Ditch the car to give humanity a chance
NEWS and pictures, from three continents this week, of the unfolding tragedy of climate change are a wake-up call to our decadent society.
Floods in Texas, India, Bangladesh and Nepal are not uncommon, nor is drought a stranger to East Africa.
It is the scale of their severity that is the most worrying.
A rising world population only adds to the challenges we now face. In order to avert the catastrophe of an uninhabitable world our way of living must change.
The revolution must come from you as an individual. It will not come from politicians or planners. Their preoccupation is of a short-term nature. That, after all, is the way of democracy, is it not?
In cities and large towns like Stockpot all over Britain, the car culture must be quickly and dramatically downgraded. Stockport is a very car-oriented place to live.
If everywhere was like our town, mankind would not have a chance.
So take the initiative yourself, begin the revolution and leave your car increasingly at home.
You are not just going from ‘A to B’ by a different means, you are making a statement. There will be problems to overcome but stay determined.
When you find trees obscuring your view as you try to cross a road, or trees obscuring street lighting where you need to see and be seen, complain.
When hedges are growing out over a pavement where you are walking, complain.
When people park their cars on pavements where you need to walk, complain.
When A-Boards, advertising and other unnecessary street furniture inhibits your path, complain.
If you are a bus user, a train user or a pedestrian or a cyclist and things are not as they should be, complain.
The green army is a growing army.
You won’t be complaining on your own.
Begin the revolution of change in this most unlikely of places, the car capital of Europe and watch the timid politicians suddenly become green.
In stark contrast to them, you will be demonstrating courage and determination to do the right thing.
I know it is a big ask, but everything is down to you as a person.
If a place like Stockport can ditch the car, humanity might just have a chance. John Tyers Marple