Green idealists fail to make grade, says study (Eco-Hypocrisy)

Guardian.CO.UK ^ | Sep. 24, 2008 | David Adam

[PROCON]

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.

Stewart Barr, of Exeter University, who led the research, said: "Green living is largely something of a myth. There is this middle class environmentalism where being green is part of the desired image. But another part of the desired image is to fly off skiing twice a year. And the carbon savings they make by not driving their kids to school will be obliterated by the pollution from their flights."

Some people even said they deserved such flights as a reward for their green efforts, he added.

Only a very small number of citizens matched their eco-friendly behaviour at home by refusing to fly abroad, Barr told a climate change conference at Exeter University yesterday.

[PROCON]

Green thing Ping!

[Tax-chick]

people who regularly recycle rubbish and save energy at home are also the most likely to take frequent long-haul flights abroad

LOL! And what about extremely frequent short-haul flights domestically?

[ripley]

true “green-living” for socialist/communist greenies is marching superstitious christians to labor camps so that they might be worked to death and placed in compost.

IMHO

[Redbob]

""Green living is largely something of a myth."

I hope they didn't spend huge amounts of money researching THIS point...

[BubbaBasher]

Is this an electronic only article or did they kill trees to print it on paper?

[steelyourfaith]

Thanx !

 

Beam me to Planet Gore !

[Marie]

I have a dear friend who’s a liberal. (I don’t even bother) We have a lot of common ground because of similar lifestyle choices. We’re both frugal, enjoy making homemade cleaning products and gardening and like cooking homemade meals from scratch.

I’m always amazed how we’ve come to the same place in many areas with completely different motivations. I’m trying to protect our income, she’s trying to save the planet. One argument I’ve used with her is that it’s MUCH easier to get someone to cooperate when you appeal their own self-interest than by appealing to their altruism.

[Citizen Tom Paine]

Their idea seems to be, “keep your own nest clean, but it is OK to foul someone else's nest”. Make you pile out of your front yard.

The other consideration is that an environmental anarchist may sometime become interested enough in the environment so that they might actually take a science course. I know it is hard to believe. It is much easier to take an untenable position when you know no facts about the situation.

[Ghengis]

Just write Al Gore's company a check and your carbon guilt will be cleansed. Hallelujah!

[thefrankbaum]

It isn't a bad thing to do it for BOTH those reasons. Yes, I am cheap (frugal probably sounds better), so I don't use a ton of heating or cooling, I use CFLs, I unplug chargers, computers, TVs, etc. when not in use for awhile (they suck power). I do it because it does help me, but why waste things needlessly? I don't really believe in global warming, but I also don't believe in using more resources than I need - such is the very nature of CONSERVEatives. See Teddy Roosevelt.

Sorry to soapbox, but I that is one of the places I get frustrated on this forum - people don't believe in global warming, but feel the need to burn more resources to prove it. Frustrating.

[weegee]

Scooters pollute too. They think they get better mileage but they have poor emission quality.

[weegee]

That there IS an International Green Party should send a chill up Americans’ spines. There is no international effort to uphold the American constitution or adopt it abroad.

[weegee]

That there IS an International Green Party should send a chill up Americans’ spines. There is no international effort to uphold the American constitution or adopt it abroad.

[fella]

Just write Al Gore's company a check and your carbon guilt will be cleansed. Hallelujah!

Speaking of the great profit; Where has AlBore gotten off to? He has suddenly been off stage since just before the RAT convention.

[Balding_Eagle]

For years now we have been beaten about the head with the ‘news’ that burning carbon fuels etc causes greenhouse gases, which in turn causes global warming.

We are now facing a long period, perhaps several hundred years, of serious global cooling. Based on past history this global cooling will have a serious effect on mankind.

I’m doing my part to help warm the planet with my extravagant use of fossil fuels and other assorted greenhouse gas producing products.

If you care at all about mankind, and the future of this planet, you’ll join me.

[thefrankbaum]

So you’re saying that carbon dioxide does add to global warming?

[Sacajaweau]

I had a 20 year old student from out of town ask me about the forests of NY and other enviro questions. She said she was enviromentally pure....nothing except travel by necessity, no waste..etc, etc.

Then I asked her how many pairs of shoes she had and if they were leather. About a dozen pairs and yes, they were leather...

Then I asked her how many feet she had.

Then I asked her how she got to NY...AIRPLANE of course....And she goes back and forth as often as she can to see her folks and her boyfriend.

[Balding_Eagle]

So you’re saying that carbon dioxide does add to global warming?

I'm saying that that's what we've been told for years and years by political scientists. I'm living my life as though it's true, and it appears you are too.

[Realism]

Being resourceful and cleaning up behind yourself is not a bad thing, never was never will be, even if the byproduct is a greener lifestyle.