A few points to reply to David Wood's email.
There are far worse social/economic problems outised the UK than
within it - and if even some of the worst predictions about global
warming are true, this eclipses even those problems. But some of
us should be looking at the Uk probs, even as others look at the
rest of the world's. Economic inequality can prevent the middle to
poor spending on environmental improvements - I don't agree with
the USA/Right view that increasing wealth should be the main
priority as that will lead automatically to a cleaner
environment........because in todays globalised world economic
growth seems to be leading to greater inequality, so any
environmental or social benefits of more wealth floating around do
not accrue, this wealth ends up in the savings of the already rich.
The very poor in the Uk will likely not have a car but the fairly poor
may be forced to own one, due to successive land use/transport
policies in the UK for the last 50 years or more. In many cities,
towns, especially villages, it is a case of 'own a car or suffer severe
social exclusion'. Stretching their budget in this way makes the car-
owning poor even poorer.
But my main concern is to highlight the appalling lack of
investment in public transport in the UK. Of course the resultant
necessity to own a car if at all remotely financially possible is very
nice for the government. A guaranteed flow of various taxes and
fines, higher employment (in the car makers/garage/spare part
industry, than if we all used buses). Meanwhile the negative
environmental effects of cars like noise, illness, deaths, pollution,
are borne disproportionately by the poor and the bill flows only very
indirectly to government, who rake in the taxes. Put most
cynically, if a low wage earner, or poor unemployed person, in their
40s dies in a car crash or is incapacitated thru' asthma, there isnt
really a huge loss of earnings, income tax, to the govt, and they
may even save on the pension, whereas the car causing that pays
thousands in tax etc.
Now if there was serious resistance to car taxes, or if there was
real pressure for car taxes to be put into better public transport, the
govt might have to start rethinking the economics of the last
paragraph.
The UK public don't really have a lot of ways to promote changes
like this (elections, useless, all the main parties are similar!). We
cant really mass-boycott our cars because we have allowed
society to 'progress' to the point where we can't easily do without
them. We can't asll go and use buses because they dont run, or
take ages to get there.
This policy is very imperfect, environmentally and economicaly. But
it may be just about all we can do. If there is a better way to
achieve a less car-dependent society, to alleviate the exclusion
forced on the fairly-poor-carless, one that is actually possible for
most people to follow (Not just those who live within a mile of
shops and work for an employer such as a University where hours
may be more flexible than other places), I should love to hear about
it.
A few points to follow now that I can see Hilary is actually serious about
this:
1. The poorest people in the UK at least do not generally even own a car.
2. The problems experienced due to high petrol costs in the UK do not even
bear comparison with the suffering of the Ogoni in Nigeria, or countless
others in Colombia, Ecuador and Venzuela, with the damage caused by oil
spills, with the wars resulting from our oil needs, and ultimately with the
global havoc that will be caused (and is already in evidence) from climate
change, that will impact the poorest most intensely (as usual).
In comparison I am afraid, this campaign is frankly silly and dangerous, and
given my own personal experience of the last round of fuel protests, started
by relatively well-off people who can afford those prices anyway...
David.
------- End of forwarded message -------
Hillary Shaw, P/G Geography, University of Leeds
Traditional sayings of the P'nstrae-P'sutid tribe (3)
Too many cooks spoil the restuarant profits. Too few
accountants cook the books. Many hands make high wage bill.
Many unemployed hands make lower Minimum Wage.
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