Has cycling's 'new golden age' been and gone?

[Ron]

I still believe we need to do the following asap
2 depopulate by birth control

Would that not worsen the current problem of a shortage of people to fill job vacancies in this country?
I'm thinking of GPs, HGV drivers, care workers, agricultural seasonal workers.

[Cowsham]

I still believe we need to do the following asap
2 depopulate by birth control

Would that not worsen the current problem of a shortage of people to fill job vacancies in this country?
I'm thinking of GPs, HGV drivers, care workers, agricultural seasonal workers.

No -- think about it.

[mjr]

Not everybody agrees with the climate change industry. Dr David Bellamy spoke out with dissenting ideas, and was airbrushed out of history.

Wasn't it more that he justified those dissenting ideas with figures from a fictional paper, got debunked by George Monbiot of all people and then retired hurt for a few years before resurfacing to sign the Manhattan Denial apparently holding the same views despite the debunking of their only known foundation?

There's room for doubt and dissent, but when scientists abandon scientific practice, start quoting fiction as evidence, refuse to reconsider once that fiction is pointed out and start sharing platforms with the likes of "Bill Gates simulated covid" anti-vaxxer Piers Corbyn... well, most lose their credibility, don't they?

[mattheus]

Not everybody agrees with the climate change industry. Dr David Bellamy spoke out with dissenting ideas, and was airbrushed out of history.

This is hardly news (except I believe you meant "research", not "Industry"?); you can always find an educated person to support every crackpot theory going.
Do you want to draw any further insights from your statement?

[Wilhelmus]

.

[Bmblbzzz]

I still believe we need to do the following asap
2 depopulate by birth control

Would that not worsen the current problem of a shortage of people to fill job vacancies in this country?
I'm thinking of GPs, HGV drivers, care workers, agricultural seasonal workers.

No -- think about it.

Throughout the industrial and post-industrial world, there are increasingly more old people in relation to young people. The median age of the UK's population is now 40.4, up 2.5 years since 2001. This means there are more old people requiring above-average care from GPs, care workers, etc, while there are fewer young people to do those jobs today or to go into training to do those jobs in coming years. In Japan this has become such a problem that some care work is done by robots. How can reducing the birth rate further not exacerbate the problem, as today's GPs become tomorrow's patients?

[[XAP]Bob]

Nuclear power exists, and works.

Unfortunately, in the hands of human beings with their fallibility and carelessness, it simply isn't worth the risk.

It's not worth *not* taking the "risk".
It's the safest power generation technology we have.

Not everybody agrees with the climate change industry. Dr David Bellamy spoke out with dissenting ideas, and was airbrushed out of history.

Bellamy subsequently accepted that his figures on glaciers were wrong, and announced in a letter to The Sunday Times in 2005 that he had "decided to draw back from the debate on global warming"

He's not been airbrushed out - he withdrew.
The overwhelming evidence is that the current climate change is anthropogenic, and whilst the planet will survive, the dangers to the human population are what we are looking to mitigate. Unfortunately the people who are able to stop it aren't the people who are most affected, so there isn't any real effort being made...

[Thehairs1970]

Had I meant 'research,' I would have put 'research.'

By that, I presume you mean climate change believers belong to an industry. Not sure what industry you mean? I fail to see what economic activity climate change could be other than producing media about it. If you are counting this then everything is an industry from wood working to being a Jedi.

However, more to the point, do you believe climate change is not happening? This is strange as the data is there for all to see.

Or is it that you believe it is natural and there is nothing we can do? Well, I believe you are delusional but if I give you the benefit of the doubt, I still think that leading a greener life is better. The world is not an infinite resource. We have limited oil, coal and gas. We know that burning these products releases gases into the air that I am sure you wouldn’t wish to inhale. The precious metals that allow tech to function are finite. But perhaps most important if all, the natural world is finite. There are not infinite numbers of polar bears, oak trees or even humans. Don’t you think that we need to have a view that if things are finite, we should do something about protecting them for as long as possible?

Or maybe you are too busy looking for the edge of the flat earth…?

[Pete Owens]

Had I meant 'research,' I would have put 'research.' Climate change is part of a spurious orthodoxy promulgated by, among others, the BBC.

Meanwhile back in the real world the behaviour of atmosphere follows the basic longstanding and entirely uncontroversial laws of physics established back in the 19th century, rather than la-la land conspiracy theories or synthetic culture wars.

There is no threat to your free speech to speak or believe whatever nonsense you like. For all I know you believe that the climate is driven capricious gods who can only be appeased by the sacrifice of virgins - you will suffer no consequence other than ridicule (unless you actually try to sacrifice a virgin). However, school curricula and the BBC have a duty to educate and inform. This means telling the facts as they are - not having a debate on various possible solutions to 2+2 or whether apples tend to travel towards the earth due to the theory of intelligent falling.

[mattsccm]

Just playing devils advocate here as I believe that so often it is easy only to see your own point of view and condemn others. The "freedom of expression" groúp are the worst here as they proclaim the need for us all to be able to express ourselves but then object when someone does just that if it doesn't suit them.
Anyway, surely the issue is too many people? We need to reduce that number.
Saying that we need carers for the elderly isn't the answer, it is less elderly. Remember, devils advocate and nothing more.
Alternatively, as freedom of will is to be limited by the eco fraternity why not stop people doing useless jobs, I don't know, working in fast food joints, designing computer games etc and have them look after our elderly. Ah freedom you might say. Well the same freedom shoud allow us to burn wood.
Of course we have a rather messy moral issue here but it has to be admitted that it isn't as simple as some people like to think.

Now, on to my opinion. I would like to see the banning of unimportant waste. Take away coffee cups for example. Take you own or better still make it at home. New mobile phones. Just how many millions are replaced each year? Fast food. Driving to a burger joint or even walking iisn't as green as making your own. Food packaging. Ban complex stuff. Why does food need plastic and cardboard?
Recreational cycling. Now there's something that is superfluous!

[Philip Benstead]

Do away with nailbats

[mattheus]

Now, on to my opinion. I would like to see the banning of unimportant waste. Take away coffee cups for example. Take you own or better still make it at home. New mobile phones. Just how many millions are replaced each year? Fast food. Driving to a burger joint or even walking iisn't as green as making your own. Food packaging. Ban complex stuff. Why does food need plastic and cardboard?
Recreational cycling. Now there's something that is superfluous!

Don't forget internet forums where we debate "important" issues, but nobody with any power is reading our conclusions. Internet traffic has quite a high carbon footprint!

[mattsccm]

Excellent idea.
To be honest I doubt that the lack of computers would upset me much. In a year or two we would get back to doing things by paper and slower.

[atoz]

Excellent idea.
To be honest I doubt that the lack of computers would upset me much. In a year or two we would get back to doing things by paper and slower.

For years the rise of computers has meant more waste of paper simply because it is easier than havi ng to write it all down. Only now has that lessened with the rise of cloud storage and internet. For example, students submit their work online not in hard copy. Paper usage where I work has nosedived because of this

[mattheus]

I used to really worry about "wasting" paper: but is it a big issue any more, with sustainable forestry, and much more paper recyling than we did 20 years ago?

Regarding paper use slumping: I can say that in my workplace [7 years total], the biggest change has been the increased working-from-home during covid: we quickly rushed in digital signatures, and some docs now never see a printer, because no-one is in the right location to print the things off for anyone they would be of use to!
The Cloud may have made a difference, but it's impossible to tell at this stage. IMO!