Monday 9 October 2023

The consequence of burning stuff to create energy (heat, movement, electricity) has been progressive, increasingly catastrophic, global climate change. The world should have stopped burning stuff a long time ago, but commercial interests prevail.

I do much to reduce my carbon footprint. Although I should very much prefer not to burn petrol, I shall never have an electric car unless someone gifts one to me, for the simple reason that I cannot remotely afford one.  (I have no income, so would be unable to pay off a loan.) I drive as little as possible, and even then only when absolutely necessary, to transport my disabled daughter in her wheelchair to her hospital appointments. The car becomes increasingly thickly clothed in leaves and bird droppings over successive weeks when the car remains undriven.

I get travel sick travelling by car (including taxis), and intensely so when travelling by bus or boat. My father did his National Service in the Royal Marines, my uncle served in the Royal Navy for eight years, and my brother, who is wealthy, sailed round the world on his yacht (and wrote a book about the experience). I am, and have always been, fascinated by the sea, by lakes, by rivers and canals, and even by brooks and ponds. I love the idea of being on the water, but my movement sickness is so bad that even stepping onto a pontoon makes me feel ill, and I get sea sick swimming in the sea.

I thought that the Colne Innovation webpage (https://www.brightlingseaharbour.org/news/4th-example-news/) was mildly interesting, but rather verbose. It read like the kind of report one might find in a village newsletter, which typically tend to be of greater interest to the people directly involved in the activity being reported. Maybe I missed something, but I am unclear what the big deal about this boat having an electric engine is, apart from the fact that it is not burning stuff (see above), because electricity has been powering boats for over 120 years: "An early electric boat was developed by the German inventor Moritz von Jacobi in 1839 in St Petersburg, Russia. It was a 24-foot (7.3 m) boat which carried 14 passengers at 3 miles per hour (4.8 km/h). It was successfully demonstrated to Emperor Nicholas I of Russia on the Neva River."  (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electric_boat).