Who really gains with all the "ECO" hype

[Punched]

I just can't understand what all the fuss is about, Eco means more money??

I used to use recycled copier paper until i saw how much it was about £3 extra, let face it nearly all paper made today has a certain percentage of recycled paper included.

Then theres the issue with green house gases and the ozone, if its so important why are we still driving cars using petrol and diesel like we have been 100 years ago.

Because no matter how much we moan about the ozone and greenhouse gases, oil stil rules and has done since 1900.

In my Business i often by the raw materials from countries that just don't give a hoot about "Eco" and simply think about how much money they can make.

So being eco is about offsetting your carbon footprint, well if i'm honest, i just havn't the time or money to go planting or buying tree's, and as a business i need to go an source my raw material at the cheapest price possible, so try to be geen, just won't work for me

So is being "eco" friendly and green, just another marketing ploy to make money?? or can the uk repair all the damage the US, Russia, China and India are doing ??

Oh not forgetting the oil countries

I really would love to know the answer "Who really gains with all the "ECO" hype"

[gogul2k]

You're talking about a problem that involve a number of variables.

In the context of learning frugality and using what is already to hand around you then I think it is a good thing. Frugal however doesn't mean being cheap; I think it's right to pay extra in some cases to support smaller businesses and help maintain a local self sufficient economy.

The main thing holding back more eco friendly alternatives in my opinion is supply and demand. Less eco friendly resources have higher demand, so they're cheaper.

In the context of the bigger picture, the point of looking for sustainable energy and resources is to think about future generations.

Much tropical forest has and is being cleared to grow palm oil in order to keep up with demand. Ironically enough, considering it's used for production of bio-diseal, "organic" cosmetics and such.

I remember being up at some ungodly hour a couple of nights ago and hearing a discussion on radio2 in regards to the impact of countries such as Australia using eco-friendly energy sources. It could in theory become a world leader in the use of solar energy. but coal is the main part of their economy, so change will be very, very slow.

Eco friendly resources are very much viable solutions that can work to the advantage of most, give or take a little; problem is there is displacement that means eco friendly isn't alway economy friendly and so we choose the cheaper option we know works best, thereby stifling viability of alternatives because there's not enough supply and demand to make them a viable solution.

Just a few thoughts I'm idly pushing out for arguments sake.

[everquest]

Most people are creatures of habit. We tend to use the same supermarkets, follow the same route round them, and reach for the same products. So it takes time for new products to become established, and prices to fall to reflect growing demand. The real issue though is with a rapidly growing world population whilst at the same time natural resources are running out. In time more businesses will see the virtues and opportunities of recycling waste to create eco friendly products, which will help create more choice and in turn lower prices for such products. The sooner the better. I know there is a growing awareness of the need for environmental responsibility as my green tourism business - Walkers Friend, is growing rapidly. Its good business, and good for the environment. If other members have identified similar opportunities in their region I would suggest that they investigate further.

[Punched]

You're talking about a problem that involve a number of variables.Just a few thoughts I'm idly pushing out for arguments sake.

Thats great, at the end of the day i feel no one can really answer and there are those that try to justify higher costs and more expense on what i call the "Eco" excuse

Ever since we started using oil in the petro chemical industries we've damaged this planet, why when it so blantantly so plain to see, why don't we come up with a solution to using petrol and diesel in cars and save our planet at source rather than simply covering up the fact by planting tree's and buying our electric from a "Green Complany"

Eco, Green and Saving the Planet has to be one of this centry's biggist excuse, not to do the right thing and try and make people feel guilty, by getting them to pay more.

The Goverment is pumping millions into wind turbines which will provide clean electricity, but do we see a massive reduction in our electric bills ?? errr no...

Who really benefits, the contractors, the electric companies or the government??

Whats the Point of offsetting your carbon footprint at the office and then getting into your Range Rover Vogue and driving home??

The Eco and green issues are their to make people feel guilty and the companies behind them richer.

If every single company, each man woman and child in the UK went "green and Eco" it wouldn't even make the slightest difference to gobal warming, if there is really such a thing.

Whilst its fun to try and bring out the 60's hippy in us, the real and i mean REAL issues go unresolved, masked by the fact that we planted a tree because we used our computer too much

The Goverment will NEVER look at alternative to Petrol and Diesel because they make MILLIONS in taxes from the consumer, VAT, and Duty, as well as Taxes from the companies, who now are trying to avoid by moving aboard.

So the fact remains, are you happy with the fact that your doing you"bit" by paying a bit extra to a Eco or Green Company?? without actually making a tiny spec of a difference to the real issue.

I think the guy who coined up the phase "Carbon Footprint" must be making £££££££'s by now

[Punched]

In time more businesses will see the virtues and opportunities of recycling waste to create eco friendly products, which will help create more choice and in turn lower prices for such products.

