Your ethical feedback (3)

Page 1 | 2 | 3

Send your comments

Being ethical is about decisions - the ethical decision is the one you believe to be right on the evidence Matt

Plant things, eat vegan and go to bed with the sun.
Tyler Durden, Birmingham

Being ethical is about decisions. Should you fly to a country reliant on tourism and buy fair trade products from half way round the world, or buy local and stop flying? The ethical decision is the one you believe to be right on the evidence. To be asking yourself, this is half the battle. If you do ask this then you have succeeded in being responsible for your actions. On the environmental side we should all follow the ideal of reduce, re-use (or share), re-cycle.
Matt, Telford

Have you looked into rainwater harvesting? This is a process where rainwater is collected from the roof of your house, stored in an underground tank and used for non-potable (toilet flushing, car washing, washing machine, garden watering) uses. It can save around 50% of mains water. It also has a double saving in the environment. The first is that the water does not have to be treated, and secondly it does not have to be transported. Up to 95% of the mains water (treated, potable water) is used for non-potable activities. In theory all of this supply could come from recycled rainwater.
Jane Laurie, Leicester

I wonder if Justin's investigations could shed some light on the question of how long I should leave a room empty for before it becomes more eco-friendly to have switched off my energy efficient light bulb? Greg

Looks like you're doing well. However, ethics is not just about global warming. I have a question regarding travel. Although as far as climate change is concerned, reducing long distance travel is an excellent goal, I would like to know your views, and that of your other viewers, about ethical tourism. For example, if we in the west would like South American countries to stop clear-felling rainforest to grow beef, is there an ethical obligation to support tourism in those countries as a viable economic alternative? Which then means a long haul flight to Brazil or other Amazonian region? How do we resolve that problem? Personally, living in Australia - where long distance travel is a constant issue (especially as my friends and family all live in Europe or the USA) - this is a regular ethical debate in our household. But I honestly believe that it is better in the long run for people to continue to interact with other cultures, to actively support communities in other countries and to venture beyond their immediate locale than to retreat into localised isolation from the world. And your sister is right about the kids thing.
Lisa Richards, Melbourne, Australia

Major changes can be introduced without normal people having to make unlikely changes Edward

I wonder if Justin's investigations could shed some light on the question of how long I should leave a room empty for before it becomes more eco-friendly to have switched off my energy efficient light bulb than to have left it on? Apart from the energy needed to power the bulb, the effect of switching on and off on the bulb's lifetime and the energy consumed in its manufacture are both factors. Are my dutiful flicks misplaced?
Greg, Surrey

When we see the traffic wardens we tell them how lucky we are that we cannot afford to buy or run a car, so we walk everywhere. In WW2 people were advised never to let their bathwater exceed five inches, so that is what we do now. Unfortunately, we do not have a shower. We keep the central heating as low as we can and do not have heating turned in the bedrooms at night. We are saving to have solar power installed in our roof. We are lucky as we never felt the urge to smoke cigarettes. We do not have pets as we do not think it would be fair to have them in a small, terraced house.
Barbara MacArthur, Cardiff

What you foster now your kids will learn and copy - they are the solution Anthony Brown

I was interested in your article. I feel I live a pretty ethical life style. But I'm not all the way there. One thing I recently added is the way I use my car and public transport. I've recently given up on public transport and cycle instead. Newcastle's fairly small, but no one does it. I have saved a fortune - like you I still have a car, which I hardly use, but it's hard to loose it after 12 years all in one go! But since I stopped using it for work (only three and a half miles - there is no regular public transport for this popular journey) I feel great! At first I thought I was going to die, but it's got better and now I use it for all my journeys. Everyone thinks I'm mad, but once you do it it's great! Good luck!
Michelle Cassar, Newcastle upon Tyne

I do wonder how serious this all is. I feel suspicious of the "devilishly difficult" aim. You've been given a few such tasks here. These might make amusing telly. But how realistic are they for the rest of us? Can I suggest that a harder and more serious challenge is this: how can we all realistically adjust our lifestyles to minimise the damage to our environment - both global and local. Well it might be easier than you think. Here's one: conservation. There are various schemes waiting in the wings which could dramatically reduce our consumption of energy and other resources - without the need to reduce our current usage. Here's another: bio fuel. People can keep on driving but use "carbon neutral" bio diesel. This stuff can be used by a normal diesel car without need for modification. And the US Air Force have reportedly produced bio jet fuel that performs better than the current stuff. My point is major changes can be introduced without normal people having to make unlikely changes.
Edward, London

1. Buy a bike and bike trailer - you will probably find that your supermarket shop will be a touch quicker; take your recycling at the same time. The added bonus is that you will not have to waste time cycling to nowhere in the gym. 2. Get a diesel car and convert it to run on vegi oil, get friendly with your local chip shop and reuse their old fat, (watch out for iodine). Forget hybrids they are a waste of time and not much more efficient than smaller diesels on a combined cycle. Only use this car for journeys over five miles when public transport is not an option. Try to make a journey fulfill several purposes. 3. Grow your own vegetables. 4. Install a water butt. 5. Choose items with less packaging and lobby your supermarket to use less or no plastic. 6. Keep it digital - don't print stuff unless absolutely necessary. Use a laptop to refer to notes. If you have to then use both sides of paper, and no post it notes. 7. Refill ink cartridges. 8. What you foster now your kids will learn and copy - they are the solution; make it part of their lives and they will continue to live sustainably.
Anthony Brown, Swindon

Think about the impact of all your actions on other people and the natural world Ben Jefferys

Becoming an ethical man is not about running down a shopping list of actions and ticking each one off. I would argue it starts primarily with how you think - and the individual actions that spring from that. The individual tasks can become drudgery if there's no vision to back them up. I would suggest you think a lot about how you want society to be and then adopt actions that would bring that society about. This might encourage you to think of society first and yourself second which is at the heart of being ethical.
Peter Clutton-Brock, Cambridge

Don't be so stingy about the "payback" period for insulating your house. You'll be more comfortable anyway, and with gas prices rising 25%, that break-even date is getting closer at an alarming rate.
Mike Peatman, Lancaster

Get rid of your car and cycle everywhere. When you need a car, hire one. There are short-term car sharing schemes all over London, too. This will make you more aware of the real cost of each journey in a car, rather than paying it all up front and then using it as much as possible to get "value for money". Think about the products you buy. If you hear about a company or country acting in a way with which you disagree, boycott their products. If you like what a company is doing, buy their products preferentially. Make up your own mind about what you boycott - it doesn't matter that other people aren't doing the same. You'll have the peace of mind of knowing that you're not contributing to something which you don't like. Assess the distance travelled by goods and try to buy as local as possible. If this means going without bananas or pineapples, so be it. In general, think about the impact of all your actions on other people and the natural world.
Ben Jefferys, London

---

The ethical man
BBC Newsnight
Room G680
Television Centre
Wood Lane
London W12 7RJ

Please tell us if you do not wish us to publish your e-mail.

Terms & Conditions