Why can’t we clean up our act? Sunday Times Magazine, Sunday, 1st March, 2009.
The problems of the environment seem so far beyond our reach that we lurch from opinion to opinion and policy to policy with nothing to cling to save the thread of our shared concern. We believe the scaremongers, since nobody can be as gloomy as that without a reason. We believe the sceptics, since they offer hope, and remind us that the scaremongers have made an emotional investment in their gloom. And we watch as governments both exploit our anxieties and offer to assuage them. More windmills, more recycling, more carbon trading, more global treaties: huge solutions for huge problems, and all of them involving a vast increase in government power and a rough way with dissenters.
We are not reassured by this. History tells us that large-scale projects in the hands of bureaucrats soon cease to be accountable. And the same people who promise vast schemes for clean energy and reduced pollution promise vast schemes to expand airports, build roads and subsidise the motor industry. The fact is, when problems pass to governments, they pass out of our grasp. Our understanding was shaped by local needs, not global uncertainties: it is the product of day-to-day emergencies and conflicts, and its wisdom is the wisdom of survival. But there is a lesson in this for the environmentalists. No large-scale project will succeed if it is not rooted in our small-scale emotions.
One reader e-mailed with suggested way forward:
Dear, Prof Scruton. Can I reassure you that what is taking place along Hawlin Road in Rappahannock County, in which concerned citizens have dedicated themselves to clearing up litter, is being replicated in many areas across Great Britain. Your point about the government’s seemingly lack of response to this situation is profoundly, and unfortunately, true. I, and thousands of concerned people around the country are in accordance with your views, ( please see the CPRE website ). The problems you cite will only become insoluble if we, the people, allow it. Can I suggest – if you have not already done so – that you write to both your local and county councils complaining about the areas of litter that concerns you. If they do not respond, you have the legal right under Section 91 of the Environmental Protection Act ( 1990 ), to force them to keep land clear of litter and the highways clean. The Highways Agency are the duty body responsible for litter collection on English motorways. If these authorities do not comply after a reasonable period of time, you can then apply for a Litter Abatement Order from your local magistrates’ court. To my knowledge the current fees are as follows:
£25 for making the complaint.
£25 for issuing the summons.
£25 for the making of a litter abatement order.
We live in a beautiful country, and we all have an obligation to keep it clean. I’m sure, Prof Scruton, that your voice would have a resonant effect in this debate. Can I ask you to use your celebrity and literary skill in engaging your county council in keeping their county cleaner than they currently do. If we all endeavour to work towards this goal, then the problem will become solvable.
Thanks for the suggestions! A neighbor of mine, George Monck, who used to clear the layby at Cleverton with me (see my description in ‘News form Somewhere‘) has started a charity called Cleanup UK which is working with CPRE on the litter action project.
RS