JOHN CRAWFORD
JOHN trained at Saltcoats Burgh in the late 60s. After a decade he moved to PD Beatwaste Ltd/ Wimpey Waste Management Ltd. He then joined the Civil Engineering Dept at Strathclyde University before posts at Renfrew, Hamilton, Inverness and
East Ayrshire Councils. A Fellow of CIWM, he served on their Scottish Centre Council from 1988-2009. He is a Fellow of the Royal Environmental Health Institute of Scotland and was their President between 1991-92.
Regarding Greta...?
THE only time I dogged off school was to watch the World Cup qualifier in the autumn of 1965. Scotland had either to draw or beat Italy to get to the 1966 finals. It was an afternoon match and we all went to the home of a classmate whose parents were at work.
I won’t dwell on the result but the next day our form teacher said we’d need to bring in notes from our parents to explain our absence. All sorts of excuses, from “attending a granny’s funeral in the Western Isles” to “having to take the dog to the vet” were put forward in the next few days. My father would have none of it, however. “I’m not telling lies to get you out of a hole you dug yourself,’ he said, ‘so just own up and take the consequences.” And I did - to be told “you’re the only honest pupil in this class!”
And that’s why I have a problem with those parents who condone their offspring bunking off school to ‘protest’ about not enough being done to protect the planet, egged on by Greta Thunberg who has been grandstanding on the world’s stages recently. Not that
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I underestimate the value of engaging with scholars: I spent many years working with Keep Scotland Beautiful trying to educate school pupils in better litter behaviour. We made excellent progress in the primary schools but when they went into secondary schools, their attitudes changed; it’s ironic that secondary school pupils are one of the biggest cohorts responsible for our appalling attitude to litter in the UK. Just visit your local secondary school gates at lunchtime to see what I’m talking about.
Most of these latest ‘protests’ are co- ordinated on social media using mobile phones, tablets and laptops that are gobbling up some of the scarcest mineral resources on the planet. The number of mobile phones sold (and discarded) every year world-wide is frightening yet nobody seems to be able to get this through to the protesters, or the fact that most of them are driven to school and jet off abroad for their holidays.
I’d have a lot more time for Greta’s crusade if she were to encourage her teenage supporters to be realistic, put their money where their mouths are and:
• rummage through the bins at home to ensure that every bit of recyclate has been separated out and stored properly;
• make sure their families are using all the apps their council has provided to maximise waste minimisation and recycling;
• use social media to highlight good practice such as re-using beverage containers and using ‘real’ nappies rather than disposables;
• organise walking trains to and from school rather than be driven; and
• stop dropping litter indiscriminately and organise a daily clean-up at the school gates when the lunch break ends.
These are all mundane acts, but would achieve far more respect, impact and attention rather than simply disrupting the daily lives of others.
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