What would you ban tomorrow to address climate change / pollution?

[joggerbottom]

I would ban:

Glitter
Plastic sequins
Make up and cosmetics in plastic packaging
Toys that come with children's magazines and food boxes
Petrol vehicles
Clearing land for dairy / meat farming

I could go on but it would be a very long list!

Outdoor heaters! Put a jumper on or go inside. They are such an overindulgence.

Single use plastic but we need some real changes in the way products are consumed for that to work.

I agree with previous poster that public transport should be cheaper to encourage people to not use their cars.

Nothing. Banning is punitive and rudimentary and a non-thinking way of trying to improve things.

I see a lot of people making vast sweeping statements without considering the impact to others. For instance, banning of 4x4’d except for those living rurally/agricultural purposes. That’s great, but without my 4x4 I wouldn’t be able to get anywhere, not to my job, not to my hospital appointments etc - I have a spinal problem, I can’t get in a “normal” height car, I can’t use public transport either as I can’t stand for long, have nerve damage in my wrists so can’t hold on etc. But to look at me, you’d probably just think “look at that lazy fat women with a slight limp swanning about in her 4x4 destroying the environment”. Same argument for the “ban incontinence supplies”, “ban single use plastics” etc etc.

I’m sure there’ll be some sort of caveat to each thought process “yes but the people that really need them would have a special permit”, “oh we’ll just improve public transport” etc. Newsflash, there’s 100,000’s of people across the U.K. alone at aren’t “disabled enough” to qualify for benefits, support etc. They make do, and get by with whatever supportive measures they can sort out for themselves.

Tackling the corporate giants and governments haemorrhaging stupidity bound policies and deliberately engineering obsolescence are far more likely to make an impact than punishing vulnerable members of society.

@JoanMavisIcecreamGirl I agree, I can no longer run or take part in exercise after DC due to bad leaking, very embarrassing & I would not appreciate having an adult size cloth nappy visible through my clothing rather than a discreet liner.

I think the same with people having no cars??? The nearest bus stop to me is a 15/20 minute walk away, lovely if nice weather, not so much if torrential rain dragging along a 4 yr old and infant in pram! Plus they're never on time! And would take probably 5 x longer to commute to nursery then on to work, where the nearest bus stop is again 20 minutes away! It'd prob take me around 2.5 hours whereas it takes me 30 mins by car. Not ever going on holiday on a plane? Be vegan? Don't have children! Don't celebrate Xmas!
Jesus wept- I'm all for reducing plastic & reducing the amount of 'one use' items I use & I think a lot of companies could reevaluate their packaging for more environmentally friendly alternatives, but I honestly think if you stuck by all these rigid examples you'd have a pretty sad existence!
Community kitchens? As in, you wouldn't have a kitchen in your house, you'd have to walk go to your local kitchen and cook the vegan food you bring? Some of these suggestions Are so bizarre.

Children, it's the only thing that will make even the slightest bit of difference, other than that were really buggered. (I think David Attenborough has made this point many times but no-one wants to listen) A global agreement to stabalise population of the planet.

Harpingon such an arrogant argument. So you're quite entitled to live your life and have all your experience, hopes and dreams aren’t you but my unborn baby shouldn’t have that opportunity? Why should you be here then?

Also we’re just about replacing population in this country at 1.8 children per women.

I wouldn't ban anything.

I'd brutally tax everything wasteful to subsidize everything renewable and necessary though.

Imported out of season strawberries? £8.99
Local carrots? 5p
Private jet flight for a holiday? 200k
Same flight for top surgeon to save a life? £45

Ok, I haven't got the price ratios spot on, but you get the gist. Lower the cost of sustainable living dramatically for the masses, allow bad decisions to subsidize them with a penalty, and put some things so ridiculously out of reach that everyone knows that you're being a year if you do go for them.

If you're going to ban air travel then extend the train system so Eurostar covers more of the UK.
Its difficult to get to Europe from Scotland and the North of England.
You can get pretty much all round Europe by train but can't get directly from Manchester or Edinburgh

In fairness, China did have a one child policy (because they'd had a famine in living memory, rather than because of the environment). It's attracted a lot of criticism and they now have a two-child policy (still not enough to keep the population stable but the aim is to balance out the genders a bit more).

