Sustainability.
We hear it a lot - we should all be living green, recycling everything we can, car-pooling, using buses instead of driving, even installing solar panels and installing ground-source heating, etc etc. It's all to reduce carbon emissions and try to offset the damage we're causing - every single day - to the environment.
In reality, however, it's a lot harder than it sounds. We can't always afford it. Maybe public transport in our areas is unreliable and inefficient - and expensive. I know if I was to take public transport in and out of University instead of driving, I'd need to take a train then a bus. Not only would this take much longer, but it's a lot more expensive; sure, I have to pay for petrol... maybe £20 a week (though this includes commuting to a part-time job as well) - but the train part alone would cost at least £3 due to peak travel times. And I'd still need to drive to and from work - I often finish later than 11pm. The last train is at five minutes to 11, and there are no buses after half past 6. "So get a taxi", I hear you say. Well, it costs £10 for a taxi from Norwich to my village. Which is just under two hours' wage at minimum wage.
And that's actually a key point to sustainability. We can't always afford it. Sure, the vast majority of us would love to go green - if not just for the moral high ground - but we're so price-conscious, especially in the wake of the recession, that it's the cheaper stuff that wins out. When we shop, we tend to buy produce that's cheap over food that's obtained locally and organically.
It's convenience too. If public transport was quicker and more efficient (as well as cheaper), then of course I'd choose it over driving. But if I chose it as it is now - well, I'd probably have to leave my house at 7am to guarantee making it to campus on time.
I'd happily buy a house, install solar panels and ground-source heat pumps, plant acres and acres of trees, use public transport wherever I went, and only buy organic, local produce,
I just can't afford to.