But recycling waste, is not Green because you first need to manufacture all that packaging and then reprocess it all when its waste, the end product has been through two stages of manufacture, hardly green?

If you want to be really green, then you would limit the amout of waste you create and instead of the government giving householders fines for leaving their wheelie bin lids open, they want to start fining companies who waste resourse and material with excesses packaging.

Look at the Recycling Scam, yes its great to recycle all our waste but since we've been doing it do we get any benefits from it?? no, do our council tax bills come down as a result no, the people that benefit is the local authority that have made millions selling the recycled waste to companies and businesses aboard.

So lets save the UK and dump our rubbish in China instead (as one TV documentry found out!)

Then theres the Shipping industry, No one says anything because they don't know, but did you know that 16 of the worlds biggist ships, can polute the air more than all the cars in the world put together??

In London, on the south bank of the Thames looking across at the Houses of Parliament, is the International Maritime Organisation, the UN body that polices the world’s shipping.

For decades, the IMO has rebuffed calls to clean up ship pollution. As a result, while it has long since been illegal to belch black, sulphur-laden smoke from power-station chimneys or lorry exhausts, shipping has kept its licence to pollute.

For 31 years, the IMO has operated a policy agreed by the 169 governments that make up the organisation which allows most ships to burn bunker fuel.

Christian Eyde Moller, boss of the DK shipping company in Rotterdam, recently described this as ‘just waste oil, basically what is left over after all the cleaner fuels have been extracted from crude oil. It’s tar, the same as asphalt. It’s the cheapest and dirtiest fuel in the world’. Bunker fuel is also thick with sulphur. IMO rules allow ships to burn fuel containing up to 4.5 per cent sulphur. That is 4,500 times more than is allowed in car fuel in
the European Union. The sulphur comes out of ship funnels as tiny particles, and it is these that get deep into lungs.

Thanks to the IMO’s rules, the largest ships can each emit as much as 5,000 tons of sulphur in a year – the same as 50million typical cars, each emitting an average of 100 grams of sulphur a year.

With an estimated 800million cars driving around the planet, that means 16 super-ships can emit as much sulphur as the world fleet of cars.

[HuggyBear]

This whole "green" thing is just a farce!

They are pumping out that it's our fault the world is falling apart because we leave lights on when we shouldn't, have heaters on when its cold and other things that use electricity - why should we cut down? My house doesn't emit any CO2 from leaving a light switched on - its the power company who I'm rigged up to that is damaging the earth!

Why should I cut down on my electricity usage? They get paid for it, why shouldn't they look into new ways of investing their multi-billion profit margins into more "green" solutions?

The world is falling apart at a rate that we don't realise - all this stuff in the news about flooding is going to be the norm; heavy rain/lots of rain caused by global warming.

Why should we have to change our ways when it is not actually us damaging the earth? Its the fat-cat energy companies, that is killing us all.

[Punched]

Thanks Huggy,

For a minute i thought i must of been the odd one out

Being Green, Eco aware and everything else is purposely done by the governments to hide the real cause of gobal warming.

Look at my last post about Ships using "Bunker Fuel", probably one of the last remaining "Dirty" fuel left in the world and Governments are still allowing it

All this crap about adding a climate change levy on my Electric bill, is just another Tax, We are being brainwashed that its our fault that gobal warming exists but in true light, its the goverment fault.

Why are we 12 years on not investing more in Nuclear Power Stations, which are probably one of the cleanest forms of engery around, that could quite happily power the whole UK with Cheap Electric, Why do we still have Coal fired Powerstations ??

Instead goverments are spending millions of my tax money sticking up ugly wind turbines, here there and everywhere, if you live near them, have you noticed your electric bill go down??? No of course you havn't like everything else we seem to do in the UK the government probably flogs it to europe, and then when we're short of electric, be buy it back from them at an inflated rate, that why the majority of our electricity companies are foriegn.

Why do local goverments make it law that we should re cycle and then pay China to have it, They re use it and benefit from it not us.

At my workplace we have metal sheets turn up on pallets, i re use these pallets to send them to my customers, does that make me "Green"

The Answer Still remains - Who is really benefiting from this hype

[coe114c]

The Answer Still remains - Who is really benefiting from this hype

I would say the governments - gives them a great excuse to tax us even more!

[LOS Design UK]

Whoever is selling niche related products

[Green East]

I am very new to forums a virgin you might say, but I was very interested in Eco Friendly side to A1BF, as this is close to my heart.
Then I read some of the comments posted by moderators saying, who cares about the environment, why can’t I leave have all the pleasures in live, we don’t emit CO2 it the power companies do. They’re the ones responsible.
Stating the obvious... They generate the power because we use it!
So I now I have 2 questions to ask.
Is this the right place for me?
Can anyone give me a good reason why I should stay?
P.S. I am no Hippy..