Cycling UK Forum

It's long been a fashion for slebs to preach to the great unwashed about the environment, while jetting round the world in the Gulfstreams and poncing about in their Aston Martin.

Well, Harrison Ford is the latest. At the Global Climate Action Summit yesterday he gave us all a jolly good talking to about the state of the environment. He preached sagely about not electing people to positions of power who don't believe in climate change.

Well, this is the man who owns 7 fixed wing aircraft and a helicopter, and drives one of his two V8 Mercs, his Jag XK140, and ponces around on several motorbikes. But its ok, because he also has a Tesla model S, thus negating all the unnecessary hydrocarbon filth he spews out the rest of the time.

Are these people serious? Are they trying to be funny, or are they really that obtuse? Harrison Ford is to climate change what a certain Mr A. Hitler was to international relations.

I don't mind being preached to by someone with a bit of moral authority, but having Harrison Ford, Bono or even Lily Allen telling us where were all going wrong with our lives takes the jolly old biscuit, to put it mildly.

Agree
There must be many more such slebs
What about George Monbiot, is he better maybe?

If one flies and otherwise uses a lot of resources one can offset the damage, make a donation so trees can be planted somewhere
Better to use fewer resources instead and communicate by www

Has Bono stopped killing African children yet ?

Bonio is even worse. Cant ride a bike properly.

Does anyone remember the hypocrisy of the head of greenpeace when the carbon footprint from his plane travel alone became public. The hypocrite defended it too. Hadn't he ever heard of teleconferencing or telemeetings? We are a SME with less than 50 employees but we often have meetings with different groups of people from around Europe even north America too over the phone. We all call into an arranged number and people come and go as they're needed. It's amazing how efficient it really is. Do you really need to travel round those conferences Mr hypocrite Greenpeace?

It's partly why I no longer listen to greenpeace in any way.

And don't get me onto the topic of that Jolie woman or maddonna or a number of other slebs who get good pr through charities. Bono? Didn't he and u2 do very well or if that bandaid show in London and USA? Queen too. Charity = good pr. I'm not saying that's why they do it but it can't hurt right?

Mind you, I did like the ewan mcgregor motorbike ride programme where he dropped in on UNICEF funded aid projects. Slebs aren't all bad I reckon.

Tangled Metal wrote: Slebs aren't all bad I reckon.

Oh yes they are! Their quest for fame is like a quest for heroin - they'll do owt to get it. When they don't, they become tedious, a nuisance or even dangerous.

Personally I prefer to be a member of the Great Unwashed: disliked or at least of no interest to the mob of other humans. Why is this? They are more honest with you, often revealing everything about their troo feelings. This can be useful.

Cugel

Oh dear!

Threads like this prompt me to take a look in a mirror. There we are, just completed yet another of our 1000-mile trips by car to France and back - by diesel car no less - and there I am advocating cycling and participating in a pro-cycling forum....

What was it Jesus Christ is alleged to have said? "Let he who is without sin....."

Tangled Metal wrote:Does anyone remember the hypocrisy of the head of greenpeace when the carbon footprint from his plane travel alone became public. The hypocrite defended it too. Hadn't he ever heard of teleconferencing or telemeetings? We are a SME with less than 50 employees but we often have meetings with different groups of people from around Europe even north America too over the phone. We all call into an arranged number and people come and go as they're needed. It's amazing how efficient it really is. Do you really need to travel round those conferences Mr hypocrite Greenpeace?

It's partly why I no longer listen to greenpeace in any way.

And don't get me onto the topic of that Jolie woman or maddonna or a number of other slebs who get good pr through charities. Bono? Didn't he and u2 do very well or if that bandaid show in London and USA? Queen too. Charity = good pr. I'm not saying that's why they do it but it can't hurt right?

Mind you, I did like the ewan mcgregor motorbike ride programme where he dropped in on UNICEF funded aid projects. Slebs aren't all bad I reckon.

You are part of Hard Working Britain
Greenpeace is a big rich organisation, maybe like the motor lobby

While I understand the point, and I would far rather that celebrities, as well as the rest of us *hugely* reduce our carbon footprints, there are many obstructions to this, not the least of which is the societal imperative to use cars, and buy consumer goods. Kids have to have tablets and computers and various other things for school. They have to have trainers (just for) PE / gym, parents have to drive them because it's not safe & there's no public transport, etc. etc.

While you and I and Harrison Ford can certainly make changes for ourselves, society will not change until pushed. And pushed needs to be pretty extreme; disincentivising driving and air flights and making other forms of transport (especially public!) convenient, reducing household energy requirements, and subsidising home power generation (wind, solar, heat pumps, etc.), disincentivising consumerism, and encouraging sustainable sources to meet needs for clothing and goods....

All of that takes politcal initiative. That means, not just electing people who believe in climate change, but those who are willing to do something about it.

Harrison Ford is absolutely right about that, whether he jets around spewing CO2 or not. It might improve his credibility to publically reduce his carbon footprint, but not doing so doesn't invalidate his words.

Vorpal wrote:While I understand the point, and I would far rather that celebrities, as well as the rest of us *hugely* reduce our carbon footprints, there are many obstructions to this, not the least of which is the societal imperative to use cars, and buy consumer goods. Kids have to have tablets and computers and various other things for school. They have to have trainers (just for) PE / gym, parents have to drive them because it's not safe & there's no public transport, etc. etc.

While you and I and Harrison Ford can certainly make changes for ourselves, society will not change until pushed. And pushed needs to be pretty extreme; disincentivising driving and air flights and making other forms of transport (especially public!) convenient, reducing household energy requirements, and subsidising home power generation (wind, solar, heat pumps, etc.), disincentivising consumerism, and encouraging sustainable sources to meet needs for clothing and goods....

All of that takes politcal initiative. That means, not just electing people who believe in climate change, but those who are willing to do something about it.

Harrison Ford is absolutely right about that, whether he jets around spewing CO2 or not. It might improve his credibility to publically reduce his carbon footprint, but not doing so doesn't invalidate his words.

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Just to add: Celebrities have a unique power from their position of being very public figures. I'd far rather they use it for stuff like this than more negative things (like, say, telling cyclists to wear helmets )

Vorpal wrote:Just to add: Celebrities have a unique power from their position of being very public figures. I'd far rather they use it for stuff like this than more negative things (like, say, telling cyclists to wear helmets )

The problem with those self-indulgent and often pompous celebs dishing out good advice is that they taint the advice so that the flip-side of the celeb-gawping personality takes agin' the advice as well as the hypocritical celeb. If the advice is good the celeb-gawper, in coming to detest the celeb, adopts attitudes and procedures against the advice, just to "show them". (The celebs never notice, of course, as they are busy at their mirror).

A better approach is to eschew celeb-gawping altogether, since one then needs neither to love or hate 'em. Indifference to glamour is a needful skill in a world full of spell-casting celeb magicians and witches, with their inclination to despoil and pollute good advice, sell us dross and make us feel inadequate.

Cugel

Nobody likes a hypocrite. If you stand up in front of cameras and preach, you should make sure your own house is in order.

All that he was really doing was asking people not to vote for Trump and I am pretty sure that he is not being hypocritical in that.

pwa wrote:Nobody likes a hypocrite. If you stand up in front of cameras and preach, you should make sure your own house is in order.

True. But IME most folk get angry because they don't like feeling guilty.
Ever pulled up a motorist about their driving...

Look at Attenborough telling us how to use plastic - is his existence plastic free!?

Like it or not, folk listen to celebs and if it wasn't for the noise they make an awful lot of stuff wouldn't even be heard about let alone acted on.