Welcome to my blog. I am a former local journalist who now works in PR and a Conservative and community activist in Woking and Horsell. This blog will keep updated on local issues as well as my interests and quirky news stories.
If my blogging gets a little thin over the next couple of days, I apologise – there are a few things at work that need sorting out and as you can imagine in this climate, it’s not all as good as it could be.
Anyway, I thought the DC’s keynote speech on harnessing the power of profit and the conscience of the consumer to create a ”green consumerism” was the first significant environmental contribution from his since the “Vote Blue, Go Green” strapline was quietly dropped a few years ago. Undoubtedly, DC knows that his environmental credentials might just be enough to swing some ex-Conservative Lib Dem voters who can put up with no electoral reform if the Conservatives can show a genuine desire to help the less well-off and a commitment to environmental action.
But it has to be credible. And I think this is – there’s no point setting out a vision for an economy run along green lines. The economy will always win over environmental considerations if allowed to go unchecked. What you need to do is use economic imperatives such as profit and efficiency to drive the environmental agenda forward. I don’t think the Liberal Democrats have demonstrated that they understand that in practical sense – for them, business behaviour must be re-built around environmental concerns.
DC knows that business behaviour revolves around money and believes that he can channel that motivation for the benefit of all of us. I hope he’s prepared to take it forward with gusto and resist the inevitable pressure that will come from the most unsustainable parts of the economy. They are also some of the largest and loudest parts – but he needs to make them understand that size and volume will not redress the planet’s problems. It is often those without a voice who are pointing to the moral path.
Update: A quick peak at Tim Dodds’s blog has revealed this article by the BBC News Climate Correspondent. I subscribe to environmental action because of the problems of a growing population and the potential for conflict as well as the unpleasant effects of unfettered industrial expansion and ecological decline. But it makes you think…
