In 1983 I was given a years subscription to Greenpeace as a Christmas present by a friend. By that time I had moved to Brighton and joined the local Greenpeace supporters group. Within the year I had been made Town Coordinator with over 70 members actively involved. I was to play an important role in building up the profile of Greenpeace in Brighton.
I started an annual Sponsored walk under the cliffs to Rottingdean that brought in 10’s of thousands of pounds in sponsorship.
I helped set up the Clean Seas Campaign and successfully lobbied East Sussex County Council to get sea water tested 365 days a year instead of during the bathing season as before (tankers had been known to dump undiluted chicken blood into the sea and sewage bacillus had been detected 2 miles inland).
I also persuaded East Sussex to put showers on the beach so swimmers could wash themselves after bathing.
I regularly gave lectures to groups interested in hearing more about the implications of Global Warming, including Business Leaders and Sixth Formers.
I met many Greenpeace activists and was informally invited to help crew one of their ships. Business demands meant I had to gracefully decline, but I was sorely tempted. One of their boats over wintered in Brighton Marina and I and several other supporters re varnished her.
I was very proud to have hand painted the Rainbow on her prow.
I was also involved in South Coast Against Nuclear Navies and spent an interesting morning in an inflatable buzzing an American Nuclear Submarine leaving Portsmouth Naval Dockyard, to the great amusement of her crew.
After I was elected onto Rutland County Council I helped Ruth Archer in the campaign to get Kerbside recycling introduced across the County. It was finally introduced in 2008.
I also made sure Global Warming was not omitted from the Long Term Forward Plan of the Council, which resulted in them signing the Nottingham Declaration.
I am also active with the Rutland Transition Towns initiative.
I am under no illusions about the threat we all face in the not to distant future. Food, Water and Energy shortages, flooded low lying, but densely populated regions of the world, melting Permafrost, Arctic and Glacial Ice, its all happening right now.
There are a number of groups and organisations that are endeavouring to change public opinion on the subject. I would recommend Greenpeace as well as a group that is gaining International recognition, Population Matters.
They argue, very reasonably, that there are to many people in the world and Governments need to try to persuade people to limit the number of children they have.
It took 10,000 years for the world population to reach an estimated 1 billion in 1800. By 1950 it had risen to 2.5 billion. Today, it has increased to 6.8 billion. The UN has made October 31st 2011 the day that marks the point when the population on this tiny planet of ours reaches 7 billion.
This is the number one reason why finite resources such as fossil fuels, groundwater, minerals,soil fertility, forests, fisheries, bio-diversity etc are in crisis.
Global Warming is due to over population. More people consume more. We are on the edge of a precipice that no one in government has the courage to face up to.
We have a choice, to control population by education, contraception and humane pro-active population policy (tax incentives, aid to developing nations etc) or to allow growth to continue unabated and face the inevitable famine, disease, war and environmental collapse.
Population cannot continue to grow unsustainably. The Planet is not big enough to manage a projected population of 9.2 billion by 2050. We really don’t have the resources to cope with so many people. Food and water shortages are already a fact of life in parts of Asia and South America. It is predicted we will start to see shortages within the next 5 years.
Have a look at the Population Matters web site and think about signing the 2 child
pledge if you haven’t already. Incidentally, they are totally opposed to any coercion
with regards Family Planning, people must be given the choice. I choose a sustainable
life for those who follow me. Hopefully the rest of humanity will agree. In Jonathon
Porritt's words, "reductions in total fertility rate have been achieved via better
healthcare, better education, better access to contraception and inspired government
and community leadership", like Kerala, Korea, Iran etc. In developing countries
the UN estimates there are 200 million couples who have NO access to any form of
modern contraception.
People need to understand that every litre of fuel they use
today is one less litre of fuel that their children will be able to use tomorrow.
Environment
