FUEL PROTESTERS LOSE TRACK OF REALITY

While UK’s Prime Minister, Gordon Brown tries to convince the British public of going green, lorry drivers are protesting in London against the rising fuel prices.

 

The reason behind the sky high global fuel prices is that a barrel of oil is measured in US dollars, and when the dollar is low, prices goes up. Of course the instability in the Middle East, particularly in relation to the occupation of Iraq, does not help.

 

Although the UK lorry drivers recognise that the government can’t control global fuel prices, the matter of controversy is in relation to a 2p tax increase on highly polluting cars. They wish instead for a duty rebate of 20p to 25p per litre for lorry drivers as they claim that would help the drivers compete with foreign competition.   

 

One of the protests organisers, Peter Corral claim: “If they do that, we will keep in business, we continue to pay our taxes and play our part in UK business and also the government wins because we take some of the inflationary pressure out of the economy.”

 

We can all understand the frustration of the lorry drivers, although the view Corral defends is very narrow minded, particularly at this stage when the Co2 levels in the atmosphere is at its highest in over 650,000 years.

 

Simultaneously, the sea is soaking up more and more waste, threatening the natural inhabitant of the sea, the artic ice is melting in record speed, the Amazon rainforest is in danger of becoming a dry savannah and harvest can be cut to up to half in some African countries. And this will not only affect the wellbeing of our planet, people need to remember that this will also have tremendous effect on their pockets. If all you understand is the pennies in your bank account, try and remember how much worse it could be and then you might decide that a 2p tax increase is not so bad after all.

  

Fair enough, The UK Labour party’s attempt in going green might be slightly hypocritical for a country and a government who simultaneously suggest the building of a new coal- fired power station, but even baby steps are better than nothing. So Lorry drivers, stop moaning and wakeup to the global crisis of the 21th Century, your part is as great as everyone else’s!

 

 

Related links: Stop whining about gas

THE DESTRUCTOR

New figures show that the CO2 levels in the atmosphere are now at its highest in over 650,000 years.  Simultaneously the US has listed the polar bear as a threatened species.

 

The polar bear has become the symbol of how climate change is affecting the world, through the melting of the ice habitat in the Artic Sea. Still today’s announcement does not come with a promise of change, despite that US government scientists predict that two thirds of the polar bear population could disappear by 2050.

 

Dirk Kempthorne, US Interior Secretary said: “While the legal standards under the Endangered Species Act compel me to list the Polar bear as threatened…I want to make clear that the listing will not stop global climate change or prevent any sea ice from melting.”

 

This is not a promising message from the nation who in 1990 was responsible for 36.1 percent of the world’s carbon dioxide emission.

 

We can only wonder about the level of stupidity in the American government, and it is becoming increasingly clear that the world’s wellbeing is depended on a change in US political policies.

 

For a government that talkes about freedom of the individual, democracy and justice, they sure don’t practise what they preach, as no individual freedom will be of any benefit if we destroy our world and the balance of the eco system.

 

We now plead to the American people to wise up and realise how influential their government is on the rest of the world, and although we can’t participate in the US political system, the American people have to participate for us.