Carbon Runway Skidmarks
As hilarious as this story is about Sir Paul’s $165,000 hybrid Lexus being flown halfway around the world at a horrendous cost to Gaia, it raises some serious questions. UK Telegraph:
Sir Paul McCartney is said to be “horrified” that his new eco-friendly car was flown 7,000 miles from Japan.
The Lexus LS600H, which costs £84,000, was a gift from Lexus to the 65-year-old former Beatle, who helped promote the hybrid vehicle.
But instead of arriving by boat as expected, the car was flown to Britain on a Korean Air flight, creating a carbon footprint almost 100 times bigger than if it had come by sea.
Sir Paul is a vocal advocate of vegetarianism and has long been a poster child for environmental activism.
…
A source is reported to have said: “Paul was offered a Lexus as a gift and ordered the hybrid limo because it helps to reduce emissions.
“He’ll be horrified after learning it was delivered by plane. Paul has always campaigned for green issues and he can’t understand why anyone would send an enormous car from Japan to Britain on a plane.”
Carbon offsetting firm CO2balance.com said the plane journey would have caused a carbon footprint of 38,050kg, compared to 397kg for a three-week boat journey.
A carbon footprint is the measure of the impact that human activity has on the environment and is measured in units of carbon dioxide.
Co2balance.com Director Mike Rigby said: “That is the equivalent of driving the car around the world six times.”
A spokesman for Swissport, the freight handling company who unloaded the car at Heathrow, said: “Obviously we were happy for the business but everyone was shocked. The carbon footprint must be enormous.”
Paddy Gillett of the anti-aviation lobby group Plane Stupid, said: “For anyone to pretend that a private limousine is in any way eco-friendly is like pretending a private jet is. It’s total greenwash.”
Sir Paul, who is also a vegan, has previously lauded Lexus for their commitment to making hybrid vehicles. Lexus sponsored the singer’s 2005 US tour.
I’m with Plane Stupid. On what planet is a private limo going to be “green,” even if it runs on cow farts?
Do they actually think it matters? It’s not like either plane or ship weren’t going to be making that trip anyway. If Sir Paul’s so green, why isn’t he walking?
If Sir Paul’s a vegan, does that mean his luxury ride has plastic seats? What does he do for boots and belts?
Which has a bigger carbon footprint … the cattle it takes to make the leather seats and trim, or plastic upholstery? Any exotic hardwoods in the trim?
Another important question, if you follow that link up there. What the heck happened to Sir Paul’s face? I realize he’s getting old, and we’re all headed that way. But what’s up with the droop?
In other warm, globular business, I’ll let Michelle and Sen. James Inhofe deal with the polar bear thing, and the odd case of the historically booming population being threatened.
Posted by Jules Crittenden at 8:55 pm on Wednesday, May 14, 2008
4 Responses to “Carbon Runway Skidmarks”
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May 14th, 2008 at 9:07 pm
While Sir Paul McCartney is contemplating his carbon footprint, he might want to think about his multi-million-dollar mansions in West Sussex, Scotland, London, and California. Until he sells them all and moves into a single home of modest size I don’t think he is entitled to lecture anybody.
May 14th, 2008 at 10:19 pm
It is time, and far past time, for ultra-wealthy celebrities to stop pretending they’re “for”the environment. In a world as info-connected as this one increasingly is, faux-piety simply won’t sell magazines anymore.
May 14th, 2008 at 11:07 pm
pst314, I won’t listen to him until McCartney is living in a teepee, wearing animal skins, and gnawing on half cooked meat.
May 15th, 2008 at 9:38 am
Sir Paul’s activities over his lifetime have generated more CO2 than thousands of normal people would over the same period. (Yeah, I made that statistic up. But you know it’s true.)
Hugh Hewitt has been warning about this polar bear thing for quite some time now. It has little practical value in relation to actual polar bears, but will be used as a mighty club against the global warming “deniers.”