by World news and comment from the Guardian | guardian.co.uk posted August 9, 2012 category Uncategorized
The Marine Conservation Society was disappointed to read the misguided piece of writing by Tanya Gold (This carrier bag conspiracy is a truly deadly distraction, 4 August). We would have thought any scheme that has the support of 70% of the population and has seen carrier bag use drop by 90% would be worth celebrating, not sneering at.
This campaign is not a ?feel good? effort by environmentalists. Cutting litter and waste is a complex problem and often involves tackling the waste stream bit by bit. These small efforts will, and do, add up to make a difference, even if not in a spectacular ?cure all at once? event.
As the majority of governments, the public and retailers agree that a levy is the best way to tackle this issue, we are at a loss to understand this rant against a popular and effective scheme. Just because Ms Gold feels no guilt as she shoves yet another item she doesn?t need into yet another plastic bag she doesn?t want, it doesn?t mean the rest of the population doesn?t care.
Dr Sue Kinsey
Pollution policy officer, Marine Conservation Society
??I was surprised to see Tanya Gold labelling the people of Ireland and Wales as useless. While it is true we must do much more if we are to tackle the many environmental problems we face, deriding the advances we do make will ultimately discourage any personal action to address the issues. She might want to give the matter a little more thought before rubbishing a scheme that is proven to work and has the support of many people, including retailers.
Samantha Harding
Campaign manager, Campaign to Protect Rural England
??Tanya Gold is right to point out the relative insignificance of plastic bags as a form of pollution, compared with the inflated feeling of doing something it gives to the smug using designer reusable ones. But she does not draw the right conclusion. The environment is a common property and can only be protected if we elect a common authority to put into practice the measures needed to protect it.
The carrier bag experience is the perfect example of this. Nowhere has a major fall in use been achieved by exhortations to individual action; everywhere governments have chosen to act, it has proved easy and sensationally effective. It has also been very popular.
The public understand that some things cannot be done without governments. Tanya should be trumpeting this point.
It?s true for most, perhaps all, environmental measures, up to the big one, population growth. Here, education and healthcare systems that give people knowledge of how to limit their family size, and the personal benefits of doing so, are the key responsibilities of government, in this country or abroad.
Chris Padley
Lincoln
??Can Tanya Gold not see that, one, small things add up and, two, small things are the only opportunities available to most of us. Those who do have the opportunity to have an impact on a mass audience would make better use of their ammunition if they encouraged small initiatives while taking issue with governments and multinationals, which have the power to change the way we use the earth?s resources.
Dr DJ Rowe
Newcastle upon Tyne
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