A sunny weekend

Cotswold sunset, originally uploaded by CharlesFred.

Another quiet day here, stuck inside, not feeling 100% whilst the sun shines outside. Not that weekends mean all that much to me, given that I do not have a job, but there was a report stating that it is actually true that the weather on Saturdays and Sundays IS worse than the rest of the week and that Mondays and Tuesdays are more likely to be drier and sunnier. Apparently it has to do with the build up of particles in the atmosphere related to weekday activities, such as factories and cars and so on. It always FELT that this was the case, and now we have a study which has shown it to be correct!

It has been a mixed week for green issues, with the EU actually agreeing on some definite targets for reductions in carbon emissions by 2020, such targets being required, not optional. The only thing they seemed to have missed out on agreeing on is how much each country will have to reduce emissions for the EU to meet its total target. I expect the fun will be in agreeing this division.

In the meantime, the Conservative Party in the UK, let its plans for reducing carbon emisisons be leaked and we have an interesting set of proposals which include higher taxes on flights, but also the idea of there being an individual allowance regarding flights, whereby your first flight would be taxed at a low rate, such rate increasing with the more flights you take.

If such a system can be made to work, I think it is a great idea, whereby the principle is established that each person has their quota, whether rich or poor. It would be great if this idea could be spread around between countries as well. I am not sure if taxation is necessarily the right way to proceed thereafter, as it will always be the case that the better off can afford such taxation more than the least well off, but at least it is better than nothing, especially if the taxation can be put to use in developing and introducing cleaner forms of energy.

Again, the ensuing arguments about how we are going to become greener are very interesting. It is just to be hoped that we do not spend more time arguing and discussing various alternatives than actually doing something to reduce emissions.