The weathers been on my mind lately. I’ve been thinking about how warm it’s been feeling especially for this time of the year. Only this morning I looked out of my window and noticed that the plants in my garden are flowering which is quite disturbing. Coincidentally on that very same day I happened to be reading a post on some forum and a contributor posted that he was typing away on his keyboard when a ladybird walked across. Of course if the plants are beginning to flower then it’s only logical that insects will be up and about. The poor things are confused. Recently I turned on the television and saw Tony Blair being interviewed by a Sky News reporter for a special climate change feature that they had been running all week. They were inside what I assume was the prime ministers cosy looking kitchen chatting like old chums about climate change & carbon neutral footprints. He was asked if he was prepared to holiday closer to home in order to help cut down on carbon emissions. He looked slightly surprised at the reporters gall in asking him this and quickly chirped up that he wouldn’t be giving up his holidays abroad and that he wouldn’t expect the public to do it either. He said it would be impractical to ask people to do that. He added, he’s still waiting for the first politician who’s actually running for office who’s going to come out and say it and that they were never going to do that. It made me wonder if he had ever heard of the old adage ‘lead by example’.

“Apparently later Downing Street were reported to have said that Mr Blair offsets all his official travel, though I read that No 10 refused to say whether he did this on personal flights. They said that all government activity will be carbon neutral by 2015 and that the prime minister has taken a lead on this.” …Hmmm very confusing because that’s not what he seemed to be saying when he was on Sky News in the interview I watched.

More roads being built… more cars on the road… more people taking more cheap flights than ever.. and even more plans to build more planes which means more flights more frequently more often & more carbon emissions. This is a consumer age that we’re living in. I know that it’s hard to put the genie back in the bottle once it’s out but it’s hard to see what we’re going to do especially if the likes of the prime minister won’t even take the lead on this serious issue.

I’m in a agreement with those who believe it’s down to each and every one of us to make the effort and do what we can to offset our own carbon footprint. Recently I read that Coldplay, The Dixie Chicks and many others had partnered with Conservation International and have agreed to offset the carbon footprint associated with their tours. They’re taking responsibility for the tons of heat-trapping greenhouse gasses generated by the trucks, busses, airline flights, hotel rooms, concert venues and even the fans driving to and from shows by donating an amount based on $10 per ton of carbon dioxide (CO2). The money will help to protect 832,000 acres of the Makira tropical rain forest in Magagascar. Well done to all those bands and I am going to think about how I’m going to approach things in this regard.