Minimal

stressed for motivation and achievement

2006-11-13

George Monbiot, motorsport, the environment and me

I’ve not read a great deal of George Monbiot’s writings, but what I have read (in the Guardian and Observer), I’ve found quite interesting. I’m not 100% sure whether he deserves total respect or whether he’s an unbalanced fanatic, but I do enjoy his articles nonetheless. This just made a piece he wrote in the Observer Sport Monthly even harder reading:

Some sports are simply incompatible with any likely solution to the problem [of global warming]. The most obvious example is motor racing. There is a direct relationship between an engine’s performance and the amount of greenhouse gases it produces: the faster the car, the quicker it cooks the planet.
[Taken from How Sport Is Killing The Planet]

It is, I guess, a harsh truth. I really can’t justify my double standards when it comes to motorsport. Certainly not while we’re putting carbon from fossil fuels back into the atmosphere. At the same time, however, I can’t give it up. Well, I probably can, but I really don’t want to. Perhaps it really is time for Grant and me to start our own chip-fat-powered Mini race team? Would that assuage my guilt?

posted by Mal # Monday, November 13, 2006

Comments:

I'd be interested to know how much it would cost the motorsport industry to offset their carbon emissions.

# posted by

Anonymous : 9:59 am

Surely it's travelling slowly in traffic jams that causes the most pollution. Maybe if people had faster cars, and used them to effect, we wouldn't have the pollution problems we do. And anyhow, the figures are always skewed. People spend too much time looking at C02 figures. Taking all greenhouse gasses into effect, cars are responsible for a tiny, tiny percentage of the world's overall pollution.

# posted by

Anonymous : 9:07 am

That's as may be, but it's a percentage I can directly affect.

# posted by

Mal : 9:10 am

Archives

April 2002 May 2002 June 2002 July 2002 August 2002 September 2002 October 2002 November 2002 December 2002 January 2003 February 2003 March 2003 April 2003 May 2003 June 2003 July 2003 August 2003 September 2003 October 2003 November 2003 December 2003 January 2004 February 2004 March 2004 May 2004 June 2004 July 2004 August 2004 September 2004 October 2004 November 2004 December 2004 January 2005 February 2005 March 2005 April 2005 May 2005 June 2005 July 2005 August 2005 September 2005 October 2005 November 2005 December 2005 January 2006 February 2006 March 2006 April 2006 May 2006 June 2006 July 2006 August 2006 September 2006 October 2006 November 2006 December 2006 January 2007 February 2007