Mark Avery's blog

I'm the RSPB's Conservation Director. My aim with this blog will be to comment on matters of conservation importance and give you a few insights into the RSPB's conservation work - there's plenty to write about!  More...

Banking on the future

I hear on the radio this morning that you and I are giving the Royal Bank of Scotland another £25bn - that's £25,000,000,000. 

Or £400 each.  Or the average wage of about a million people.

A couple of years ago we didn't use to talk about billions except in terms of astronomical distances or the age of the universe - real physical things that were still mind blowing.  Now, hardly a day goes past without hearing that billions are going into this or that.

On the same radio programme I heard my old university chum, Simon Stuart, talking about the IUCN Red List - and how many species are heading for extinction on this badly-managed but still beautiful planet.  You really wouldn't want to be an amphibian - they are having a really tough time.  And about one in eight of the world's bird species is threatened with extinction.

Coming back to those £25bn of ours.  I do hope that the money will be well spent.  I hope it is providing funding for projects that make the world a better place and not ones which increase greenhouse gas emissions or habitat destruction.  If you want the same, then please sign the RSPB's Letter to the Future and strengthen our call to politicians to protect and restore the nature on this planet.

Posted by mark avery at 8:15 on 3 November 2009.  4 comments

Comments

EcoMathsLass
Posted on Tuesday, 3 November 2009 at 18:25

Heard the same radio programme. As an undergraduate student, that sort of news is always depressing, seems like the world that our generation will inherit is one fuller of debt and emptier of biodiversity- unless of course we all ct to change it! Hopefully the government and big companies will begin to start putting their money where their mouth is and invest in green technologies, projects and policies.

Sooty
Posted on Tuesday, 3 November 2009 at 19:29

Doesn't sound too good when you put it like that Mark.

mark avery
Posted on Wednesday, 4 November 2009 at 6:46

EcoMathsLass - well said!

Sooty
Posted on Wednesday, 4 November 2009 at 8:00

Everything that EcoMathsLass says seems very true and I certainly don't want to suggest that the younger generation are all the same but it often appears that it is the older generation who recycle most have less debt etc.A lot of the younger generation seem to be litter bugs and as I said I am sure there are quite a lot of younger ones who try very hard and feel exasperated like us.One big difference has probably been the plastic card which we didn't have and were brought up if you couldn't pay for it don't have it whereas now everybody seems to get money on card,overdraft etc.

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