• Question: if we need to cut down emissions and global warming why don't the government pass a law about it?

    Asked by to Daren, Lynne, Phillip, Simon on 18 Jun 2014. This question was also asked by .
    • Photo: Lynne Thomas

      Lynne Thomas answered on 18 Jun 2014:

      That is a really good question! The problem is that if we did pass a law on it, it would significantly affect people’s lives. People like the idea of looking after the planet but would you really want to give up on using your car? Or stop going on holidays overseas because of the environmental impact of flying? We also would find that a lot of our industry would break down and the cost of things would increase a lot. So whilst it is a really important thing that we should be doing, we all have to be prepared to make sacrifices and I’m not sure we’re ready to do that yet. People won’t vote for people who make it more expensive for them to live their lives unfortunately.

    • Photo: anon

      anon answered on 18 Jun 2014:

      Any government who passed really strict rules would become very unpopular and wouldn’t get voted back in again! Small laws get introduced every so often so people don’t notice!
      The American government have also released targets for scientists to aim for in making energy cleaner.

    • Photo: Daren Fearon

      Daren Fearon answered on 18 Jun 2014:

      Good question, maybe worth asking the politicians? Politicians are guilty of not always following scientific advice and even cherry picking data to support their ideas rather than what has been proven.

      Like Lynne and Jenny pointed out, politicians are reluctant to do anything that would make them unpopular and cost themselves votes. Maybe rather than banning things we could use incentives to encourage people to cut down on their emissions? More carrot and less stick as they say.

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