Well done France!

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France to ban heated terraces in cafes and bars.

At last, a state has put an end to this pointless and environmentally absurd practice. Hopefully, others will follow. There is no cogent argument not to.

Logically, the heaters themselves should be banned for domestic use as well. As with all environmental considerations, steps to prevent things getting worse should be implemented before spending money on eco-friendly anything.

A good example of doing it the other way around are friends of mine, one of whom is a board member of an environmental foundation with the word ā€˜Conservationā€™ in its title. One of the founders of this outfit was environmental consultant to a former Archbish of Cantā€™y.

Her o/h is a tree man and fancies himself right up there, eco-wise. Quote, on returning from a long trip round S. America, ā€œI suppose it will be unacceptable to buy an airline ticket nowā€. Their airmiles have rocketed since, not least their regular trips to their properties in Eire.

They were think of putting a windmill on their house, at the western end of Holland Park Ave. W11.

But they have no TRVs on their rads. They refuse to contemplate a shower over their vast bath ā€œbecause I like the bathroom the way it is nowā€.

The thermostat on their boiler is now +/- 40 years old. It sticks on when on and off when off. I offered a programmable digital one for free - fitting about Ā£30 - but this offer was allowed to drift into the weeds.

Their gas stove is the first stove his mother had, when married, circa 1946. It leaks gas. A plumber, who declared it unsafe, was persuaded to fit a tap to the gas feed pipe.

They vote Green Party.

I could go on.

There is an amazing amount of not-joined-up-thinking amongst gung-ho eco types.

My other beef is jet-skis. I was plagued by these pointless articles when proprietor of a boatyard on the river Tamar. They should be banned except for close inshore rescue.

Lewis Hamilton has gone vegan because he believes it is the right eco thing to do. But in normal times you will see footage of him slashing about the harbour on a jet-ski, at Monaco GP time.

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Absolutely outside space heaters should be banned, along with jet skis and formula 1.

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They will get over it. Maybe installing smoke sheds for those who canā€™t get through a meal without lighting up.

Jet skis are a menace. Terrifying for swimmers. But if they couldnā€™t be mass produced they probably wouldnā€™t exist, or if they did they would be unaffordable for lifesaving organizations.

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Sheds? :thinking:. Not much space for sheds along the boulevards of Paris and elsewhere. To misquote J. Lennon, ā€œwhy donā€™t they do it in the road?ā€

As for jet-skis, despite the fancy-Dan look of the things, they are very simple technology. A motor drives pumps which squirt water at high speed out of its rear orifices. Essentially the same tech as a portable fire pump or a pressure washer.

And commenting on Jane Joneā€™s note below, I saw this in Copenhagen. I was strolling around the waterside with my Danish friend, who had shared my house in Brsl.

ā€œJorgen, we know that within minutes of blankets being put out in Brsl, theyā€™d all have been nickedā€¦ā€

That Uber delivery biz is bad news. Like my pal who contemplated spending thousands on a windmill but has no TRVs on his rads and refuses to install a shower - but votes Green.

While Iā€™m having an eco-rant - iced water in winter! The Americans seem addicted to ice cubes. I read of a US family who went home from a UK house swap because the fridge did not dispense endless ice-cubes. Every motel Iā€™ve ever stayed in, from LA to Miami, has ice machines on every floor.

Driving north from Williams, AZ [elv 2062m] to the south rim of the Gnd Canyon, I stopped at a diner. It was icy cold. Snow lay in hollows. As I sat down at the counter a large glass of crushed ice was put in front of me and topped up with water. I didnā€™t ask for it and I didnā€™t want it. It sat there. When I left, the waitress threw the lot into the sink. This business with iced water happens millions of times a day in the US. It takes a lot of energy to produce ice - the ice America uses in its bars, cafes and homes. :confused:

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I went to Malmo a few times in winter and spent many an enjoyable evening on terraces wrapped in wooly blankets provided by the bar/restaurant/cafƩ.

My latest hypocrisy is my niece (tut tut) who has her vegan meals delivered by Uberā€¦

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We all do it. We decide what we want, then find reasons to justify our actions.

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The last time I went to Munich the streets had become ashtrays due to non-smoking inside restaurants and bars.
Disgusting.

