To ask what one thing you would ban to help the environment?

[AngryBirdsNoMore]

Following on from @GADday’s well meaning thread about disposable sanitary products being an option to phase out to help the environment - what one thing would you ban to help the environment?

Let’s not get into sanitary products again. That thread makes clear that disposable sanitary products are probably here to stay for a range of reasons…

Ill go first:

Private planes. I’m struggling to think of any reason why they’re necessary especially for short flights.

All dogs and cats in towns and cities - I truly mean it

Why is it only the old people that get tossed into the scrap pile? Why not anyone who is sick with no likely chance for a quality of life. Let’s be honest an old person who gets sick at the end of their otherwise healthy life is less of a drain than a child who will need significant medical intervention for their entire life.

Oops… forgot this was a thread of things to ban that I have no use for. Carry on with the plans for geriatricide

Im with Monty on the fake grass! Plenty of alternatives out there if people don’t want to mow a lawn

car journeys for under 3 miles, unless there is a physical reason. with electric bikes cargo bikes, they'd be far quicker and the reduction of motor cars would make it far easier to get about

How nice for you.
Since you seem unable to imagine situations different from your own, I can suggest- someone who has knee trouble as my dh has and therefore can’t cycle
-someone who lives in a village a couple of miles out where the ride in would be along a busy road with no footpaths or cycle lanes and across two roundabouts that some people are scared to drive over let alone cycle with kids
-someone who needs to go straight off to work in a car or van and therefore would waste additional time cycling home again before leaving

Cycling works for you, that’s great. Walking worked for me as I was able to buy a house 15 minutes from both secondary and primary schools. But this attitude on Mumsnet seen in the ‘just fucking walk!’ post my original reply on this subject was responding to is self righteous, ignorant and takes no account of actual circumstances.
There are a number of solutions that would enable more people to travel to school in an environmentally friendly way such as walking buses, more actual buses, better cycle lanes or pavements, school allocation taking account of actual distance and safe routes, (or indeed not closing the village schools in the first place). Telling people to just fucking walk or just fucking cycle is not one of them.

Wow! That's incredible. And you're right it's the correct place to start.

there is a Spanish city that has banned cars and the older people love it, it makes it easier to get around without the cars in the way

where the ride in would be along a busy road

what would the road be busy with? why can't cycle paths be built using money not spent on new roads?

wouldn't your dh be better using a car if there were less cars on the road, wouldn't he get to where he is going quicker?

Obviously...but given the smart motorways frequently jump from varying speeds, from gantry to gantry - all that slamming on brakes, creating a traffic jam for no reason, then the speeding up, contributes to extra pollution...

Our grandchildren would thank us if we began that conversation given the predicted numbers of young people VS older dependent people from 2100. Environmentally this is an important issue

I presume when you say "our grandchildren" you mean your own grandchildren.

Otherwise how arrogant for speaking to the entire generation who you think would be fine just getting rid of their elderly family members just because they're perceived as inconvenient and labour-intensive. Not everyone thinks like you. Thank God.

Nothing. I would force everyone to read 'Stark' by Ben Elton.

@TheCountessofFitzdotterel

Yet the Dutch manage it.

Are we biologically, significantly different to them?

I cycle to school and then to work.

The key is dense developments.

Honestly, I'd be embarrassed to drive two miles unless I had mobility issues.

A lot of people do not believe in Climate Change. It is not evident to most people, and the solutions are just not on. Give up my car, cycle or walk everywhere? You've got to be joking.

The little things are easy such as reducing single use plastics etc. but the big things are not going to happen unless the Government decrees it, and they won't do anything that drastic.

Not give up your car, just use it more appropriately.

domestic flights and cruise ships

Dogs

Extinction Rebellion.

🤣

I wasn't referring to myself, just in general. Anyway using the car more appropriately is a good thing. I rarely use mine apart from heavy shopping or visiting friends/relatives who are not easy to get to on PT. etc.

The thing is, take young parents for example, they might have to get kids to school, then get to work themselves and the same on the way back. OK some could walk or cycle but it depends on the distance. Others could take PT but again it costs a whack and can be unreliable and packed. I doubt it is easy ferrying a few kids to school on a bus/train and even worse if there is more than one school involved. Then the parent has to turn around and get PT into work after that.

I'm not saying it is impossible, but it is certainly not made easy for young families to do this (in general). So a car is seen as essential.

Anyway I am just musing here.

Outdoor fires. So much fuss about petrol and emissions when we are sitting outside inhaling bonfires, BBQ's, fire pits and wood burning stoves which fill the air with fumes. We need smoke free living.

Flight miles, you get an allowance and that's it.
Private planes including pleasure planes.
Hot air balloons
Glitter
Helium balloons
Quite a lot of food wrapping.
Washing/dishwasher tabs, most if not all micro plastics

Meat: you get an allowance and that's it!

You mean the coated ones that go sticky when moist? Not the moulded old style powder ones?

I meant the tabs, sorry, lost some of my post and had to start again.