People who believe they have the greenest lifestyles can be seen as some of the main culprits behind global warming, says a team of researchers, who claim that many ideas about sustainable living are a myth.
According to the researchers, people who regularly recycle rubbish and save energy at home are also the most likely to take frequent long-haul flights abroad. The carbon emissions from such flights can swamp the green savings made at home, the researchers claim.
Such greenery is largely a middle class occupation, as are those long haul holidays. If they really had the courage of their convictions they\’d not be taking those long flights. The rest is just a fashion statement.
Aye, the second you step on that aeroplane, any green lifestyle choices you’ve made go up in smoke.
A trip across the Atlantic uses as much fuel per person as my wee car does in a year.
Hmm, I’d imagine all the energy put into recycling rubbish often produces a lot of carbon dioxide as well.
Some thirty years ago when P J O’Rourke wrote ‘All the Trouble in the World’, he cited some pretty convincing statistics showing that recycling caused more damage to the environment (in terms of pollution generated, etc) than the alternative. Not sure how much things have changed since then; I’m sure recycling technology has developed somewhat.
It would seem that lots of activities like recycling that are supposed to be ‘good for the environment’ in actual fact are not. Is this the end result of environmentalism – superficial actions that are meant to demonstrate to others one’s virtue?