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Nothing but the truth
Page 9
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Brian Weatherley asks wh' environmental lobbyists, w so much valuable informal at their fingertips on how v\ can save the planet, can't n bending the facts to suit thâ– anti-truck prejudices.
If there's one thing I hate more than propaganda it's bad propaganda. Take the press release I recently received from the International Association of Public Transport (U1 Under the heading "Keep Kyoto on track" it assured me: "Increasing the use of rail and public transport is the sing most effective strategy for reducing CO2 emissions." OK, buy that-up to a point.
You can't argue with the proposition that reduced use of cars will reduce the exhaust emissions that contribute to greenhouse gases. Cue that warm green glow that leaves environmentalists so insufferably smug. Fine, OK, leave that. Message received.
But the UTIP couldn't resist adding some classic misinformation: "The transport sector is responsible for 20' of global CO2 emissions. However, 84% of these emission; come from the road sector with private cars, sport utility vehicles and the high number of lorries accounting for the lion's share of emissions."
" More CO, is prod each passenger on a flight from Florida t HGV produces in to
Note the phrase "high number of lorries". There are 410,000 HGVs in the UK and 23 million cars. Is the UTIP re telling the world that trucks in Britain create more greenhot. gases than cars? The release then went on to promote onE of the biggest myths in the greenhouse debate: "Rail is responsible for just 1% of the transport sector's emissions.' That's odd, considering that electric trains rely on power stations for their energy, and the power generation industry the single biggest producer of greenhouse gases across tl EU at 32% of the total.
What I don't understand is why the UTIP is prepared to alienate potential supporters like me when it could be goini more obvious targets like the US government, which refus( to ratify the Kyoto agreement, or the aviation industry as long ago as 2000 a report claimed that more CO, is produc for each passenger on a return flight to Florida than an HG' driven for four months. And who came up with that little nugget'? Why, Friends of the Earth.