Cheryl Brumley (8/11/09)

I was feeling guilty…very guilty. As I measured my footprint on the Carbon Calculator found on The Guardian website, I witnessed with horror an orange dot on the right grow more rotund and prominent on the page. The dot represented my average long-haul trips taken per year matched against the UK average. I never previously pondered its relevancy nor linked the actions of green campaigners to my love of antipodean commutes. I immediately got defensive. I recycle obsessively, take public transportation, turn out every light in the house before I go to sleep, unplug my phone charger when not in use, and I remain supportive of greener policies via the route of renewable energy technology – but reducing my own cultural enrichment exercises (it is a bit obvious I’m trying to find several euphemisms for my atmosphere-thinning travel habits) as a means to save the planet – I was taken aback. Wait a minute, I thought the Plane Stupid campaigns were there to make Heathrow and British Airway managers feel like worthless, polluting human beings – not me…[Continue Reading]