Thursday 25 October 2007

What's an Environmentalist to Do...?



When she actually finds fast cars and planes (worse still, evil planes) rather sexy?

But perhaps I should content myself. Have I not done my best for the environment by never having succumbed to the temptations of driving an Aston Martin Lagonda or piloting a Stealth Bomber?

4 comments:

Jock Coats said...

Well, along the lines of "If a tree falls in a forest and no one is around to hear it, does it make a sound?" you could ask, if you fly a plane that nobody can see or hear you flying, are you actually flying?

And as for a Lagonda, you just have to believe sincerely that it was a good use of all that beautiful wood and cow-hide at the time, and realize that by now, you're actually better to drive it, from the point of view of the environment, than to go out and buy a new car with all its embodied carbon...

There's an answer to everything...:)

Steve said...

I think the marketing men and the recycling brigade ought to learn from your sentiments. If the C5 had been sexy it would have been a success. The same with electric cars. The whole green thing needs to be sexed up - then the planet will be saved in half the time.

The Poet Laura-eate said...

Trouble is Steve that most of saving the environment is not sexy at all but about simply not wasting things. For example thinking ahead so you take your own bags and do all your errands in one trip, mending and re-using rather even than re-cycling, reducing flights and car journeys, NOT buying new or unsustainable clothing/gadgets each season. Anything that isn't consuming you cannot put a sexy consumer spin on!

Interesting points Jock - and funnily enough I read an excellent letter a couple of days ago extolling the benefits of driving a classic car over a modern car to help the environment (presuming one cannot dispense with one's car altogether), and the number of pro's was truly astonishing and not something I had considered before. Except of course that there wouldn't be enough classic cars left to go round if we all adopted this policy!

Steve said...

I must admit, you're probably right. We try and recycle as much as we can but our compost bin for example is the most un-sexy thing on the entire planet. Ten day old onion peelings in a negligee? Hmm. Nope. Just doesn't work...