Environment
A Leading Light - where will the gimmicks end? The Olympic torch is low carbon emitting. David Story considers the ironies of environmental contrivance.
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et’s all take a giant collective sigh of relief. The Olympic torch will be eco-friendly. The 28 inch high beacon, which will burn for 130 days on its way to Beijing, will be releasing minimal carbon emissions into our beloved atmosphere. People’s Republic of China, the population of the world salutes you. Whilst we’re at it though, there are one or two other considerations. Without wanting to sound like a contrary Mary, China is building one coal fuelled power station every week and plans to do so for a number of years. Oh, and it will shortly be securing the title of ‘World’s highest Carbon Emitting State’ from the USA. Still, I hear you cry, having an eco-friendly torch can’t be doing any harm! Wrong, actually. On its
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130 day travels the torch will pass through five continents covering approximately 137,000 kilometres. Even offering a generous 7,000 kilometres travelled by road, 130,000 km travelled by one passenger (pre-
“As Spiderman attests, with great power comes great responsibility” sumably the space which a 28 inch high torch takes up) on a commercial flight equates to 21,700 kg of CO2 released into the atmosphere. Let alone the touring entourage and numerous private flights and drives
it will go on. Token gestures like this do more harm than good. China, as the world’s largest populace, should be allowed the world’s largest carbon emissions. But as Spiderman attests, with great power comes great responsibility. Publicising such pointless propaganda makes a mockery of the Olympic association, the host nation and the broadcasters (appallingly, even the BBC) who see fit to make it known. This is yet another statistic as ludicrous as David Cameron’s windmill. It avoids the real issues at stake. Leading world powers like China should pour some of their evidently plentiful money into research for future green generations. Then we might have a chance of avoiding a long term tragedy. V
VIVID 2nd Edition March 2008