My understanding is that, even though people are now permitted to have two children, relatively few in cities will. They have expensive living costs and the people currently having children will usually be only children themselves - they don't have a cultural expectation of having more than one child.

I expect that the fertility rates throughout the world will fall over time. There will always be those who have loads of children but they will be balanced out by those who only have one.

energy from non renewables and cruise ships.

READ THIS!

www.europeaninterest.eu/article/luxury-cruise-giant-emits-10-times-air-pollution-europes-cars-study/

Insecticides and fishing nets

I'm not sure how it would be done but I'd like to see a change to people's expectations in relation to clothes and fashion. Well made clothes should last years and only be replaced when they are actually no longer fit for use. Textile production is really polluting and an expectation that people always have to have a new outfit for a wedding / night out / holiday is quite harmful.

I remember watching that Marie Kondo show on Netflix and it was disgusting. People had piles of clothes (to the ceiling), most of which they had barely worn.

You see it on here quite often. There's an expectation that children's uniform should be extremely cheap. I can see that people who are not well off benefit from uniform being cheap but I think people are really taken aback when it isn't super cheap. There was a thread a while ago where the OP mentioned that her daughter's school summer dress was £30 (private school) and people ranted that they got to buy dresses for a fiver from ASDA.

My Mum's school skirt (in 1957) was £7 (this was a lot of money to her family, who were not well off) and it lasted until she left school (it was a kilt and she hated it). This probably hurt some people but it sounds a lot less wasteful than buying a whole new uniform every August / September "because that's what you do".

Sorry, I'll stop ranting now.

Plastic packaging.

I'd reform land ownership to ban sporting estates
Wiggly could you enlarge on this. Would you confiscate sporting estates without warning or would you allow the owners to turn the land over to other uses?

The USA. By far the single largest polluter per capita in the world.

If that’s a bit harsh, just its main industrialist, tax evading, environment-raping, selfish, evil, scum. That would do.

Many of the things listed here plus also having more than 2 children ( at least for a couple of generations)

I'd reform land ownership to ban sporting estates

Yes, I was a bit intrigued by this too. By sporting estates, do you mean for hunting / shooting / fishing? If so, presumably these are maintained green spaces and therefore good for the environment (albeit not open to the public). Why are they bad?

Debit/credit/store cards

Plastic cups, straws and bottles

Disposable razors

Plastic pens

All plastic bags including bread bags

I would ban Emma Thompson, the Sussexes and Elton John from flying anywhere and preaching to everyone else about how woke they are as this would massively reduce carbon emissions and global warming; think of all the hot air that wouldn't be produced by these hypocrites

CruCru I agree with your thoughts on fashion and also school uniform.

The fashion industry is appalling. The amount of plastic in fashion is crazy. Plastic bags cover new clothes on plastic hangers and then get shoved into plastic bags for you to take home.

The water consumption to produce cotton is massive and then dying / bleaching the clothes are polluting waters and affecting communities.

Loads of these seem to be just 'things that don't affect me or I can afford to change'

Very much agree with this! The

Cheap flights - should be expensive to stop people flying everywhere for 2 day holidays etc. Invest in trains etc

Most disposable things - eg plastic bottles - use glass ones with a deposit etc

Fast fashion / the need to buy all new appliances / furniture every couple of years

Cheap flights - should be expensive to stop people flying everywhere for 2 day holidays etc. Invest in trains etc

I agree about cheap flights but I think if they were stopped there’d be absolute uproar as it would be claimed that travel was going back to be the preserve of the rich.
I also agree about business travel when much could be done via video conference. But then what about , for example, concert pianists or other musicians travelling for work?

But we can all say “that shouldn’t be stopped because it inconveniences me” ( eg as a concert pianist etc) but something has to be done somewhere.

Perhaps the pianist could do a tour using trains rather than flying back and forward

Dairy industry. Milk is dreadful to humans and it causes so much pollution.

Pointless crap in plastic bottles, tubs and boxes.