Saturday 1 March 2008

Eco-snobbery

I am sick to the teeth of hearing, reading and seeing environmentalist claptrap, and this article from the Telegraph has just shown me WHY that irritation has been steadily growing for quite some time.

Quite apart from the fact that I think the science behind the hype is somewhat precarious, to say the least, it's the knowing, smug snobbery of the latter-day eco-warrior that really, REALLY gets on my nerves. So let me get a few things crystal clear - I'm not convinced there's any environmental crisis brewing, and, if there is, I'm even less convinced that it's man-made, and, even if I'm wrong about all of that, it's not going to be a significant problem in my lifetime.

Therefore, I am not particularly concerned about declining numbers of polar bears and a raft of other species. Changing climates, if changing they be, are the way of the world. It's been happening for millions of years, and will continue to happen no matter how many plastic bags you fail to buy (or, if Gordon Brown-Trousers and his new-found buddies at the Daily Mail have their way, accept for free). It will go on happening whether or not you drink bottled water from a plastic (shock horror) bottle.

And, make no mistake, when you conscientiously don't drive your Chelsea Tractor, and pay up whatever financial eco-penance our money-grubbing government chooses to impose, you are not "saving the planet". Saving it from what, exactly? It's a bloody big chunk of rock - you think it's going to stop existing because you didn't cycle to work this week?

Sure, if the whiskery tree-huggers are correct, our actions might (I said MIGHT, by way of discussion - I don't actually BELIEVE it) bring about some changes eventually. But the planet will not be destroyed, just changed. No, the thing you're trying to save is your own sorry skin. You're trying to stop changes to the world AS YOU KNOW IT. And that is both truly stupid, and, in the long term, impossible.

So get a grip, wind in the snobbery and don't be surprised if Joe Public starts to get a little bit annoyed when he finds that just about everything he wants to do, or is used to doing, or needs to do attracts a condescending frown from the eco-snobs. We don't like your attitude, buddy, and soon we're going to lose patience with your fads.

Billy Seggars.

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