Down memory lane

Quite by chance during an internet search this lunchtime I found a transcript of a speech made by Mrs Thatcher in 1990 towards the end of her time as Prime Minister which included her answer to a question which I asked her as a very young man.

It was about the environment and her response is still topical many years later.

I had asked

"What role do you see for Britain in helping the world to tackle its environmental problems?"

She replied

"Well, that's a pretty broad question. A very important role for Britain. I think we have been foremost in leading things on the global environment. I think you have to divide the environment really into three aspects.

First, the global environment which enables us to have life on our world and fundamentally to protect that and not dump all the waste gases in it. That is absolutely vital. It requires, of course, the co-operation of every country. So we all have to be careful we don't put the fluorohydrocarbons in it, all have to be careful about the amount of methane and carbon dioxide which goes up there, because it is that which marks out our planet from others, which means that we can sustain life here.

And because we now have something like six billion people, whereas two hundred years ago we only had one billion, and because we have in fact managed to keep all the extra agriculture to keep those going and [end p17] managed all the extra technology, we really are putting more waste things up there than ever before in the history of the world and we don't know its effect.

So, we on that aspect were one of the first to realise that was happening. We held a big conference in London on the Ozone Layer. I also did a speech on the scientific aspects to the Royal Society and also a major one to the United Nations last November. And I hope that that will take the global aspect forward. It must be done through United Nations and we are doing very well ourselves on the ozone layer and are now beginning to tackle the other things and we shall continue on a sound scientific basis to take the lead in that aspect.

Now, the second aspect of the environment is the regional one. It is concerned with the amount of waste you put into the North Sea, into the rivers, into the amount of acid rain which knows no borders. It is the regional one and we have to tackle that really through Europe and the wider Europe. Not only the European Community, because Europe was there long before we had a European Community. It is the wider Europe. Now, we have a major programme there for cutting down the emission of sulphur dioxide and nitric oxide from coal-fired power stations and we shall be fulfilling that.

We also had a North Sea Conference in Britain and we have come to certain arrangements that we shall not put certain chemicals in, nor have the burning of waste at sea unless there is no better way of disposing of it. That has to be done through the European Community and that is going well.

Then there is the third aspect: our immediate local environment. And it is no good concentrating very much on the global environment and the North Sea and the rivers, unless we are also prepared to keep our towns and cities clean of litter and graffiti and I hope that those people who talk about the environment so much will be the first to see that they do not in fact throw down litter, that the motorways are clean, that the towns and the countryside is kept in a clean state, because it really is appalling if people go to scenes of great beauty which are lovely when they get there and they leave them littered with all kinds of rubbish. So that too is important.

May I just, as I have been thinking on my feet, say there is a fourth point about the environment? Environment is not only about the physical environment. It is about the standards and values, the courtesy, the conduct by which we live. That matters very much indeed and courtesy is by definition: thinking of others. It is taking pride in the school of which you are part, pride in the reputation of your company, pride in your area and setting the standards. We are active in all four parts of those aspects of the environment."

Government conferences come and go but almost everything else she said is still very relevant and important today.