Comments on: On Small Changes, Small Cars, Tax and Pollution http://greenmonk.net/91/ Green from the roots up, Sustainable from the top down Tue, 06 Jan 2009 06:50:02 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.7 hourly 1 By: Ludovic Windsor http://greenmonk.net/91/comment-page-1/#comment-2491 Ludovic Windsor Mon, 17 Dec 2007 17:07:58 +0000 http://greenmonk.net/?p=91#comment-2491 Focussing on CO2 alone is quite short sighted: http://richmondtransits.blogspot.com/2007/12/focussing-on-co2-good-for-bears-bad-for.html Plus, there are other more clever ways to make cars less polluting, such as to tax cars on weight: cars are becoming heavier every year, thus more powerful and more polluting. It's not impractical as it's already done in the Netherlands. But you're right on the rewards aspects: I just renovated my house and checked on solar panels and geothermy. Since there's no grants (unlike France for instance), there's no incentive to make houses more sustainable. Finally, commuters are not a daft herd: improve the public transportation system and more people use it. Rather than being stuck in traffic, I'd rather take the train. But if it's unreliable (the recently "renovated" Waterloo & City Line broke down today AGAIN), if there are too many changes, more expensive and packed people prefer be in their own car. There hasn't been investment in roads and public transport for the last 30 years, is it a surprise that the system is bursting at its seams? Focussing on CO2 alone is quite short sighted:
http://richmondtransits.blogspot.com/2007/12/focussing-on-co2-good-for-bears-bad-for.html

Plus, there are other more clever ways to make cars less polluting, such as to tax cars on weight: cars are becoming heavier every year, thus more powerful and more polluting. It’s not impractical as it’s already done in the Netherlands.

But you’re right on the rewards aspects: I just renovated my house and checked on solar panels and geothermy. Since there’s no grants (unlike France for instance), there’s no incentive to make houses more sustainable.

Finally, commuters are not a daft herd: improve the public transportation system and more people use it. Rather than being stuck in traffic, I’d rather take the train. But if it’s unreliable (the recently “renovated” Waterloo & City Line broke down today AGAIN), if there are too many changes, more expensive and packed people prefer be in their own car. There hasn’t been investment in roads and public transport for the last 30 years, is it a surprise that the system is bursting at its seams?

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