[sustran] Re: Lifestyles of Lear Jet Liberals

[Guevarra, Joselito Lomada]

Ahh...the wonderful prose of journalism. It's just a pity that such
rantings won't do the planet any good either...tsk tsk...

Good morning everyone!

jojo
 

-----Original Message-----
From: sustran-discuss-bounces+cvegjl=nus.edu.sg at list.jca.apc.org
[mailto:sustran-discuss-bounces+cvegjl=nus.edu.sg at list.jca.apc.org] On
Behalf Of Daryl Oster
Sent: Thursday, September 28, 2006 8:55 AM
To: eric.britton at ecoplan.org; 'Global 'South' Sustainable Transport'
Subject: [sustran] Lifestyles of Lear Jet Liberals


ARTICLE:  Lifestyles of Lear Jet Liberals (Global Warming)

Lifestyles of Lear Jet liberals

By Debra J. Saunders
Monday, September 25, 2006

http://www.townhall.com/columnists/DebraJSaunders/2006/09/25/lifestyles_
of_l
ear_jet_liberals


Limousine liberals, move over. You've been out-glammed by Lear Jet
liberals who burn beaucoup fossil fuels in the sky as they soar across
the globe fighting global warming. 

Last week, they flew to their Mecca, the Clinton Global Initiative
conference in New York. For the left-leaning and loaded, this is the
meet that has it all -- the mega-rich paying to be seen caring about
poor people and the environment, while posing for photos with former
President Clinton. 

You see, they care so much more about the environment than President
Bush because they support the Kyoto global warming pact, which they
believe would save the planet from greenhouse gases, if only Bush had
not rejected it.
(Never mind that Clinton never asked the Senate to ratify the pact,
probably because senators voted 95 to 0 for a resolution rejecting any
treaty that exempted China and India.) 

And forget that Kyoto has the depth of a cowboy movie set. The
storefronts look like a general store and saloon, but when actors walk
through the door, there's nothing there. The overwhelming majority of
industrialized nations that signed onto Kyoto amidst much fanfare
haven't cut their greenhouse gases. In June, the United Nations reported
that only two Western European signatories -- Britain and Sweden -- are
on target to meet their greenhouse-gas reduction targets, which call for
a worldwide reduction of 5 percent below 1990 levels in 2012. 

Spain is spewing more than 40 percent above its 1990 levels. Canada is
30 percent over. By comparison, Dubya's America looks good -- emitting
16 percent more greenhouse gases than in 1990. 

No wonder Lear Jet liberals love Kyoto: It allows them to look like they
really, really care about the environment -- and have their contrails,
too. 

The big news of the CGI was an announcement by Sir Richard Branson,
founder of Virgin Atlantic Airways, that he would donate $3 billion over
10 years -- his personal profits from his airline and train businesses
-- to global warming research. That's more money than I'll ever see, or
spend on R&D, so bully for Branson. Still, it should be noted that
Branson said some of the money will go back to his own corporations'
research. That's not quite charity. 

Besides, Branson hails from a country where some enviros believe flying
is worse than a mega-SUV. The bishop of London recently referred to
flying abroad on holiday as "a symptom of sin." 

Europeans are acutely aware of the effect flying has on one's carbon
footprint. Flying is the fastest growing source of greenhouse gases in
the United Kingdom. As the Guardian reported, greenhouse gas emissions
from flying more than doubled from 1990 to 2004, to 5.5 percent of the
United Kingdom's emissions. It would not surprise me if someday Great
Britain legislates a limit on short flights -- say, London to Edinburgh
or Paris, trips you can make in a car or train about as fast as flying.
That would be bad news for Virgin Express. 

In California, Branson has a soul mate in Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger.
Critics hit the governator for signing global-warming bills while owning
four Hummers, but his biggest green sin is dibs on a private plane.
Flying is my biggest item in my carbon footprint calculation, and I
don't own a jet. Flying is probably the biggest personal polluter for
people who take more than 10 roundtrips a year. So all those Hollywood
stars who preen about their Priuses can see themselves as eco-virtuous
only by ignoring their plane travel. 

They are in a pickle. How can they be beautiful people if they don't jet
to an island for a week or two of eco-tourism?

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