Time was, about 20 years ago, when Global Warming first started making the headlines within the mass media, that Armegeddon came in the form of Chlorofluorocarbons. The Grim Reaper in gaseous form. If you weren't part of the solution you were part of the problem. So we all threw away our old fridges to see them crushed, we all rolled on our deodorant.
Oddly enough the act of crushing those killer fridges released more CFC's into the atmosphere than what they would have done had they been left to keep your beer chilled. But thats what a media induced mob mentality will do.
Nowadays Global Warming has metamorphosised into Global Climate Change, and there is apparantly nothing we can do so say the scientists. Or not as the case maybe if you happen to listen to the ever jading politicians, jumping on the green train in an effort to make us feel guilty about the very way of life they promise to deliver us. In making us feel guilty they initiate policies to combat the consequences of that lifestyle and make us feel good about ourselves. If we only vote for them come the next election. Who is the most caring party.
This is certainly the case in the UK right now. Each party zealously pursuing avenues in which we can make the World a better place. Al Gore; Blair and Cameron are not for the simple reasons that what they suggest boils down to the same thing. Tax, tax and you've guessed it more tax on the areas of life in which a Green agenda can be placed. Top of their list is reducing the Carbon Footprint which
everyone leaves behind. Now I'm not against reducing these, but the common concensus is that the cure-all come in the form of whacking great tax tarifs on everything we burn, in an effort to reduce the Carbon Emissions. This smacks of lethargy in thinking on a criminal scale. This can be akin to Mafiosa style protection rackateering. Anyone can see that behind the money grabbing lies no real strategy to combat Global Climate Change, accept to restrict our movement using Fossil Fuels.
The problem with this is that these policies go against everything they will say in the next breath, being that these taxes and restrictions won't hinder economic growth. Come again? Do they not realise that the economy is powered by the use of fossil fuels?
And it is those Fossil Fuels that lie at the heart of what I see as a Carbon Footprint Conspiracy. Stupidly, having watched "An Inconvenient Truth" I went along with the Carbon Footprint line. Now I'm not going to argue that cutting down wouldn't be a bad thing...until I read this story about a new Government campaign for
greener driving. This I almost missed as it was announced on the same day as the Tory party dry ran their proposal for heavy taxations on flying.
Now its about now you are wondering what this has to do with Peak Oil. Well having been on this site for awhile now and know that Peak Oil and the environment run along side each other. Had I not been peak oil aware then I would have taken that article at face value. But read between the lines and a different picture reveals itself.
Transport Minister Gillian Merron wrote:"We all know climate change is a big issue and if all motorists did their bit, we'll see a reduction of some five and a half million tonnes of CO2 in just a year, and also a reduction in motoring costs as people use less fuel. So for me it's a win win."
As you will see, I highlighted the crux of this "Drive Smarter" campaign. It's one sentence and to those watching the purse strings makes sense. Those however, that are Peak Oil aware will draw a completely different conclusion. However we drive, burning a tank of petrol will equal the same amount of Carbon released into the atmosphere. It's a no brainer that revving the engine for no reason will burn much quicker, and thats the clincher. This campaign is not about preserving the environment. It's about preserving our fuel.
Labour's own position is that peak won't start troubling us for another 30 years. But it seems quite apparant that the convenience of Carbon Emissions into the atmosphere is a useful premise to hide the fact that they are all to aware of the coming storm.