 Poster: A snowHead
|
|
I'm sure someone is putting something in my food to make me paranoid.
|
|
|
|
|
|
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
|
As the OP who complained about the environmentalist (sorry for the mistaken plural in the thread title, David Goldsmith), I think that global warming is almost certainly taking place and I think that human causes are probably a significant contributory factor. And, as I've said before, it's me who's upset, not my son - although some other children would certainly have been upset by what happened.
But I take issue with schools allowing a compaigner to attempt to force her version of morality down my son's throat and trying, no matter how clumsily or ineffectually, to make him feel guilty for enjoying a ski trip.
And, whilst I personally accept the mainstream scientific view on global warming, it also appears to me that many, if not most, scientists and greens are economically naive. Strangely enough, I actually benefited the the environment by flying to Canada - it being half term the plane was completely full both ways, so my early-booking skinny kids displaced some fat geezers and lowered the plane's fuel consumption. What's the environmental benefit in self-deprivation if someone else causes more damage instead? It sounds more like ridiculous tokenism to me.
Even if my flight booking were the proverbial straw that allowed airline to continue flying its camel across the arctic, how would the environment benfit if flights to Calgary were cancelled? Heathrow has restricted landing slots, so the plane would just fly somewhere else instead - and insodoing probably use just as much fuel.
But - and this is a big but - even if you suppose that if I hadn't booked my flight, BA had instead chosen to ground its aircraft and failed to find a buyer for its unused landing slot, I don't believe that the environment would benefit one iota. If you're even vaguely aware of the state of the international oil market, you know that oil is supply constrained and is likely to remain so for the next few years (some observers expect supply constraints to continue for decades). That means that if BA didn't buy so much fuel, the price of oil would drop marginally and someone else would buy and burn it instead. Even if the whole UK population stopped flying, exactly the same amount of CO2 would be emitted; it would just come from somewhere else - Indian home air conditioning units, perhaps.
If we want to reduce CO2 emissions, we need to reduce the rate at which oil is extracted from the ground. That, in turn, would increase the price of oil (anyone fancy fuel at £3 per litre?) until demand fell to meet supply; it would also provide a generous filip to the coffers of some very unsavoury governments. But, in the meantime, use all the oil that you want - you're harming no-one.
|
|
|
|
|
|
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
|
Jonny Jones, so are you going next year too? 
|
|
|
|
|
|
You need to Login to know who's really who.
You need to Login to know who's really who.
|
|
|
|
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
|
|
rayscoops, yes. Unless my kids' tender consiences stop me!
|
|
|
|
|
|
You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
|
|
FWIW I think that the world's transition from an oil based economy to something else has the potential to cause far more turmoil than global warming. Hopefully technological advance will see us through it, but it's difficult to know for sure.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
in the meantime get as many holidays to Canada as poss before the oiul runs out
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
FAQ
