Environment v quality of life

Unfortunately the economic facts speak for themself. London and the South East account for about 40%  of the UK economy. Yorkshire,Humber and the North East account for less than 10% The whole point of having modern train infrastructure is to try and spread that economic benefit further north. That is not to say that making improvement to the northern rail network is not also essential to maximise the benefits of the HS2 project. Now we live in interesting times and it is possible that parts of HS2 will be cancelled. My guess would be that it will be the northern elements of the project that will fall and the London to Birmingham section will be built as some elements are well advanced. If my scenario is correct how does that benefit the north? It is often thought that London and the South East have the monopoly of infrastructure products but in the nineties the Tyne and Wear Metro was the largest transport infrastructure in the Country. 

Tree felling on the HS2 route has now been delayed and the Woodland Trust are running a petition to save the trees, I think this involves over a 100 areas of ancient woodland etc. The delays hopefully mean the project is faltering? 

Practically every so called politician in the current lime light I can think of, some more than others mind! Not mentioning any names but I could trump any put forward by others with my choice I reckon!

Surely the Politicians are only responsible for their own attitude to ‘saving the planet’ they can’t really make it illegal not to take every measure to help the planet heal🤷🏻‍♂️

Legalities are pretty much political constructs, R2Bs. Morals, honesty and scruples are far more important attributes in my eyes. My point is that quite a few big players in the 'earth end game' have few of these!

They don’t control all Humans, it’s down to individuals to act. To pop at the Govts & leaders is pointless as President Trump proved its meaningless by blanking Greta Thunberg. She needs to just do her thing not attack those who don’t care.

Things can and do change, history proves the mighty and seemingly untouchables can fall, sometimes by the actions of mere 'ordinary' folk or the likes of Greta. If anything she needs to up her game and keep the heat on those that don't care. She will need to carry the weight of the masses with her mind, that's the challenge . She's got me!

Corner steady
Personally there is only so much any individual can make do.
Though the personal argument is used by those that want to do nothing, but expect others to do something
The issue is that great, that any actions taken at a  minimum needs to be national government lead, so everyone has to do it, not just those that care 

I’ve just stumbled on this old post, which might enjoy a new perspective now that we’ve experienced lockdown.

If there’s one thing that working from home has taught us, it’s that a large proportion of travel (I’ve not said ALL) could be reduced through sensible use of technology. Was/ is HS2 as vital as once cited, were  our A14 traffic congestion gantries costing £1m each necessary in an era where phones and Sat Navs bring better capability Into your own car. Did we need to spend so much time polluting the atmosphere with our cars, is a bit less pace Inefficient? How impossible would it be to introduce a Swiss style recycling system where waste bags are expensive and small, creating a culture of compaction and selective disposal.

Speaking personally, I’ve found that lower traffic noise, cleaner air, less frequent shopping and a bit more gardening have all been life improving. Lockdown may not have reduced bovine methane creation, nor saved the Amazon rainforests from the joint threats of cattle farming and soya bean growing, but it’s helping to reduce CO2 creation, which can’t be a bad thing.

JennyC

It depends I suppose on whether companies see the benefit of lots of the things that have been learnt over the COVID period. My eldest son has been working at home since the start of lockdown. He has the sort of job that can be done from home but there are elements of the work that need consultations with colleagues which is currently being done online. Another part of his work involves site visits which of course haven't taken place during lockdown and again the internet has come into play. He thinks it has not unnoticed by clients that they are no longer being charged for two people to travel 50 miles each way to attend a site meeting and if it can be done over internet during COVID why does it need to revert to spending the best part of a day driving and holding a meeting when as much can be achieved via a video link in an hour probably? It won't stop site visits completely. If home working is seen not to have a negative impact on productivity or perhaps more positively seen to increase productivity then perhaps companies will recognise the benefit. The positives from that is that smaller offices will be needed, employees will only need to commute for a day or two a week. Will it be necessary to have your HQ in London? So all sorts of things could come from this. But we will still need good transport communications.

David