"In the end, it needs to be a combination of the industry as a whole and the end users. We, as the consumer, need to put pressure on the corporations by not purchasing their products (and going with the competitor who is greener-even at a higher price). That will push the industry as a whole to say "Wait a minute. They're willing to pay a little bit more for my competitor because his product is more environmentally friendly." But, they need to realise that "environmentally friendly" doesn't just mean the product-it also means the process in which the product is made and distributed. Sacrificing the environment at the factory just to make a greener product isn't any better than a non-green product."
Patrick Dickey
"Regarding the choice of responsibility for greener production lines. The responsibility should rest with:
1. The industry that produces the future mess.
2. We should all be aware of our involvement.
3. The World's Governments should enforce this."
Elfed Dowler-Jones
"End users I think are the only way forward.
Government sees this as an opportunity to levy even more taxes.
I can't see any point in levying a tax that goes into the maw of government coffers and is not specifically targeted: run targeting up the flagpole and see how many parliamentarians find a reason for not doing it.
Allowing Greenpeace to think for you is a bit like becoming a Calvinist; all hair shirt and constipation.
The great ignored public have a much better grasp of the intricacies of global warming than they are given credit for they have fine tuned bullshit detectors.
They realise that most of the statements about CO2 production have to be evaluated for veracity and that science can be misrepresented by the great and the good because the point of a study and it's findings are subject to interpretation and do not necessarily support or deny a particular position.
I for one see the general behavior of governments to be cynical and self serving for example the notion of carbon credits is a nonsense; they are just another commodity to be traded on the stock exchange and meaningless.
The latest rash of coal fired power stations are pretty difficult to rationalise and the concept of nuclear power as an alternative is quite extraordinary given the cost and complexity of decommissioning the existing stations due to come off line.
Still I suppose instead of worrying about the lack of carbon fuels to bequeath to our grand children we can salve our consciences by leaving them an awful lot of nuclear waste.
My premise is that we, the people, have a better understanding of the problem and are disillusioned by the posturing of those who are trying claim the moral high ground: therefore the solution is with us."
Bernard Donovan
"The onus for producing green products must be on the manufacturers and they will be spurred on, hopefully, by government and consumer demand. The demand for ever greener products is increasing rapidly, not just in response to public calls but also because more Silicon Valley entrepreneurs have seen both ice floes melting, weather patterns changing and they welcome a new and green, challenge. Whatever the cause, we all must watch how we walk these days and reduce our carbon footprints."
Barry Hibbitt
"I think the end user should demand green technologies. These will forces the big company's to re think what they are doing.
First of all we should develop better biodegradable plastics. And use it in all our electrical devices; the life of a cell phone is usually only a few months and computers maybe only two years at most, that would be a start. The big company's would be in a dream world - just imagine how much they could charge us. The profits would be massive, but first they have to spend a little.
The biggest failing so far has been in laptop batteries. Not only are they completely inefficient but they are very hard to depose of - at most the best only last 12 months.
The hardest one to tackle is the components. Is it not time for the development of synthetic organic components? That way all our problems will be solved.
These problems will be sorted out by feed back from end users. Let the big boys start taking notice for a change...
Governments will follow when looking for votes. We are already bogged down by laws and regulation more would not have any effect! Except the mountains of paper
they use to publish the regulations. And that just is not green at all.
Greenpeace... They often say the right things, but they have been known for taking physical action. I can not support physical actions by anybody. It goes against the message of peace. How much paper work do they use to publish green issues? Re cycled or not its still comes from a tree."
William John Butler
"PS: I am just a normal everyday computer user and lover of technology. The more you make things greener the more people will use it in the knowledge that science can do good and dose not always destroy."
