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Using resources more efficiently
I'm not a great follower of the Westminster political scene but a group of MPs has come to my attention. The Conservative 2020 Group of MPs has produced a 2014 report called 'Sweating our assets'. Their 2020 Productivity and Efficiency Commission argues that Gross Domestic Product (GDP) is an inefficient measure of a nation's productivity (can't argue with that!). They want to replace it with resource productivity as a measure of the country's success i.e. use a metric based on how efficiently we use resources and minimise waste, music to the ears of those of us who worry about the sustainability of our present manufacturing systems. I very much doubt these MPs would brand themselves as environmentalists but there is clearly common ground here.
The Department for Environment, Food, and Rural Affairs (Defra) points out that £23bn is being wasted every year through inefficient use of energy, water, and materials. Terry Scuoler, chief executive of manufacturers' organisation EEF, agrees: "There is a growing body of evidence that suggests we can vastly improve the competitiveness of UK industry if we adopt new ways in using our resources."
This group of MPS is focussed on profitability and economic success but they are arguing from an environmental position. They recognise that too much is going to landfill and claim £2.5 billion of value could be generated by reusing materials. It is good to see Conservative MPs pointing out that the economy and the environment needn't be at 'opposite ends of a see-saw'.
While expressing themselves concerned about price volatility of resources and market vulnerability to short supply, these are also good arguments to employ to ensure that if we are to exploit the environment to sustain our lifestyles, at least let us try and do so as efficiently (i.e. least damaging a way) as possible. It may seem like supping with the devil but while we all consume goods, let us try to minimise the impacts of that consumption. If Conservative MPs, while trying to boost the UKs economy suddenly realise that 'the economy is a wholly owned subsidiary of ecology', then so much the better.
It is good to see an acknowledgement from the political establishment that the world's resources are not finite. A circular resource economy, rather than the linear throughput model of the image in this
story, has got to be the way to go for sustainability.
This is just one of the stories from my environmental talks
