simply know no limits.
Marine Stewardship Council
I have recently heard about the MSC who are working towards reversing the trend and following the now quite familiar route of certifying products through regular audit and stringent standards. It is somewhat inspiring to see that the very same characteristic that allows us to overfish - an ability to take control of and affect our situation - will allow us to solve the problem we created.
Another week, another cringing episode of the Apprentice and another slightly pointless task for the devotees. This week, they were asked to create a greetings card and a reason to send it. It is hard to express quite how tragic this episode became as the pit became ever deeper and wider.
The Hypocrite and the Ignoramus
I don't know who was worse. The team leader - Kevin - seemed only to love himself more than his sports car. He told one of the buyers that if they didn't buy the cards, they would somehow be ostracised as environmental enemies. Meanwhile the ginger one who came up with the idea told Clinton cards confidently that she actually buys fewer cards herself because of her concern for the environment but that was a reason to buy this card?! They even managed to re-invent Earth Day as "Love your Planet Day".
I'm making a point of staying out of non-environmental issues on this blog. But when the collision is so close, I can't help but comment. This morning I heard about a knock-on effect of the closure of power stations in the Gaza strip.
Untreated Sewage
The reporter spoke from a beach next to an outlet pipe from a sewage plant. Under normal conditions, the plant would treat the sewage before ejecting it - whether this is acceptable is another question! The reporter made a point of highlighting the look - a grey discolouration in the water - and the smell - overpowering and evident. Further unfortunate and telling evidence of our priorities as a race.
On this evidence, it seems we still cannot rise above our differences and tackle the collective threat. I still believe, though, that the environment can be a unifying issue. It is still one of the few areas where the global incentive is the same, whatever country you belong to.
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