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It's about time...

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jnoshea:
I just wrote another letter to my MP with the following letter (write to your MP too but please don't cut and paste from mine as they ignore identical letters).

Thanks for the very nice reply that you sent to my last letter concerning the recent rise in anti 4x4 activity. I completely agree with you that a carbon quota or allowance is what is needed rather than demonstrations and agression. In fact, since our last correspondance my family and I have been able to reduce our carbon emissions even further through the installation of a condensing combi boiler to replace our ailing old one. On a more depressing note though, something really needs to be done about the groups of vandalising protestors out there that think they can save the world from climate change by destroying a 4x4 on the street or on a dealership forecourt. Incidents of carving with stones or spraypainting anti 4x4 slogans into vehicles are on the rise, as is slashing tyres. These actions merely increase polution due to the energy costs of the repairs and contribute to a climate of fear in our communities. Similarly, those groups calling for an increase in road fund tax for 4x4 vehicles are not seeing the wider context. If this were to happen, I would obviously need to absorb the additional cost somehow as my family of five and the driving I do requires it. Rather than spending money as we do now on fair-trade goods, local farm produce, green electricity and energy efficient products, this money would instead have to go towards the increased tax and we would be forced instead to buy the cheapest products rather than the most environmentally sound. Besides, an increase in tax would simply elevate the status of 4x4s amongst the very wealthy. There is also no justification for a ban on 4x4 vehicles in cities: why is it ok for millions of people to commute 50 miles every weekday in a 'normal' car, but not ok for me to go shopping on the weekend in my Land Rover (I walk to work usually)?

In my opinion educating the public is the key here. The government needs to present the facts and not let organisations like Greenpeace and the anti-4x4 alliance with their own narrow agendas misinform the public. The 30 mpg I get from my diesel Land Rover Discovery is about average for UK cars (of all ages), and it even runs on biodiesel whenever we pass the garage in Grantham that sells it. It's almost as if the public think their car produces no CO2 at all because they are not told the truth. I fully support environmental labelling on cars like the ones we see on fridges and our new boiler so that people can see that a new Mini Cooper is e.g. a category D just like a diesel Discovery. In time the government could bring in legislation in the future to prohibit the sale of new cars below a certain rating (as they do now with gas boilers). This would drive forward hybrid technology and greater efficiency in all vehicles. I have pleaded with Greenpeace for months now to steer their campaign towards education and away from protesting only about Land Rover (and no other cars it seems) which is encouraging mindless vandalism and even more damage to the climate (even though officially they don't endorse such action). Unfortunately, they are not listening and have vowed to persue the current hate campaign. I am a lecturer at the University of Nottingham with a substantial research programme in solar power and I've recently been featured in an institute of physics report on renewable energy. Many of my fellow 4x4 drivers are equally concerned about the environment and minimising their carbon footprint. Why should we have to shoulder the blame for climate change alone when we are doing all we can to stop it?

TimM:

--- Quote from: "datalas" ---Later when I came home
--- End quote ---


So it was you!!!!!!!  :twisted:   :lol:

DaveS:
These green peace w******s should be made to live in houses with no gas or electricity, made to go everywhere on foot or bilkes.They should also be made to do outdoor jobs where they won't be exposed to earth destroying central heating!!

See how long it takes them to get real!!!


Rant over!!

 :(biglaugh):

littlepow:
Wouldn't he look stupid if aerosols were filled with nasty chemicals and gasses!

Pity he hasn't the brains to put his time and effort into a worth while altenative that meets the requirements of the market while improving the ecological foot print of such vehicles.

Range Rover Red:
Why is it that these protesters think that their mindless criminal damage will make the people they are protesting against change their ways?  If I came back to my car and found it covered in spray paint, I wouldn't think 'Oh, I must walk 20 miles a day to work and back because I'm such an evil person', I'd be more likely to think 'If I catch the little a***hole that's trashed my car, I'll quite happily ram his spray can down his throat sideways and then drive over him!'  As someone earlier in the forum said, 'Get a life'


Other contributors have already explained very eloquently how I, and many of us, feel.  Don't get me started. :evil:

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