Blue Skies ahead?

David Miliband (environment secretary) is discussing future ways to reduce CO2 emissions. He sees a future in which it may act as a new currency, allowing domestic homes too to carbon trade. He sees it as an empowering option, offering lower-income homes the chance to sell their excess and only charging those who transgress limits. He asserts it will allow more personal responsibility than simply banning certain products and services. Others, including Liberal Democrat, Chris Huhne are criticising the proposals: whilst they welcome more open dialogue on domestic Carbon emissions, they insist that we need to see strategies implemented that will yield immediate restults rather than continually discussing 'blue sky' ideas which, althugh laudable, are a long way from being realisable. We must not use such ideas as an excuse for doing too little now. He points out: 'Green taxes have fallen to their lowest level since Mrs Thatcher was prime minister. This is a shcoking indictment of a government that claims to care about the environment'. It is apparent that we need to look at these issues both in the long and short term; neither exclusively will succeed. The Departments of the Environment, Trade and Industry, and Communities and Local Government and the Treasury are considering the role of 'communityn level' approaches to mobilising indivuduals. They are expected to raise proposals such as the introduction of loyalty cards and lague tables to give people a sense of ownership of the problem in their report, due early next year. Read the BBC report on it here.