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.

This system was in place in Australia for aluminium cans - the scouts used to collect them to raise funds! And yes, rarely saw can rubbish anywhere. I don't know why the UK doesn't do the same with plastic bottles, aluminium cans and glass bottles. It would sort that side of the rubbish issue out overnight.

I remember this from when I lived in Stockholm as a child, I can't understand why it hasn't been brought in everywhere. Even kids would love collecting cans from the road and getting some money for them.

Also excess plastic on fruit and veg - most people was them when they get home anyway, so unnecessary.

Fake grass & fake plants

Excessive flying. Limit recreational flights to one return trip per person per year and corporate flights to a mile per year/per organisation limit.

Sequins

Log burners

😂

What about immigrants whose families live abroad? We don't fly for recreation.

I think we should limit excessive meat but I doubt anyone agrees with me!

Billionaires

All of these ideas are worthy, but only tickle the surface of the problem. The thing that would most help the environment is if humans became extinct - the planet would get busy slowly changing/repairing itself without our "help".

artificial grass for consumers. Horrible stuff.

Agreed - with the increase in video conferences etc. there's not the same need for international business travel.

A friend of mine flies to America every year for a corporate team building event with her company, they fly in people from all over the world for a week, such a waste.

Plastic tat, like the rubbish you find in kids party bags and just goes straight into the bin.

Criminal waste of resources, and for what.

disposable vapes

@AngryBirdsNoMore

The behaviour of big business

I get that this is also a well meaning thread, but by faffing about tampax and fake grass - and yes even private jets - we are missing the point. And this is really serious, because a ban on glitter isn’t reversing climate change.

We love this stuff because it makes us feel in control, but it is a false security.

This is not to say all these thinks don’t help, and are a good idea. But they aren’t the solution.

I'd ban the things I don't personally want and allow those I do, and would find a way to argue my corner, as would we all.
What Id rather see, for those of us with the privilege of choice, is a general monitoring of our overall carbon footprint, with people sacrificing some things as a trade off for others. I dislike the current culture that if you're not all in then the contribution you are making is almost pointless. So I'd ban that thinking, and encourage people to think that you don't have to be all green or not at all, as every little helps.

Disposable BBQs

Celebration helium balloons

Nox canisters

Plastic.

Washing stuff (including bodies) that aren't dirty

Well said. You are absolutely right
I dont eat meat. Because I don't want to.
I have 2 DC. Because I don't want any more.
I dont have a car. Because I live in London and I don't need one.

But I do fly because family live overseas.

I do think that the whole approach and narrative around green issues in the U.K. is counterproductive. It always seems to be about “banning” things. About forcing rules on people, and there is this undertone that the only pleasurable and valuable life is one of limitless consumption and exploitation.
No wonder it’s not getting anywhere! Why not think differently, positively, creatively?
Nature is amazing and beautiful. “The environment” often seems to be used as if we’re talking about something external to us. But it is literally where we live! So it should be normal to want to look after it, work with it rather than against it.

Annual plants being sold in plastic trays and pots. An absolutely HUGE waste of plastic and not necessary by any means at all. It's something that's totally glossed over because it would deeply upset people who otherwise think of themselves as "green".

Agreed - also, price is no indication of quality when it comes to clothes any more.

I don't want to spend money on clothes which fall apart after 20 washes. But I have stuff from Primark/New Look/ H&M which have lasted years, and stuff that cost twice as much which were binned after a few months.

There is a narrative that "fast fashion" is due to fickle consumers, but shit manufacturers are also to blame!

How much more would you increase the subsidise to - currently it’s £23billion. And how would you pay for it. Write NHS on your hand when you think about that.

Beat me to it !

At least when plastic is used for food there is an argument for it, but flowering plants are a luxury, and they could be supplied in biodegradable pots but are not. Tonnes and tonnes of plastic waste from the gardening industry goes to landfill, created by the very people who should care about it the most, but don't.