The Environment Stupid – A Storm Coming


Richard Branson was on TV again this weekend.

You know the same Richard Branson – UK Entrepreneur, remainer, tax exile.  The one and the same that takes his profits from the NHS – under the Virgin Care brand and uses a series of offshore mechanisms in order to reduce the amount of tax paid, so they say.

 I won’t therefore be lectured by him on in UK politics – yet this weekend he has done some interesting things. He has got together with a number of caribbean nations in order to start to solve some of the climate change problems that will be affecting these islands in the coming years. That’s good news right?

 It feels like it.

 See many of these islands are not going to survive if the climate does not settle, which is fine. This planet of ours has undergone great change since it was formed from heat and dust many billions of years ago. Of course the change is not good for the inhabitants, but that’s the way life is – it’s constantly changing.

 Where I think Branson is spot on, is in the focus on the issues. See it’s only the people of the planet – those that are causing many of the problems and those that are affected by them – that can solve them.  You can of course decided that climate change is not a thing and is just part of a big universe and it’s a pattern that has been running for millions of years – you could be spot on, but…

 There are plenty of other things going on that don’t make any sense, and are well within our control ‘within the wit of man’ so to speak. Let’s just consider a couple of these issues:-

Drug laws – ain’t working. Not now, not ever. We don’t have a drug problem, or we’d be falling over bodies on the high street. We do have a zombie problem – but that’s caused by TV and social media.

Housing – jeez if  I go on any more about this area my head will explode. Joking, I’ll keep on about it until it starts to change;

Politics – christ can it get any worse in the UK?  We have a two party system, the far left – freaks, far right – freaks. And none of them are really for me. We need something that works.

Local Government – let’s be honest about that. It’s shit.

Air quality – Sadiq Khan – like all of the London Mayor’s before him have no idea how to solve this problem, but it’s not only London is it? Plenty of global cities have similar problems. Just no will to solve them – doesn’t help when the likes of Volkswagen and others fiddle their stated vehicle emissions.

Hang on a second, this is not only the Lord Mayor and his office not making decisions – it’s local councils and central Government. It’s everyone that should be considering this a problem. Only, few are.

If we keep on growing the population, growing the economy – modern economics is all about the growth, using up the resources, deliberately polluting our seas and putting things in landfill – like you shitting in your own back garden and expecting it to just ‘go away’ there is going to be a surprise waiting for you a few years down the road.

 Our seas will be full of crap, our wildlife will start to diminish, our air quality will start to collapse, resources that were once there, won’t be. You might start to be building  a picture in your own mind by now. You may be thinking that, constant economic growth and the use of all resources – without paying the right price is not acceptable.

 I for one don’t think it is and it is within our control to sort it it out. Sure it won’t be easy, sure there are some harsh decisions to make, sure it may mean that we need a different politics or a very different approach to things – but that’s what is needed. You can deny it all you like – but plowing money into your pension, buying that new house in a village,  hoping it’s all gonna pan out in your favour really isn’t going to work in your favour.

Capitalism as know it has had its day – it’s raped its way through human history and is now only delivering for the few. We can reverse it, we can have a brighter future for the planet, but can’t do it with the same thinking that got us here, oh and don’t think the solution is any form of socalism – it’s not.

 You have a choice. Sit on your hands and hope it’s all going to go away. Or start to think differently and do things in way that makes sense, not only for our short and medium term well being – both mental and physical, but for the long term well being of the planet.

 Hope is not a plan, and I can assure you. If nothing changes then a shit storm is coming and it’s not going to be pretty.

My part of the solution is here www.moneytrainers.co.uk/freedom

Improving your finances is one part of it.

Scroll to Top