Where it all started ...
Professor Tony Bradshaw -
MET Founder Member
The Merseyside Environmental Trust was founded in 1984 – which is really quite a long time – and it has survived. Which is something to be very pleased about. It was started when concern for the environment was only beginning, as
'An Alliance of Public, Private and Voluntary Agencies and Individuals Working for the Improvement of the Outdoor Environment in Merseyside'.
It is difficult now to remember how difficult it was, then, to get people, and particularly politicians, to bother.
People who were involved felt rather lonely.
So the aim of the fledgling MET was to find strength through collaboration. This meant organising joint public meetings on environmental matters of topical interest, joining together to pressurise local authorities and industry to perform better, and to encourage ordinary individuals to take matters into their own hands. A major part of the activities was to make people aware of the consequences of environmentally 'bad' behaviour. Remember that this was at a time when global warming had never been heard of.
All this remains the essential elements of the present programme of MET. The only differences are that public awareness is much greater, and many of the problems that cried out for attention are now receiving it. Many of the problems that we used to grapple with are now being dealt with routinely, and there are many separate ‘green’ organisations.
Which is excellent, and may make us feel that the job is done, which in part it is.
But do not let us kid ourselves that the battle is won – far from it. In particular we are still disgracefully unaware of the consequences of our profligate exploitation and use of the world's resources. We pay lip service to the idea of sustainability, but we are still doing far too little about it. We drive about in ridiculously extravagant cars, we heat our buildings excessively, and we throw away far too much that can be re-used or recycled. And too many of us like to believe, as former US Presidents Bush and Trump, that global warming is something still unproven.
So it is the same war that we started with over 37 years ago, but with many of the battles and the battle fields changing. Although there is much agreement about what needs to be done, we have to make sure that we persevere and do better. In particular, we have to protect the environment from the depredations of consumerism and the power of the god of ‘Gross National Product’.
So there is still much for MET, working with City Region, local authorities, other environmental organisations and communities of interest, to do. We will only have the environment that we work for.
'An Alliance of Public, Private and Voluntary Agencies and Individuals Working for the Improvement of the Outdoor Environment in Merseyside'.
It is difficult now to remember how difficult it was, then, to get people, and particularly politicians, to bother.
People who were involved felt rather lonely.
So the aim of the fledgling MET was to find strength through collaboration. This meant organising joint public meetings on environmental matters of topical interest, joining together to pressurise local authorities and industry to perform better, and to encourage ordinary individuals to take matters into their own hands. A major part of the activities was to make people aware of the consequences of environmentally 'bad' behaviour. Remember that this was at a time when global warming had never been heard of.
All this remains the essential elements of the present programme of MET. The only differences are that public awareness is much greater, and many of the problems that cried out for attention are now receiving it. Many of the problems that we used to grapple with are now being dealt with routinely, and there are many separate ‘green’ organisations.
Which is excellent, and may make us feel that the job is done, which in part it is.
But do not let us kid ourselves that the battle is won – far from it. In particular we are still disgracefully unaware of the consequences of our profligate exploitation and use of the world's resources. We pay lip service to the idea of sustainability, but we are still doing far too little about it. We drive about in ridiculously extravagant cars, we heat our buildings excessively, and we throw away far too much that can be re-used or recycled. And too many of us like to believe, as former US Presidents Bush and Trump, that global warming is something still unproven.
So it is the same war that we started with over 37 years ago, but with many of the battles and the battle fields changing. Although there is much agreement about what needs to be done, we have to make sure that we persevere and do better. In particular, we have to protect the environment from the depredations of consumerism and the power of the god of ‘Gross National Product’.
So there is still much for MET, working with City Region, local authorities, other environmental organisations and communities of interest, to do. We will only have the environment that we work for.
