Green and mean

I fear this is going to be a long entry, as I've just read an article about plans to start levying a "Green Tax". Nothing riles me more than the global warming evangelists. Today it is trendy to persecute and raise taxes under the auspices of it being "for the environment". This is nonsense. The only reason is to get more and more tax from us, and of course nobody can complain if it's for the environment, right?

Motorists have long been targeted. Crippling fuel duties, and now road taxes based on vehicle emissions. Company car tax is based on emissions. High- profile people, who must have some modicum of intelligence somewhere, target 4x4 owners because they are an easy target. A couple of years or so ago in the States there was an advertisement depicting 4x4 drivers to be supporters of terrorism. I can only presume that the petrol companies monitored what sort of vehicle was filling up and made sure that the profits from 4x4 drivers was sent straight to Mr Bin Laden, and the profits from all other sorts of vehicles was sent back to do whatever else the oil firms do with their billions. Strange idea to send out. Surely by default then we are all supporting terrorism, just some support it about 10% less than others, so that's Ok.

I don't own a 4x4. I used to, and guess what? It was actually the most fuel-efficient vehicle I've ever owned, as it was a diesel. It was also a practical, comfortable car. Where is the problem? The ridiculous banding of road taxes was designed to hit 4x4 owners but ended up hitting "sensible" saloon cars as well. Anyway, I no longer have my 4x4. Instead I have a saloon and a 7-seater MPV. The MPV is not very fuel efficient, and therefore attracts high tax and high fuel-duty. But this vehicle has countless times saved us from taking two cars on a journey, which would have been far more polluting. Obviously I get no discount for this.

Now they are talking about taxing air travel (more than they already do). On the face of it, it seems sound logic; aircraft produce far more emissions than cars do and must be punished. But this would have bad consequences for all of us. It would limit global movements and probably cause closures and job losses in the industry. Not a good thing, but hey, it's for the environment, right? I like the fact bandied around by the airline people: Cows produce more carbon monoxide than planes. So lets get rid of the cows. Or at least tax them.

One little fact that has been mentioned in passing is that the UK is responsible for 2% of the worlds energy use. Frankly, that ain't a lot. If we reduce our energy usage by, say 20% - which is a lot - the total world energy consumption will fall by 20% of 2% which is 0.4%. This is nothing. If we use standard number rounding rules, this is 0%. Energy consumption in the UK is not going to increase much, either. It is countries like China and India that are going to increase their consumption and emissions by huge amounts over the next fifty years. By that time, our 2% will probably be down to 1% or 0.5% of the world total. Bearing this in mind, we could shut down our power stations, park up our cars and close all industry for good (basically the Labour Party manifesto, then), return to the bronze age and it would make absolutely no difference whatsoever to the world. So tell me how taxing us even more will help? It won't. It's all about the money.

The final point I'm going to make here is that man-made global warming is not a fact - it is a theory. Scientists have been known to have incorrect theories in the past, you know. The earth is flat and the sun revolves around us, for starters. Oh, and there's nothing smaller than an atom. There is no accurate long-term data to point to man's activities causing climate change (as it is now known as). What we do know is that the climate on earth has changed many times over the millennia. This has had nothing to do with man. If we are not causing it, we are also powerless to stop it. Our influence is not that great.

Climate change zealots will rubbish this. But answer one question: The last ice age ended about 10,000 years ago, without the invention of the motor car or the power station. How did the earth warm up then?