Mankind itself is the greatest threat to the planet; as a race we serve no useful purpose - we do not fit into the food chain as other creatures do, we have plundered the planet of it's natural resources, killed-off other inhabitants either directly or indirectly and have generally upset the eco-system.

We already have the most heavily taxed fuel in the western world, if only fuel tax, road tax, VAT on vehicles were spent on the roads, we have the best netowrk in the world.

Around 70% of fuel costs are tax.

Electric vehicles are not the way forward IMHO, where does the electic come from?? that flipping great gas/coal powered station. what do you do with the huge batteries when they come to the end of their life, another environmental time.

It's too easy to bash the internal combustion engine and its fuel but over the years it has been developed into a very efficient technology.

Medium to long term fuel cells are going to be the way forward, it's really gonna hack the tree huggers off when all that trickles out of the exhaust is a bit of H2O.

The science behind most scares is shakey to say the least, it's not that long ago we were all gonna be Dead from Aids or BSE is it? At one time there was school of thought that said a human being could survive if they travelled at more than 20 MPH

Sure the world is warming up but trying to separate cyclical changes, form mans effects is guesswork at best.

Good science is based on experiments that can be done, the results are measurable and consistent.

Planet earth may be akin to an experiment in some views and maybe just one day it's all going to go horribly wrong, but don't discount the ingenuity of the race to fix the problem when we are 100% sure what the cause is rather than the effect.

Ray.

"reproduce" comes with "making sure my children can lead a safe life" doesn't it?

I don't have any children yet, but I'm 100% sure that if one day the girl I love gives me a son or a daughter, I'll spend my life making sure they can be at least as happy on Earth as I've been. Anyway that's how my parents grew me.

I totally disagree with your views Gilps. Have you watched "An Inconvenient Truth"? If not I'd be more than happy to lend it to you if you'd accept to give it a watch (as to anybody who hasn't seen it).

Commuting by train cost me £90 a month. The trains are always late and they stink. But at least I keep my car off the roads. And if in 10 years I feel it's time to give up biking because the situation is getting worse and worse, then I'll do it.

It's not too late.
It's not a fatality.

Tonio, I admire your sentiments. I chose not to have children but if I had I would have, like you, tried to do my very best for them. I do have step-children but they live with my estranged wife.
I haven't seen that particular film although I have seen several other programs on the subject, some claiming it's all exagerated, and others claiming doom and gloom.
I realise that you are one the many trying to do their bit to help, but I just don't feel that it's enough. There will always be some who are not prepared to make sacrifices. That's my point. I believe that it is human nature and will not change, at least not until it's too late anyway.
I just have a different point of view to you. I believe it is too late to turn it around. I think we are very close to the point of no return and only really drastic action will avert us passing it, and that action isn't being taken. And I'm not talking about taking the train instead of the car. This is far far bigger than that, and the small gestures that we may make on a daily basis are not enough to avert disaster.
I hope that I'm proved wrong, but I firmly believe that this whole planets going to be a very unpleasant place to live in 50 years.

I respect your views too mate, and I hope too that you're proved wrong at some point ;)

Anyway, that should make for some interesting discussions until late in the night in the DD paddock :)

Easter Island anyone.

Think globally,act locally.

I'm going to hug my kids and trees.....

Ok guys.. some great points... interesting stuff! After reading all of them I have decided that instead of becoming a polititian I will start by designing a electric motorbike................ now if I put these two wires together..... AAAARRRRHHHHHHHHHHHHHH







ok maybe a water powered one then!

good thread though and a good topic Stones

yeh, really pleased with responce

That's true... Thomas Midgely's yer man.

Guess how he died...... lead poisoning? Nope.

He was a great inventor but contracted polio at the age of 51, which left him severely disabled. He devise an elaborate system of strings and pulleys to lift him from bed. This system was the eventual cause of his death when he was accidentally entangled in the ropes of this device and died of strangulation at the age of 55.