You have made many very interesting points here – many of which we agree with.  Although they can make for stimulating discussion at social gatherings with friends, you raise many issues which are the subject of big national political and economic policies and forces, involving huge vested interested parties and, therefore, difficult to change or influence, without huge data resources.

Many of these issues are influenced largely by economic forces but, increasingly, environmental aspects are being taken into account, as the public become more aware of these and other social implications.

What may be more productive and economic of your time could be to get involved in local issues, such as energy minimisation, recycling, etc, and on these you may be able to make a difference.

You could, for example, find out what your local authority is seeking to achieve through its environmental committee and go along to such meetings which are open to the public.

You could write to your main local newspaper raising concerns about such local issues - but try to link this with your business interests in some way, perhaps by offering a service to improve their data handling systems, etc.

Later, you might be sufficiently interested to get involved in more national-based politics, with the experience gained from a better understanding of local issues and the difficulties faced by your local authority in trying to bring about change.

Also, one should remember that, although the public may be willing to help improve the environment, the poor economic climate is making it difficult for people to afford changes which will have added costs.

Man I hate IP law right now.

So planning on installing LinuxMint tomorrow

CheerS!