Green is the new word in politics. How do people feel about the way poltitions are using enviromentle issues. Do you feel it's out of genuine concern for the enviorment of do you  think it's a tactic to win votes and they will forget once ellected, or do they have the green pound in their eyes? Disscuss
Sorry, been reading the newspaper again!
Lorna

I suppose there is a lot of band-wagon jumping, but as they are supposed to represent the country and in general, people are wakiing up to greener lifestyles, joining the green band wagon has to be a good thing, as long as they do live up to their promises.  I think it's about time our Government was bolder on green policies, like introducing a tax on carrier bags (or an outright ban).  In Ireland, this has been very effective in cutting litter and cloth and canvas bags are very easily available now, or you can make your own.  Most people would agree that this would be a good start, but I haven't heard any talk of it yet.  The supermarkets seem to be out-greening each other at the moment, but I wonder how honest they are and how much has really changed to promote local produce and cut the food mile - not a lot if the selection of apples is anything to go by.

I suppose I would encourage band-wagon jumping because it gets people talking and although politicians may try to be sneaky, they don't get away with much from other parties or the media.

I think most politicians will say anything to get in power, then once they are there it's a different story- they'll make the odd token gesture, but green issues are way down on their list of priorities. The trouble is, Governments only tend to think short term, i.e.  their own term in office up until the next election, and green issues are all about having a long term vision and foresight.  We lag behind Places like Finland in terms of environmental issues; does anyone know if Gordon Brown has  'green' credentials?  (I'm afraid I tend to avoid the news these days, I just think  reporting has become rather biased,  and don't appreciate the way 'mainstream' values are foisted upon us).

I'm in vouge!
:D

Lets hope the 'trend' towards keeping green issues in the media continues.
Any publicity etc,etc…?

They may be trendy to talk about and look grave over on the news, but I don't believe for one moment that any of the mainstream politicians would endanger their votes by implementing green policies which, unfortunately, will be unpopular with the majority of people because they mean thinking more, cutting back and generally abandoning the unthinking wasteful lifetsyle so many people regard as their right, no matter what consequences it has.
Or maybe I'm just overly cynical these days.  :-\

I often think about this, and my final thought ends up being - if the popularity of the green movement is encouraging more people to recycle, give up their cars and treat the earth with respect, that can't be a bad thing.

i think people have to start somewhere. i mean, most of us on here have not been green all our lives - we had to start being green at some point.
does that make us any better because we became more ecologically/environmentally aware before now? or should we be thankful that at last, people are waking up to what we are inflicting on the planet?