Look what I found on Wikipedia....
"The Asia Development Bank estimates there are 100-million two-stroke vehicles in South and Southeast Asia - each producing the pollution equivalent of 50 modern automobiles. In fact, the combined emissions of these 100 million vehicles equates to 10 times the emissions of all of the automobiles in the world. The resulting air pollution causes thousands of premature deaths every year and interferes with children's lung development."
Despite the fact that the article is unsourced, it is the kind of information that makes you think about how guilty we're made to feel about our own energy usage, and wonder whether we (in Ireland and the "West" generally) are getting more than our fair share of enviro-bashing.
There's no doubt in my mind that we should use energy wisely and only as necessary, but aren't we to be applauded for the the fact that it's hard to buy an appliance with worse than a B rating? Or a new ordinary car that does less than 35mpg? Let's keep up the good work, for sure, but let's not kid ourselves that it's likely that the serious part of the energy problem lies elsewhere, in such places as old coal-powered electricity generation stations, in economic growth in developing countries and in vast fleets of military vehicles...
"The Asia Development Bank estimates there are 100-million two-stroke vehicles in South and Southeast Asia - each producing the pollution equivalent of 50 modern automobiles. In fact, the combined emissions of these 100 million vehicles equates to 10 times the emissions of all of the automobiles in the world. The resulting air pollution causes thousands of premature deaths every year and interferes with children's lung development."
Despite the fact that the article is unsourced, it is the kind of information that makes you think about how guilty we're made to feel about our own energy usage, and wonder whether we (in Ireland and the "West" generally) are getting more than our fair share of enviro-bashing.
There's no doubt in my mind that we should use energy wisely and only as necessary, but aren't we to be applauded for the the fact that it's hard to buy an appliance with worse than a B rating? Or a new ordinary car that does less than 35mpg? Let's keep up the good work, for sure, but let's not kid ourselves that it's likely that the serious part of the energy problem lies elsewhere, in such places as old coal-powered electricity generation stations, in economic growth in developing countries and in vast fleets of military vehicles...
And if you still feel guilty after reading that, head on over to Power of One where you can, at least, try to improve your personal energy efficiency. Other than that, I suggest you start writing letters to foreign governments, asking them to improve their energy consumption.
Is this controversial?
Is this controversial?
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