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West must cut appetite for cars and TVs

17 Comments

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Living in the back of beyond in the middle of nowhere with no public transport, my car is not a luxury, its a nessassity. My television educates, entertains and allows me through a multitude of channels to avail of media information, giving me an understanding of occuranceis throughout the world. The car industry provides employment for both developed and emerging economies, as does the production of televisions, mobile phones, pc,s ect. Does it make sense to refrain from purchasing these products as a great deal of the manafacturing is outsourced to developing countries

4 ( +4 / -1 )

Point well taken, but don't let the greedy in emerging markets off the hook.

3 ( +4 / -1 )

U.N. Development Program chief Helen Clark; putting the "mental" in this environmental-socialist twaddle:

"I think there is a high level of awareness that the planet is in peril, to put it bluntly," said Clark

Oh, no. Is it that time again?

Because frankly human development in the West- we don't need more cars, more TVs, more whatever.

Great news for manufacturing jobs...

No meddling, agenda pushing here:

Setting up a new index for economic progress to rival the venerable gross domestic product and pressing the case for the Green Economy-economic decision-making that takes into account the impact on the environment-will feature highly on Clark's summit agenda.

"U N" must stand for : "Unbelievable Nitwits", "Utter Nutters", "Useless Nuisance"...

3 ( +5 / -2 )

I'm sure Helen Clarke and the UNDP will be able to find jobs for unemployed workers from car and TV plants. They could make thatched roofs, wicker baskets, horseshoes, etc. Really the world only needs enough limos and jets to carry the U.N. elite and enviro-cranks to big international talk-fests.

I don't want to go off-topic, so I won't mention the story that led Helen Clarke to be nicknamed "Helen Hell on Wheels" when she was Prime Minister of New Zealand, except to say that it involved a large government limo moving very fast indeed.

3 ( +3 / -0 )

Good for Him!- Now where in Hell did I put down that Remote?!?!!

2 ( +3 / -1 )

How about instead of telling the average Joe what he can or cannot do tell your own government to stop flying around in private jets, zipping around their staff in huge limos and spending billions of dollars on huge wasteful military toys.

Why does the average Joe on the street need to take the brunt of the environmental stick.

If you have energy to vent, take it out on the big boys, not your local hobbyist or neighbor.

2 ( +3 / -1 )

I wonder how Ms. Clark got to her summit in Rio? Possibly a pollution spouting jet plane? How many trips does she make each year as a delegate of the UN on those same jet planes? We live in a consumer based economy, meaning people need to purchase products so that companies can hire people to make these products. The solution is to make the products more efficiently and with less waste by-product, not simply stop buying...

2 ( +2 / -0 )

Fat chance!!!! so easy for these pampered SupraNational types to piontificate on this stuff. Go to most African countries north of the Limpopo and the majority of big gas guzzling cars on the road are UN or some other Supra or NGO. And flying these jokers around the globe isn't carbon neutral either. Plus all the hot air they spout can't be helpful.

2 ( +2 / -0 )

I think that self-righteous people should stop telling others how to live.

1 ( +3 / -2 )

Dont listen to this Helen Clark spout her diatribe, The UN needs to get it's house in order before it starts dictating its socialist policys to the masses.

Evil outfit this UN bunch.

1 ( +3 / -2 )

So do the 116 heads of government and state understand the stakes?

"Green energy" is not about the environment, and it is not about conservation. It is about controlling you. The authoritarians parading around in the U.N. know the only way they can do that is to put pressure on your home country to get tough with you. They want your government to dictate to you how many tvs, dishes, knives forks spoons and ohashi you can have. When you can wash your clothes. What you can and cannot eat. What light bulbs to use.

If anyone is creating chaos it's these ludites; these self appointed guardians of the planet who want to drive everyone's economy and finances back to the stone age.

Japan and the rest of the civilized world should tell these folks to take a long walk off a short pier. And to the person with the extra tv that she doesn't "need"... why in the world are you feeling guilty about it? Can't you just accept the fact that you bought it because you wanted it? Do you have to flog yourself for buying something just because you wanted it? Is that a crime?

1 ( +2 / -1 )

No way the UN or any local government can tell people what to buy or what to consume. But what governments can do is to privatize the cost of pollution. Replace corporate taxes and/or labour taxes with environmental taxes. When the environmental costs show up in the prices of the end product, there is a strong incentive to buy the products which place less burden on the environment.

1 ( +1 / -0 )

Cos, I do hope the UN does not think on your terms, besides ne car, no TV ect,would they also be telling me where I may be domicile. You can bet your life that Helen Clarke has a car, probabley not the small Micra type that I own, probable that she owns a TV ,and many other electronics. I will accept constructive criticsism,but the possibility of anyone dictating where I should live is a bridge too far.PS I do have a pony, maybe I could harness her to a trap

0 ( +0 / -0 )

We cut car use, you cut rampant population growth. Deal?

0 ( +0 / -0 )

my car is not a luxury,

Well, that is you. The statement was not that cars must be abandoned, the statement was that we consume too many and use them too much. There are people who buy a new car just to enjoy a new car. Just making the cars produces pollution. My car is also a necessity. But I keep them for a long, long time. Then there are people who don't really need cars, but have them anyway. And let us not forget those driver complete gas guzzlers just for the sake of their weak egos.

Manufacturing TVs also creates pollution. But my excuse for having new ones is that my old ones were electricity hogs. Still, I do have one too many at my house. The one in the bedroom only gets used when someone gets sick.

-1 ( +1 / -2 )

The formation is not smart. But at some point become obsolete. We used to ride donkeys and horses. Then that was cars. No cars will become like horses...

Living in the back of beyond in the middle of nowhere with no public transport, my car is not a luxury, its a nessassity.

It's a necessity that you live in the sticks and commute ? Sure some people are farmers or whatever, but most people that live away from public transportation do it only by pleasure. If they accepted to live like in 1930, without all the modern comfort, with one bus/ food delivery per week, that could be an ecological choice, but no, they want everything people living in collectivities have. If your house is 10 km away from the next town, it's probably 10 km of road, water, electricity, built/maintained for one person or one small family. Stuff delivered, services (doctor, elderly care, TV repairman...) costs the additional 10K of transportation. That ads up. Populations have to regroup and share all services, not necessarily to the biggest city, but around towns. Those that stay outside the collective circuit should settle for less.

-1 ( +0 / -1 )

I do hope Japan is included in their definition of the West; Japan clearly doesn't need more TVs; the over-abundance of TVs used for the sole purpose of advertising here is quite obscenely unnecessary (especially when a simply cardboard sign would suffice). And in this supposed time of "setsuden" too.

-2 ( +2 / -4 )

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