LAUNTON ENVIRONMENTAL SOCIETY

GOOD, BETTER, BEST ...

GOOD News! Finally, there is something to ‘shout about’! We as a country are making great progress reducing our reliance on fossil fuels. Recently, there was an article in The Week, based on information from the National Grid, that was really uplifting. It pointed out that in 2009 75% of Britain’s electricity was generated by gas-and coal powered plants. This year to date it stands at 26%, and one-day last month (for an hour at lunch time on 15 April) the proportion fell to 2.4%. New analysis also found that the average daily fossil-fuel share had dropped to a record daily low of 6.4%, Until 2022 that daily average had never been below 10%. This shows us that the Zero Carbon Target is possible. GOOD news indeed!

These numbers speak more about our acceptance and use of renewables than they do about our actual usage. We mustn’t become complacent. We must continue to try to use electricity wisely even if only to reduce our electricity bill. Our use of electricity is only one part of our Carbon Footprint. If we want to reduce our carbon footprint to 50% by 2030, then we will have a 60% chance of avoiding a climate catastrophe! We must not be satisfied with a GOOD result. We must do BETTER! We must continue focusing on reducing all the factors that make up our Carbon Footprint...Food, Home, Travel and Stuff. If you have read this and say to yourself, ‘Good, end of story! My reply would be “Dream on!” If your reaction was ‘Good, We’re not all doomed.’ I would say, “Please join us, we could use your help! If you think you are doing a pretty GOOD job in reducing your Carbon Footprint, try to do a little bit BETTER. If you think that you are already doing the BEST you can, try to make your best BETTER...” Make your BEST BETTER and your BETTER BEST!

Do please continue trying to reduce your personal footprint as BEST you can... we are running out of time... LES is more! We are there to help!

Ed from LES (launtonenvironmentalsociety@gmail.com)

P.S.World Environment Day is on 5 June.