• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer
  • Home
  • About
  • Background
  • My Other Sites
    • Life in the Right Direction
    • Peter Whiting At Home (and elsewhere)
    • FabHappy
  • Contact
    • Email me

Use 10 Percent Less

All things must change when the consumer changes

  • Less Pollution
  • Less Waste
  • Recycling
  • Less Fossil Fuels
  • Climate Change
  • Nature
  • Societal Change

trains

Concerns about HS2

March 4, 2020 by Peter 2 Comments

The new high-speed rail link in England, HS2, has recently been given the go ahead by politicians. For some reason I feel deep concerns about HS2, and I thought I’d better investigate it properly. Even though trains are a less polluting way to travel than cars or airplanes, the new rail line will cut a new swathe through the English countryside and contribute even to more to the continuing destruction of natural environments that we can’t afford. When I have concerns about HS2, I keep hearing Satish Kumar’s call to “tread lightly” on the Earth and I believe this is a goal we must pursue with conviction.

In the spirit of “Use 10 Percent Less”, you could say that building new train links would be a good thing overall as these might lead to less road transport. But then we can also ask, do we really need a train that can move 1,100 people at a time between Manchester and London in 45 minutes? It would actually be better if we could devise ways that reduced the need for people to travel so much. We’ll also see below that the HS2 project does not stack up well on environmental grounds.

I’m concerned that HS2 is going ahead for two main reasons, (1) politicians need a highly visible project to demonstrate their commitment to people in the north of England (to help ensure being re-elected, even though the money could be well spent upgrading transport services along existing routes with little additional damage to the environment), and (2) pressure from the construction sector to keep a high value project alive with the threat of losing jobs (some companies are going to make a lot of money out of HS2).

In reality, of all the concerns about HS2, we should be first examining its effect on our environment. [Read more…] about Concerns about HS2

Filed Under: Less Pollution Tagged With: CO2, environment, forests, planes, sustainability, trains, trees

Primary Sidebar

  • Facebook
  • RSS

Check your inbox or spam folder to confirm your subscription.

Hi, I'm Peter Whiting. I believe if we just started consuming 10 percent less stuff, we could set the world on a much better path. And 10 percent isn't that much...

Recent Posts

  • Rescuing old paint
  • Nanabozho was fishing
  • Climate Change – what can we do?
  • Useless emissions, for what?
  • Drink water to reduce CO2 emissions?
  • Olio – using less by sharing
  • Renewable isn’t always good
  • The Power of Less – from Good Energy
  • Fairphone – a better phone option?
  • Buy local to reduce emissions
  • Anything but Plastic – it’s good to use less
  • Shaving without plastic
  • Extinction of convenience
  • They need us more than we need them
  • Plastic, pollution and the coronavirus
  • Concerns about HS2
  • Just don’t waste – Sir David Attenborough
  • Disposable Batteries – what a waste!
  • 250 potatoes
  • UK Climate Debate and Pollution

Recent Comments

  • S. E. on It’s Not all Rose Gold Straws and The Perfect Pantry
  • S. E. on Olio – using less by sharing
  • Lockdown and Private Jets - Peter Whiting at Home (and elsewhere) on Plane Pollution – a huge problem
  • Anand M on Climate Change – what can we do?
  • SimonR on Climate Change – what can we do?

Categories

  • Climate Change
  • Less Fossil Fuels
  • Less Pollution
  • Less Waste
  • Nature
  • Recycling
  • Societal Change
  • Uncategorized

Footer

  • Home
  • About
  • Background
  • My Other Sites
    • Life in the Right Direction
    • Peter Whiting At Home (and elsewhere)
    • FabHappy
  • Contact
    • Email me

Categories

  • Climate Change
  • Less Fossil Fuels
  • Less Pollution
  • Less Waste
  • Nature
  • Recycling
  • Societal Change
  • Uncategorized

Tags

air travel alcohol Arundhati Roy battery biomass BP butterflies climate change climate justice CO2 consumerism coronavirus dental floss economy environment farming fish forests fossil fuels Greenpeace HS2 logging meat mining nylon overconsumption packaging paper pesticides planes plastic razor renewable energy shale gas sharing soap solar sustainability toothbrush trains trees water

Archives

Check your inbox or spam folder to confirm your subscription.

Search

Copyright © 2025 - FabHappy Limited