With the axing of 'Sustainable Development' by our new Premier in favor of SDO's destined to destroy what little natural preserves of Bermudian landscape we have left, our Premier's great new solution is to promote 'recycling'.
Mr. Premier, no offense, but would you get with the times? Recycling is years old and should have been heavily promoted during the entire time the PLP has been in power. It is great to know that we're getting a fancy new recyling plant but more needs to be done to encourage Bermudians to do more then just recycle but also be green friendly.
Has any thought been giving to invoking a deposit plan on recyclable materials by placing a tax on cans, bottles and other recycleable items that can be redeemed when they're returned to the recycling depot? How about encouraging local grocery stores to promote the use of reuseable containers as opposed to the horrendous amounts of paper bags we go through? I do recall a similar initative years ago promoting the use of reuseable bags though it is unknown what happened to it or why it stopped.
Could we be doing more to encourage energy savings? Recently I replaced most of the lightbulbs in my house with florescents in an attempt to not only cut my energy bills but do my part to cut back on energy consumption. Has government considered a ban on incandescent bulbs as a means to promote energy savings Bermuda wide as has been done in Australia and California?
A vaste majority of our water supply comes from rainwater that we do our part in polluting. It would be tremendous to see more initiatives towards decreasing polution levels from vehicles and smokestacks. One such concept would be to introduce yearly emissions testing to go alongside regular TCD testing and an revision of the licensing system to tax based upon emission levels rather then vehicle sizes. This would do a better job of encouraging people to purchase new vehicles then the proposed elimination of used cars.
A whole host of other suggestions on how you individually can help contribute to fighting global warming can be found on the 50 things you can do to stop global warming list which I'd encourage all to visit and consider.
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