As the global recession takes hold...bugger the environment

In the current issue of Private Eye there is a cartoon in which the EU environment ministers re-assess climate targets. "Great! We can dump these targets that we were never going to meet and blame the banks".

On the same page there is an article about Gordon Brown campaigning to get the price per litre of fuel reduced, yet high fuel prices really were causing people to re-think their driving habits even before the banking system went tits up and people started feeling financially vulnerable.

As we know living in an ethical and environmentally friendly manner can be achieved fairly easily by those who can afford it, but with a recession the number of people who feel that they can afford the luxury of prolonging human existence on the planet beyond their lifetime will surely reduce.

Of course it doesn't need to be expensive to be green, but it takes more effort to do it on the cheap. Let's hope the cause doesn't get forgotten as world governments scramble to find ways to restore the reckless standard of living that their populations have become accustomed.