The Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS) allows carbon dioxide emissions, by the tonne, to be bought and sold like shares. At the current price of about €8 / tonne (I think… there are very few free sources) and given that a transatlantic flight emits about 1.2 tonnes, you can purchase back your own CO2 for less than £7. Sadly, I don’t know if ETS even allows public trading and I couldn’t find a site on the web that does it either.
The total EU budget for carbon dioxide is about 245,430,000 tonnes per year, but there are about 456,953,258 people in the EU. Even if only one in 100 bought carbon we’d only have to spend about £30 / year to buy up the whole carbon budget – forcing everyone to become carbon-neutral. The companies would probably just pass the costs straight back to us, but its an interesting idea nevertheless.
December 1st, 2006
Watching Last night’s Question Time discussion of bed & breakfast owners’ rights, or lack thereof, to refuse entry to homosexual couples was very disturbing. The opinion of a sizeable portion of the panel and audience seemed to be that the rights of homosexuals was infringing on “the rights of Christians” who believe that same-sex relationships are wrong. They seem to be suggesting that, because of their religious views, they have the “right” to discriminate against others on the basis of their sexuality. From the number of comments on the QT site, they’re not alone. Did I miss the announcement that its now OK to be a bigot?
Lets consider another case: was the taxi driver who refused to allow a blind woman’s dog into his taxi simply using his “religious rights”? Would it be the “religious right” of someone belonging to the Nation of Islam to hang a sign in his B&B saying No Whites?
Clearly the answer to both of these is “no”. Showing tolerance and love to others, even those who are considered wrong or sinful, is written into the scripture of Christianity, Islam and many other major religions. As the article above says, Islamic scripture does not prohibit being near dogs and, according to the Muslim Council of Britain one must wash before praying. I realise that I don’t understand the intricacies of Islamic doctrine, but the fundamental point is that the taxi driver used his religion as an excuse, possibly because it would be easier for him to refuse the dog than to perform the required purification.
The same is true of any Christian refusing homosexuals lodging in a B&B. I seem to remember the Bible has a lot of stuff in it about loving your neigbour (like Matthew 5:44-47, but thats only one example) – they’re using their religion as an excuse for not exercising their responsibilities as Christians to love their enemies as well as their friends.
Clearly, the rights of all humans should be upheld and the right not to be discriminated against (on the basis of their gender, race, sexuality or religious beliefs) is one of those fundamental rights. There is no basis in logic, law or even religious scripture itself for the “rights” of religious people to practise discrimination.
The one thing that a tolerant society cannot tolerate is intolerance.
December 1st, 2006