Features
Eco Guilt
I was going to tell you all about co2fightback.com this time around. This guardian of the people has had enough of global warming hysteria and is ready to fight the tide of propaganda. Or rather, was. It's vanished. Sadly, the disenfranchised member of the public who "disagrees that paying politicians yet more taxes will have any bearing on what is largely a natural phenomenon anyway" will have to turn to someone else for guidance.
If you had barely any change out of a tenner last time you flew half-way around the world, then you're sure to agree that politicians have all "buried their snouts deep in the 'climate change taxes' trough." But the fine people at co2fightback.com won't be fighting your corner any more - curiously, even the registration info for their domain is blocked - surely they weren't afraid they'd be anything but loved? - so we shall have to struggle on without them.
If, however, you've somehow clung to your logical faculties despite the barrage to which they're regularly subjected, then you might be a little concerned about the slash-and-burn lifestyle many are so keen to defend. So, no doubt you're doing your bit to relieve the burden on our planet. (In fact, let's be honest - you're doing your bit to relieve the burden on your conscience. Guilt is a powerful and useful force in environmentalism and there's no shame in it. Well, there is, but you know what I mean.)
If you want to know just how much of an effort you're really making, then point your browser to www.ecofoot.org. Here you can find out just how many worlds we'd need to sustain ourselves if everyone lived like you do. Through a series of multiple-choice questions, like 'How often do you eat animal based products?' (apparently, eating meat once or twice a week is 'often') and 'How many hours do you spend flying a year?', your diet, home and transportation are combined through the magic of statistics to give you a figure that will depress you for the rest of the day.
And don't think you can quietly plough your own furrow of self-satisfaction - even if you're reading this dressed in an adapted grain-sack, living under a tarpaulin in the woods and eating only the hazelnuts donated to you by the local squirrel population, you're still responsible for one four-millionth of Ireland's infrastructure just by dint of being here. And that's a lot more than it sounds, by the way (they're probably those invading grey squirrels too, so you can't win).
According to the site, the average ecological footprint in Ireland is 5.3 global hectares per person, and there are 1.8 biologically productive global hectares available for each of us - which means we need two more planets in a hurry (well, 1.94, but what's a few hundredths of a planet between friends?). Anyone who thought the recent discovery of water on the planet charmingly called HD209458b was going to give them an excuse for that trip to Gran Canaria is going to have to do better.
So what can we really do about co2? Every solution has its problems, of course, but one can safely assume that anything giving that 'look green without the effort' easing of the conscience is probably suspect. Biofuel, for example, has been getting various tax-cuts and endorsements from governments around the world who know full well that if they don't also discourage people from using so much energy they're wasting their time. We're clearing what little rainforest we have left to accommodate more ethanol production. In fact, we're getting back to that 'needing a few spare planets' problem and this time just to grow our fuel. As George Monbiot points out at www.monbiot.com, "those who can afford to drive are, by definition, richer than those who are in danger of starvation," so who's going to win the food/fuel competition for arable land?
A similar conscience-salve to start catching on is the hybrid engine. The leader of the British Conservative party, David Cameron famously switched to one, for example. It is less often pointed out, though, that the particular model in question uses twice as much fuel as an efficient diesel car. That's not to suggest the hybrid car is a bad idea. As I've demonstrated, it's easy to be cynical. Done properly, any way to reduce our dependence on fossil fuels should be investigated; but it would be naïve of us not to scratch at the surface of easy solutions.
It's hard not to fall into a screaming despair with such a weight of evidence for a global catastrophe, let alone confidently insist that it's all perfectly natural or part of a sophisticated conspiracy like some do. Co2fightback.com may have popped out of existence, but there is no shortage of replacements. How anyone could think it would be feasible, let alone worthwhile, to carry out such a large scale deception I will leave to the reader to ponder. (Honestly, the sheer logistics would be of Bond-villain proportions, only without the large cash rewards.) In the meantime, rather than feeling good about ourselves because we do believe what should now be blatantly obvious, we'd probably best accept that the amount of change needed to relieve our guilt is considerably less than that needed to save ourselves.
If everyone lived like me we'd need two planets. Better than three it may be, but we're still doomed.
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