MAIN FEATURE
In the absence of being able to make a product or service completely ‘green’, can offsetting one’s carbon footprint really be a viable option?
Could SuDS implementations drive a greener agenda?
Much has changed in the world of sustainable drainage systems (SuDS) in the last few years and now housebuilders have to incorporate workable SuDS into every new development. With the increases in flood events, the role SuDS play is more important than ever and at its heart involves planting more trees and plants and improving landscaping to absorb water and constrain flooding. So, it could be argued that this is very much part of helping to ‘green’ the drainage industry. However, the reluctance by some, and the excuses made to avoid putting SuDS in at all, has highlighted how profit still remains central to many agendas. Stronger legislation is possibly still required. There are small pockets of people doing incredible things but then also a vast tranche of those who consider it ‘someone else’s problem’ further down or up the line.
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Offsetting?
In the absence of being able to make a product or service completely ‘green’ (so, zero carbon footprint, zero energy use other than renewable energy, zero rare earth materials, and so on), can offsetting one’s carbon footprint really be a viable option? It seems some are already doing this in a way by supporting worthy causes and donating to forests, etc. But is it enough? Can any of it ever really be enough? Probably not, unless we want to return to the stone age, with no transport, no manufacturing of any kind, no power use at all. Who in our first world could live like that these days, although so many in the third world are doing so because they have no choice? If global warming does the damage many predict it will, many more of us will either have to evacuate uninhabitable parts of the planet, or learn to adapt with maybe more primitive tools. Just look around you at all the gadgets you rely on daily,
| October 2023 |
www.draintraderltd.com
from your phone to your vehicle to your computer, work equipment, home comforts, TV, air conditioning, winter heating; all of these things. Imagine them gone. It’s a terrifying and sobering thought, but one which could increasingly become reality as the earth heats up. We are lucky to be alive today. We may not be so lucky to be alive in the not-too-distant future.
Many thanks to all who contributed towards this feature with valuable information, hard work to improve their carbon footprint and great images.
NEXT MONTHS MAIN FEATURE:
Contact Ian Clarke to get involved
ian@nodigmedia.co.uk
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