January Meme: Climate Impact Reduction

[selenak]

watervole asked: "What do you do in your own life to reduce your climate impact, and what do you feel your government should do that it isn't already doing?"

Nothing extraordinary, I'm afraid. Just the usual sensible things. I separate my waste, of course, and depose it accordingly. I use the public transport system whenever I can, which thankfully is a lot, but then that's because I live (usually) in a big city where you can get practically everywhere via subway, bus or streetcar, and which has a good connection via the national railway. (It's now quicker and cheaper to go by train from Munich to Berln, for example, despite the two cities being really far apart (and the German railway struggling through an endless crisis.) If I were living in a village with at best a bus connection and no supermarket to buy heavy stuff like water bottles from five minutes away from my apartment, I'd use my car far, far more.

Foodwise, I try to buy local fruit and vegetables if available, which, again, mostly works out for me in Munich. But I'm too fond of oranges and the occasional pineapple to let it go entirely. I don't eat meat often, but I'm not a vegetarian.

This last year was the first time since years I've travelled somewhere else via plane - Los Angeles and Oxford, to be precise -, and I really couldn't have done anything else for lack of time - both were working trips, not vacation - , but should I go on holidays to Britain again in a year or two, I'm eyeing the possibility to go by train and ferry.

As to what more my government could/should do, leaving aside, if one can, the elephant in the room (Russian Gas, too much reliance on same, though in all fairness the "from 55% to 0%" goal is actually on a good way, if not on a particularly environment friendly one), most of all: reform the public transport system, put far more money and people into it. While I said that I, personally, can use it a lot and get where I want, this has to do with where I live and with my professional needs. It would be very different in a great many places. There should be a train connection to every town, with working trains and railway lines, for God's sake.

My other pet peeve is not a national one but limited to the federal state in which I live, and concerns windmills, or rather, the limited number of same, which is limited due to the Bavarian government clinging to certain restrictions (any windmill has to have a distance to the next house that is ten times its maximum height). Ditch it already, Söder.

There are of course a great many other things, but honestly, I feel like an impostor on this subject, knowing not more about it than can be gathered from following the daily news.

The other days

Comments

[jesuswasbatman]

You probably didn't really mean it, but don't bother with ferries to Britain, take the Eurostar. From what I've heard, the remaining cross-channel ferries really aren't set up for foot passengers, and there aren't any connections any more between the harbours and the town centres or stations.

[selenak]

Good lord. When I was there with my AP in 2013 or thereabouts for a tour from Cornwall to Scotland by car, we did take the ferry from Dover. But yeah, the Eurostar does sound like the better choice under these circumstances.