Three Monkeys Online

A Curious, Alternative Magazine

It’s a Dirty Job But…

Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government John Gormley shows why the Green Party is so popular with da kids by telling us how he spends his days in his blog.This week, John’s in Bali. But he’s not like those FF types with their sleazy junkets. John’s just here to save the planet:”I arrived yesterday evening, it is truly beautiful. It is one of the most popular tourist resorts in South East Asia and it is easy to understand why so many tourists flock here. Unfortunately I will have very little time on this trip to see much of the island. Having seen and heard the weather reports in Ireland in recent days, I know there will be little sympathy for me having to work for the duration of my stay on this tropical island paradise. However I am, along with counterparts from around the world, here in Bali for a very, very important reason.”And to show John takes the environment really seriously, here’s a picture of him with a bike!You might notice that John (or perhaps his department’s assistant secretary, in charge of climate change, his private secretary and his press advisor who all travelled with him) has entitled this snap “Zero carbon travel in Bali.”Unfortately, to get to Bali, John and the hundreds of politicos, NGO types, scientists, journos, and assorted hangers-on had to emit quite a fair bit of CO2. In fact, according to Bloomberg News:”Government officials and activists flying to Bali, Indonesia, for the United Nations meeting on climate change will cause as much pollution as 20,000 cars in a year.The delegates each will produce an average 4.07 metric tons of carbon dioxide, or CO2, to reach the resort island 950 kilometers (600 miles) from Jakarta, according to estimates e- mailed to Bloomberg by the UN agency holding the conference.” But thanks to the Greens’ policy of “carbon offsetting of all official air travel”, the taxpayer should cover any regrettable-but-necessary emissions from John’s Bali team.By the way, love those sandals, John!