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True, Mike. But itā€™s particularly galling when the person in question has manifest pretentions to be a card-carrying, placard waving ā€˜greenā€™ - sweating the little stuff to the point of neurosis - while actually, as you say, doing what suits them more or less regardless.

Or ignoring the standard steps anyone can take to make their home more eco on the basis of not disturbing the decor - or sheer indifference.

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Itā€™s on the list.
Getting around to it.
Exploring the options.
Not so simple as it appears.
Be dead before it has paid for itself.

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Smokers donā€™t regard fag ends or the wrappers of packets as litter. On the street, out of car windows ā€¦ they all do it all the time.

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We took the view that when we were renovating our house here it was the right thing to do to install the geothermal heat pump and solar panels. Expensive, but it is part of our contribution.

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They can still cause a nasty accident!
My brother has witnessed many jet ski accidents, from is sitting room. Most week ends one of the emergency services would attend an incident, most of the week now due to furloughs and free time. Plus places like Brighton and Southend now charge the jet skiers and take their details, needless to say many people now go to Kent as they do not chargeā€¦yet. I can never understand why a lot of JSā€™s insist on zipping about close to the beach, to showboat in front of the crowd :thinking: :crazy_face:

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But before that it was skiers behind a boat.
Once in Maldon, Essex, we watched one of those in action. The girlfriend was driving the boat, sitting on the gunwale so she could see ahead and also keep an eye on the skier. Unfortunately she hit a small wave caused by a passing motorboat and fell overboard, backwards. The boat continued to motor in tight circles. The skier took the only sensible option and let go. The boat continued down river with the tide, past the anchorage. A dozen yachtsmen abandoned their G & Ts in the clubhouse to move their boats to safer moorings. The rogue tow boat finally ran out of fuel. All harmless fun!
What became of the unfortunate couple? Nobody seemed to care!

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If the French government whold do something real for the environment the cold just go digital with all their paperwork Iā€™m still astonish how much pappers they send out for everything I donā€™t think any country has this much Papper work the whole save so much petrol and forests if The went digital Itā€™s ridiculous just getting digital signatures like allot of modern countryā€™s today have

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Going digital does not avoid environmental impacts. Itā€™s actually pretty high too. And thatā€™s before you factor in the impact of the kit itself - much of which has a short life and is poorly reccyled.

The mantra is reduce, reuse, recycleā€¦so step one should be to minimise transactions not just swap from paper to digital.

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Paper is of course recycle but I never recycle paperwork I get from the government I donā€™t think any one does that allot of the information is sensitive

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@Bajen Have you considered just tearing off the part that has your name and address on it and then recycling the rest ?

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I donā€™t now Howe it is where you live but here ther is no paper recycle around here so all the paper goes with the rest of peopleā€™s trash

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I must admit that I thought everywhere in France had special paper recycling collection points these days.

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Thereā€™s a problem there, for the user. The OSā€™s and other s/ware ā€˜improvesā€™, so the h/ware improves in order to make best use - or even run it at all. This means that h/ware a couple of generations old can now no longer run the OS/software.

A friend of mine in graphic design was stuck on a treadmill of upgrading very expensive top of the line Apple h/ware because the graphics software he used was developed at a blistering rate. Graphics and film/video editing were/are a niche market for Apple, at premium prices.

To maintain his professional standard he simply had to have the latest versions of the s/ware which meant eyewatering expense upgrading the h/ware to run it.

Because IT tech and software are such young technologies, this process of redundancy/turnover is very rapid. I remember walking my dog one evening in the park behind The Ham and High newpaper building, London NW3. All the lights were on, as usual - 4-5 stories-worth. On every desk was a Dell cardboard box ā€¦

The laptop I use to write this and do my photo editing and everything else had a life as a corporate road-warriorā€™s kit. Itā€™s built to military specs, powerful chips [at the time] - a first class machine. Then, presumably, itā€™s user was issued with a new, improved model and this one made its way to a company that sells on ex-corporate IT h/ware.

I need another laptop to replace the useless bit of junk I bought new, as a travelling laptop. I will go back to the company I bought this one from and buy another of their excellent ex-corporate machines.

A desktop I owned that would no longer run the latest version of Windows, years ago, went to people who were sending redundant IT kit to Africa. A powerful 17" Dell laptop - 10 years old - will go to a pal - 89 years old - to watch music on YT.

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