I may not be convinced that global warming is purely a result of human factors, but I am totally convinced that we have to radically reduce our carbon output. I also think it is long past time for us to stop relying on petrochemicals for energy.
Apparently, though, at least some of our friends in the Middle East still think it is acceptable to waste resources like they are infinite. One fellow needed an oil change for his Lamborghini- already one of the most energy wasteful vehicles on the planet, but I’m forgiving of that. But instead of taking it to a local shop or bringing specialists to the car, he loaded it up for a round trip flight to London by air. Over $40,000 in shipping costs, plus a $7,000 cost for the oil change itself. But screw the money- that is his to burn as he sees fit. What is really sad is the incredible damage to the environment caused by dumping hundreds of needless kilograms of carbon to baby a car.
If there were such a thing as Karma, the Sheik would start up his Lambo after it’s trip, and it would explode in a blast of leaking gasoline and oil resulting from shipping vibrations. Scratch that- I don’t wish any harm on the billionaire, but I do wish he’d wake up and join the human race.
Frankly, if he wanted to do some good he’d hire those expert techs who changed his oil, pay them outrageous salaries to move to a shop down the road from his palace, and then all of his billionaire friends in the neighborhood could benefit from his world-saving expenditures. Sure, they’d all still be driving carbon belching super cars, but at least they wouldn’t compound the disgusting waste and damage to the environment by flying their machines thousands of miles for service.
The thing is, money represents resources. If we hold that a person is free to do with their money as they wish, then they are also free to do with their share of the worlds resources that money represents as they see fit, even if that screws everyone else.
Indeed, to go to the great cultural bedrock of society – comic books 😉 – one could argue that even just sitting on one’s money is wrong. As we see in spider man, he doesn’t have the choice of just not using his powers and letting the world go to hell. “With great power comes great yada yada…”
Money is pretty much the same thing, being fairly easily converted to power.
It’s things like this that stir the socialist bits of my being… Do I trust anyone ( besides myself, of course ) to be responsible if given super powers? Not really. Do I trust anyone ( other than myself, of course 😉 ) to be responsible if super rich? No, not really.
Part of me really believes that no one should be allowed to become too wealthy, to have too much a slice of the global pie, and cases like this confirm it. That said, the individualist in me also is dead set against everyone having an equal sized slice of pie no matter what.
The question is how do you stop someone from getting “too rich”? And if you can, how do you make it fair?
One of those things I’ll have to work on when I’m supreme world dictator 😉 😀
I suppose it could be worse. The Lambo-pampering billionaire could have had a blanket made of puppies and kittens manufactured to surround his car in protective softness for its trip. While being serviced, he could have had the leather seats treated with oil squeezed from freshly crushed orphan children. And when he drives the car around, he could have starving africans thrown under the wheels to protect the rubber from the harsh asphalt.
Actually, I’m beginning to like this mythical car pampering evil psychopath billionaire I’ve invented. He’s truly a Bondian villain 🙂
Back to the “super powers/great responsibility” thing. I don’t consider billionaires “responsible” for much of anything, other than some level of thoughtful behavior. No super-heroics, just avoiding the extreme shows of outrageous over-consumption.
And it is possible that I’m misreading the whole situation. Maybe the billionaire called together his team of crack science and resource experts, and had them study how much pollution would be produced bringing the service people and setting them up permanently in his back yard, so to speak, versus flying his car to England. And perhaps it actually comes out better for the environment to fly the car to the service guys. Or perhaps this guy is incredibly generous, a benefactor of a great many environmentally sound and forward-thinking causes… and this was his one “stupid” moment, which we are all entitled to.
The cynical side of me, though, imagines something more akin to the Bondian ideal I fantasized about above 🙂