Posted on 06/20/2022 5:24:27 PM PDT by xp38
When four-time world champion Formula 1 racing driver Sebastian Vettel denounced Alberta’s oilsands as a “climate crime” prior to Sunday’s Montreal Grand Prix, he revealed his brain is an irony-free zone.
Gas-guzzling Formula 1 racing would not exist without fossil fuels.
Vettel’s racing team is sponsored by Saudi Aramco — the world’s largest oil and natural gas company.
Aramco is owned by the government of Saudi Arabia, one of the world’s most brutal dictatorships, which also sponsors Formula 1 racing itself .
The 34-year-old German-born Vettel is a poster child for celebrities who denounce the oilsands, conveniently overlooking the reality that without fossil fuel energy their vocations would not exist.
He may sport a T-shirt bearing the slogan “Stop mining tar sands — Canada’s climate crime,” plus show off an anti-oilsands racing helmet for the Montreal Grand Prix (where he finished in 12th place, wearing a different helmet), but if he really believes his rhetoric, he should quit driving for Formula 1.
As Alberta Energy Minister Sonya Savage tweeted in response to Vettel’s denunciation of the oilsands:
“I have seen a lot of hypocrisy over the years, but this one takes the cake. A race car driver sponsored by Aston Martin, with financing from Saudi Aramco, complaining about the oilsands.
“Saudi Aramco has the largest daily oil production of all companies in the world. It is reputed to be the single largest contributor to global carbon emissions, of any company, since 1965.
“Rather than demonizing the oilsands, which is on a path to net-zero, people could look to lowering their own personal carbon footprint. Perhaps a pedal-car for Formula 1?”
Even Vettel admitted his own hypocrisy, in responding to Savage’s criticism saying: “Yes, I am a hypocrite doing what I do for a living or doing what I love. We all have different passions, this is the way I sort of paint my canvas.”
Spoken like every globe-trotting politician who decries climate change while leaving a carbon footprint in their wake that could choke a horse, every celebrity who denounces fossil fuels while vacationing on a yacht and every government bureaucrat and UN diplomat attending never-ending, climate change conferences in the world’s vacation hotspots while staying in five-star hotels, all-expenses paid.
In every case, what these people do puts the lie to what they say.
If they really believe climate change poses an imminent, existential threat to humanity, then they should walk the walk, not just talk the talk while subscribing to the philosophy of “rules for thee, but not for me” when it comes to climate change.
Vettel said of Savage’s criticism, “I think it’s disappointing that we break it down to a personal level and miss to look at the bigger picture.
“What’s really important is the message that we need to make the switch and get out of fossil (fuels) and start to base our whole lifestyle on renewables. So I think that’s the bigger picture stuff that I’m trying to address.”
Terrific. Then Vettel can address it by refusing to work for any racing team sponsored by Saudi Aramco and retire from the Formula 1 circuit unless it ends its deal with the world’s largest oil and natural gas company.
That would be a far more significant gesture than dropping into Canada for a Grand Prix race and calling for the end of an industry employing 140,000 Canadians.
“Rather than demonizing the oilsands, which is on a path to net-zero...”
There is no such thing as net zero either.
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