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Celebrity tree-planting schemes a ?phoney fix? for global warming |
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Stars saving face and not the planet, say radical greens
By Rob Edwards, Environment Editor
Sunday Herald
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CELEBRITIES and big-name companies who have backed ?green? tree-planting schemes are salving their consciences rather than helping to save the planet, according to radical environmental groups.
Kylie Minogue, Dido, Atomic Kitten, Coldplay, Leonardo DiCaprio, the Rolling Stones and scores of others have been asked to withdraw their support for schemes that promise to offset carbon dioxide emissions by planting trees.
According to a coalition of seven radical environmental groups, including one in Scotland, such schemes offer a ?phoney fix?, providing only a temporary respite from pollution, and giving people an excuse to carry on wrecking the climate.
There has been a huge boom in ?carbon neutral? forestry schemes in recent years . One of the biggest, run by Future Forests in London, has signed up 180 celebrity and corporate clients, as well as 45,000 members of the public.
Its business has doubled every year for the past four years, and it is now worth ?2 million. Founded in 1996 by the late Joe Strummer, frontman of The Clash, it has been highly successful in attracting A-list stars to the cause.
Albums by Dido, Coldplay, Pink Floyd and the Foo Fighters are said to be carbon-neutral, as was the last UK tour by the Rolling Stones. To counteract the 11 tonnes of carbon dioxide emitted every year by Leonardo DiCaprio?s cars, homes and travel, he has established forests in Mexico, India, North America and Europe.
Other Future Forests clients include Lulu, Julian Lennon, Mis-teeq, Sugababes, Sting and Shaggy. ?I like the cheekiness of sending people bills for their carbon emissions,? the company quotes BritArt bad boy, Damien Hirst, as saying. ?Tree-f***ing-mendous.?
Companies such as BP, Sainsbury?s, British Telecom, Tetrapak, Orange, Avis and MTV have also supported such schemes, as have the makers of the Hollywood climate change blockbuster The Day After Tomorrow who paid to ?neutralise? the 10,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide released making the film.
?Trees are not magic painkillers that can remove the morning-after effects of fossil- fuel abuse,? said Mandy Haggith of the Worldforests campaign group in Assynt, near Lochinver. ?Marketing schemes that claim tree planting can ?neutralise? fossil-fuel use are misleading and may legitimise behaviour that actually makes climate change worse.?
More @ http://www.sundayherald.com/42829 |
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