Source more goods locally to solve HGV and farming crisis – Yorkshire Post Letters

IF there is a shortage of truck drivers, it is not apparent from the density of traffic on our motorways.

‘Out of touch’ Boris Johnson accused of ignoring the plight of pig farmers

National policy for many years has been to source goods from the furthest part of Europe, if not from a far distant corner of the planet. This suggests that present measures to defeat global warming are in many cases an example of gesture politics rather than a serious attempt to reduce our carbon dioxide production.

Petrol crisis is wake-up call on skills policy – The Yorkshire Post says

The time has come for government to think of giving some serious incentives to businesses to source goods locally and where possible to employ staff from the area local to their work.

This change cannot be made overnight but would be one way to help with the climate problem and, at the same time, make our cities more pleasant and healthy places to live.

From: Hilary Andrews, Nursery Lane, Leeds.

HOW I agree with David Behrens (The Yorkshire Post, October 2) that we are becoming a nation that has frightened ourselves. This is largely driven by political groups who think only of their interests.

We have to stop panicking and take some responsibility for our situation. Don’t buy petrol unless you really need it, save as much gas/electricity as you can (a jumper helps keep you warm), encourage the unvaccinated to do their bit for society, get farmers skilled to butcher their animals as was the norm. We are a great nation but we must buck our ideas up and start thinking of how to solve problems instead of frightening ourselves.

From: Clark Cross, Springfield Road, Linlithgow.

CHINA is playing us for fools. It has 1,000 coal-fired power stations and they consume half of the world’s coal consumption.

Burning coal in power plants is dirty, but China is making oil from coal which is far worse since it can double the amount of CO2 pumped into the atmosphere.

President Xi Jinping claimed last year that although Chinese emissions would keep rising until 2030, they would then reach a peak and decline, eventually reaching net zero by 2060 but refused to give details on how this will be achieved.

Even more incredible is that China is eligible for the largest slice of the $100bn a year Climate Fund paid by Western nations’ taxpayers. No details should mean no slice of the climate cake and no COP26.

From: Coun Nigel Boddy (Lib Dem), Darlington.

DURING the latest fuel crisis, I noticed that garages which run out of fuel, are running out of diesel first. Some don’t even run out of petrol at all.

We used to have a biodiesel industry making diesel from cooking oil. I believe the industry went out of business when John Prescott slapped the same level of duty on biodiesel as diesel.

Used cooking oil is frequently poured down the drain now. If that duty on biodiesel could be removed or even just halved, would we have local suppliers of diesel on hand to avoid this kind of crisis in future?

From: Alan German, Station Road, Sutton, Retford.

GIVEN all the anxiety about future energy supplies, would it not be sensible to make the inclusion of solar panels mandatory on all suitable future buildings?

Designed into the architecture of a building, solar panels look much more acceptable than after-market bolt-ons.

With increased demand, economies of scale would reduce prices and increase jobs, and a government wanting to see many thousands of houses built provides a huge opportunity.

From: Peter Hyde, Driffield.

HOARDERS are the bane of life. Those idiots who waste petrol driving around searching for more, and those who stock up on toilet paper when it was thought there would be a shortage, aggravate the problem for others with their greed and selfishness.

If they would adopt an attitude of giving instead of grabbing, all would be well.

From: Nick Martinek, Briarlyn Road, Huddersfield.

ISN’T it ironic that the people who demand we “insulate Britain” against the cold, do so because they think there will be catastrophic global climate heating?

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