Tim Worstall spotted a new article by Jonathon Porritt. However something else in Jonathon's article grabbed my eye.
Somewhere between 35-50% of the Maldivian economy is dependent on tourism. Without it, his economy is stuffed. .... So the President thanked us for coming... He also thanked us, as a bunch of greenies, for bearing our carbon guilt with good grace, and hoped we would all offset the emissions caused...So the Maldives depend on tourism. Tourism is by definition from the eco greenies a highly dangerous activity for the future of the world. They tell us not to fly to exotic locations for our holidays. Or else places like the Maldives will disappear under the sea. Tourism should be stopped because of all the flights people take for their holidays. So that means the end to the Maldives either way. Or does it?
Eco greenies are still keen on their "guilty pleasures" and so to stop feeling hypocritical they invented the carbon trading machine. A system which means that you pay for your pleasure by putting money towards some green scheme such as planting trees. Thank god! The Maldives have been saved. However it hasn't stopped them being hypocritical.
This carbon offsetting is a tax. So you either pay less for your holiday and don't go to the Maldives or you spend less in the Maldives. Either way the Maldives gets less money. So the Maldives lose out no matter what. For the Maldives read any other holiday destination.
PS. What Jonathon Porritt is doing in the Maldives when "his lot" is against the general unwashed from wasting CO2 is beyond me. Why not video conference like they always preach to the rest of us?
Frankly the utter, insufferable rank hypocrisy of some of these people makes my blood boil.
ReplyDeleteBiased BBC caught some good ones recently.
And the quote from Friends of the Earth at the end of this article near made my head explode.
Hmm...any chance someone could change the stylesheet on this blog so that links are highlighted blue in comments instead of a very light gray?
ReplyDeleteInteresting. At this point I admit to having visitted the Maldives on no less than nine seperate occassions, most recently about 18 months ago.
ReplyDeleteThe highest point in the Maldives is 2m above sea level, so if you listen to the eco gloomies, since I first went there 15 years ago, the ocean has already risen more than that and the country no longer exists - which is odd considering it is still there.
When I first went, there were about twevle resort islands. I booked two years in advance to get where I wanted. I travelled out of
Male by seaplane (still a favourite experience when I go). There was one company with four planes and the 'terminal' was a corrugated roof supported by four posts. Alcohol was strictly verboten. In the resort, the wine waiters and bar staff were Sri Lankans as the local were not even allowed to handle the bottles!
Things have changed - where hasn't? There are now over 120 resort islands and two seaplane companies. There is a shiney new seaplane terminal with comfy chairs and air con. Maldivian Air Taxi has just taken delivery of its 34th plane.
They still confiscate booze if you try to take it in, but I suspect that's more to do with maximising the profits in resort than religion.
I go there most Februaries, although this year I did a trip round the caribbean on a schooner instead. I was thinking of going back in the new year but have decided not to. The prices have risen violently n the last 24 months. My last visit cost just under £6k but to stay in the same room next year will cost £11k for the same thing.
My friends are going to a cheaper island. I'm still looking. What is apparent is that the Maldives are going super upmarket and that's way away from the no news, no shoes I love. It's not what it was. I don't want a butler, or a spa, or a water bungalow, or an a la carte restaurant and, moreover, I don't want to pay for it either.
On the future front, when - and if - it does sink under the waves then the Australians have kindy donated their northern territories for the population to relocate to. I wouldn't hold my breath though given the rate of both commercial and residential development.
I'm glad I went when I did, but next week I'm off to the Pacific instead...
Essex had to suffer these loony ecowarriors yesterday, causing trouble and disruption at the Coryton refinery and..
ReplyDeleteOh. Wait. They didn't actually cause any trouble at all. The refinery was closed for maintenance and all the scheduled deliveries had been despatched.
*chuckle*
Meanwhile, a search for the tag #crudeawake on Twitter shows the fun to be had mocking these idiots...
ReplyDeleteKatabasis: "Hmm...any chance someone could change the stylesheet on this blog so that links are highlighted blue in comments instead of a very light gray?"
ReplyDeleteThey are blue when they've not been clicked on - it's once they are in your browser cache that they display as light grey, as 'read' links...
Oops - didn't notice that Julia.
ReplyDeleteI think it would still be better if their maintained the colour (or at least a more noticable one) even if one had clicked it already. Reading the passage as if there are no links there makes me sound like a lunatic! :)