Green Living Tips

Some years ago the idea of cycling to work, or to anywhere that was more than a matter of minutes away, became about as fashionable as flared corduroy trousers. Arrive at the office with leaves stuck to your face and hair like a bowl of stiff spaghetti? You might as well have suggested that someone travel to work on a pogo stick. However, cycling now seems to be back in vogue, and not just because it helps the planet.

We all know that cycling is a good way of keeping fit. This is one reason why a lot of people are intrigued by the idea of leaving the car at home and hopping on their bike. There is also the fact that cyclists can go where no motorist can – enabling short cuts that get you to work before anyone else. And yes, there is the environmental aspect of the process. When the traffic is sitting gridlocked during what we laughingly refer to as “rush-hour”, it’s belching out fumes. A cyclist making the same journey gets there quicker and releases far fewer noxious gases.

This idea is so popular that there are now major municipalities the world over sponsoring cycle-hire programs. London is the latest to unveil such a program, and there are many more set to follow. There may be teething troubles along the way, but if you are looking for a way to get to work without having to brave long queues, then this is a good one – and many office buildings now have showers to enable you to clean up before sitting down to work.

Many supporters of environmentalist causes will have winced when the extent of the global economic crisis of recent years was revealed. Just as environmental causes were gaining the attention and the purpose of the people in control of the levers of power, something came along that presented a very real problem – where environmental causes needed investment, could they hope to compete for a decreasing pot of money with other issues, the life-or-death matters like health and security?

As time has gone on there have been numerous individuals and organizations who have made the case that economic belt-tightening and environmental protection need not be mutually exclusive. Some expensive projects may have needed to be shelved in order to protect the financial balance of countries that risked sliding into depression and crisis, but sustainable living is a way of saving money and saving the planet. This crisis, which is still having an effect today, need not be the death-knell of the environmental cause.

One thing that is clear, though, is that governments have needed to make moves that are seen to be protecting the economy first, to put aside the risk that the world will be too deep in financial turmoil to do anything substantial. In cases where this has affected funding of local projects, this puts more pressure on the individual to do what they can – something which is worth doing for the good of the planet. It may be a bit tougher, but it is not beyond people who are willing to work together.

There is a clear and obvious difference of opinion in society with regard to the importance of the issues facing our environment, and in some cases there is a difference of opinion as to the existence of some of these issues. It is only natural that – as questioning, naturally curious beings – we might start to wonder whether the skeptical people are the ones who have got it right. Have we been working on environmental issues for nothing? Are we the fools for believing propaganda?

It is easy to look to the people questioning the importance, indeed the mere existence, of man-made climate change and call them “climate change deniers”. This language may echo the term “Holocaust denier” and inadvertently or deliberately place skeptics on the same moral level as those who deny the Holocaust, but is it something that environmentalists should apologise for? Does it make green-friendly people look like the cranks?

Those of us who believe strongly in the importance of looking after the environment have plenty of ammunition on our side. It is not beneficial to our argument to throw around accusations that make us look vindictive or wild-eyed. The facts point to the existence and the potential consequences of man-made climate change. Though some scientists disagree they are in the minority. So instead we should be unafraid to state our case strongly, and leave accusations to those who have no stronger argument to offer. People with a strong case have nothing to fear from debate.