‘Let’s shoot people’ or ‘skip a Latte and save the world’
The other day at a cocktail party, in an unnamed part of the developing world, I had the joy of coming across a diplomatic factotum of the sole hyper power.
The fellow overheard a conversation where I was predicting a coming German baby boom as most café’s, in Hamburg at least, have switched off the terrace flammenwerfers (overhead gas lamps) and now hand out blankets, the better to cuddle up with. He rolled his eyes, identifying his nationality. Then I bemoaned the fact that my kid had been brainwashed at school into badgering her parents to cut their ecological footprint. Factotum immediately piped in with the his observation that ecological concern was equal across the globe, including the
There is one thing that one has to say about Americans (as opposed to those who represent the hyper power – shall we call them Hyperions?) – they can be most honest. It was with delight that the both of us (one a brit – and we had met merely minutes before) could quote the deliciously American Pew Global study of attitudes (www.pewglobal.org) which showed that Hyperions basically don’t give a bugger about global warming.
I admitted that it was a pain to get used to the strange light from squiggly fluorescent bulbs, but easier than putting up with the nagging of an 11 year old. And the cut in bills was rather nice – we live in Mumbai where we pay about 18 US cents for a unit of electricity.
Factotum could not resist rejoining the conversation and heaved in with the ‘oh that’s ok for you rich people but a cfl (aka squiggly) costs ten times as much as a normal light bulb and our pore people in the US of A can’t afford them’. I checked on the web and found them for about 5 bucks – the price of a bucket of latte at Starbuck’s.
Factotums next shot was ‘the Chinese will never stop emmitting, so why should we.’ Perhaps we should shoot people as well?
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