How does White Van Man become an environmentalist?
If we are to believe what we are told, in fifty years time, our gardens will not grow. Our common English plants will simply dry up and topple over in a sad horticultural capitulation, and green-fingered enthusiasts will be tuning into Radio 4's Gardening programme to find which varieties of Meditterranean and desert plants would best suit our new, baked climate. We will tan like Spaniards during the Summer, and soak like Mancunians all through the Winter.
This seems a tale of sad, nostalgic love for the good old English Country Garden; and little more. Yet there are many prongs to this onslaught of environmentalism, which mean worse for out poor, gasping little Earth. Oil reserves, for instance, are running out. The Peak Oil theory- that the world's oil production would peak and thereafter be in terminal decline until it runs dry- was advanced in the sixties, but seemingly nobody can actually agree on when this hallowed peak will occur- the world's scientists seem to have spent fifty years deciding that the only true way to see the peak will be in retrospect.
Others maintain that the world's oil has already peaked, as 33 of the 48 largest oil producing nations are already in decline. This, I think we can all agree, is a "bad thing". The world's scientists no doubt will take another twenty years to make that quote official, but I stand by it. This has brought our own dear Prime Minister Blair to the forefront of environmental concerns, they being so close to his heart these days (they must serve as a nice distraction from all those unpleasant foreign goings on). Alternative energy sources are being championed; soon PM Blair will be spotted riding a solar-powered chariot around London on his farewell tour.
This is all very well and good, of course, and admirable to boot. Even the token gesture of standing up to George Bush over his Kyoto Protocol violations is a positive move, albeit a hollow one. Yet the fact remains that for all this posturing and campaining, there remains an almighty battle on to actually convince the grass-roots folks of this country that environmentalism is for them. Take, for instance, that doyen of British grit, the White Van Man. He has spent the last nine years being outraged at the rising cost of fuel for his beloved white van; this seething bitterness has never abated, and now, he of the White Van and his white-collar equivalent Mondeo Man, are being asked to consider alternative fuels.
General Motors, under the Chevrolet badge, yesterday unveiled their great white hope- a family car powered entirely by hydrogen, emitting nothing but harmless water droplets where we are used to gushing thick, Victorian black smoke. Yet this project flounders when it's considered- it relies on the assumption that people actually want to help the environment. Will White Van Man really see the difference in his lifetime? No? So why would he change his van and his family cars for one of these silver homogenous eco-pods? Certainly the Government of the day will tax the old fuels to hell and back to encourage a crossover, but when it's done so grudgingly, noone will be willing to embrace this as a cause. A resistence movement could even develop, defiantly driving old American Supercars around and delighting in their fuel consumption, while picketing and sabotaging Hydrogen stations. That'd be a turnaround for the environmentalists, wouldn't it?
Secondly, and in a point that is no less important, all this saving the planet nonsense comes over as, quite frankly, a little bit girly. Men will be very slow on the uptake of alternatively fuelled cars, as to jump on such a green-minded bandwagon would seem in some circles to be the ultimate abandonment of one's masculinity. This isn't just a "car-as-phallus-extension" scenario, it's a more innate conservatism. Let others do the radical bit- it won't become "normal" until it catches on with all walks of like. But it won't appeal to all walks of life until it becomes normal- there's the paradox.
White Van Men across the nation will still be driving their gas-guzzling vans long past the time that these cars come on the market- they will no doubt be highly-priced, they will inspire little or no excitement, and they will make men feel like hippies. They will also still be tending their English plants in their English gardens well beyond the year when our new climate has baked all the azalias to potpourri, and all the grass to straw.
Governments and lobbyists can press all they like, but people will not change until there is a noticeable difference to be had for themselves and their families. If it's a long-term fix to a problem that isn't really causing too many problems just yet, how many people will embrace that as a cause? There are more reasons to change garden shrubs than there are to change vehicle fuel- the dead flowers are at least visible. A hole in our wheezing O-Zone layer isn't.
This seems a tale of sad, nostalgic love for the good old English Country Garden; and little more. Yet there are many prongs to this onslaught of environmentalism, which mean worse for out poor, gasping little Earth. Oil reserves, for instance, are running out. The Peak Oil theory- that the world's oil production would peak and thereafter be in terminal decline until it runs dry- was advanced in the sixties, but seemingly nobody can actually agree on when this hallowed peak will occur- the world's scientists seem to have spent fifty years deciding that the only true way to see the peak will be in retrospect.
Others maintain that the world's oil has already peaked, as 33 of the 48 largest oil producing nations are already in decline. This, I think we can all agree, is a "bad thing". The world's scientists no doubt will take another twenty years to make that quote official, but I stand by it. This has brought our own dear Prime Minister Blair to the forefront of environmental concerns, they being so close to his heart these days (they must serve as a nice distraction from all those unpleasant foreign goings on). Alternative energy sources are being championed; soon PM Blair will be spotted riding a solar-powered chariot around London on his farewell tour.
This is all very well and good, of course, and admirable to boot. Even the token gesture of standing up to George Bush over his Kyoto Protocol violations is a positive move, albeit a hollow one. Yet the fact remains that for all this posturing and campaining, there remains an almighty battle on to actually convince the grass-roots folks of this country that environmentalism is for them. Take, for instance, that doyen of British grit, the White Van Man. He has spent the last nine years being outraged at the rising cost of fuel for his beloved white van; this seething bitterness has never abated, and now, he of the White Van and his white-collar equivalent Mondeo Man, are being asked to consider alternative fuels.
General Motors, under the Chevrolet badge, yesterday unveiled their great white hope- a family car powered entirely by hydrogen, emitting nothing but harmless water droplets where we are used to gushing thick, Victorian black smoke. Yet this project flounders when it's considered- it relies on the assumption that people actually want to help the environment. Will White Van Man really see the difference in his lifetime? No? So why would he change his van and his family cars for one of these silver homogenous eco-pods? Certainly the Government of the day will tax the old fuels to hell and back to encourage a crossover, but when it's done so grudgingly, noone will be willing to embrace this as a cause. A resistence movement could even develop, defiantly driving old American Supercars around and delighting in their fuel consumption, while picketing and sabotaging Hydrogen stations. That'd be a turnaround for the environmentalists, wouldn't it?
Secondly, and in a point that is no less important, all this saving the planet nonsense comes over as, quite frankly, a little bit girly. Men will be very slow on the uptake of alternatively fuelled cars, as to jump on such a green-minded bandwagon would seem in some circles to be the ultimate abandonment of one's masculinity. This isn't just a "car-as-phallus-extension" scenario, it's a more innate conservatism. Let others do the radical bit- it won't become "normal" until it catches on with all walks of like. But it won't appeal to all walks of life until it becomes normal- there's the paradox.
White Van Men across the nation will still be driving their gas-guzzling vans long past the time that these cars come on the market- they will no doubt be highly-priced, they will inspire little or no excitement, and they will make men feel like hippies. They will also still be tending their English plants in their English gardens well beyond the year when our new climate has baked all the azalias to potpourri, and all the grass to straw.
Governments and lobbyists can press all they like, but people will not change until there is a noticeable difference to be had for themselves and their families. If it's a long-term fix to a problem that isn't really causing too many problems just yet, how many people will embrace that as a cause? There are more reasons to change garden shrubs than there are to change vehicle fuel- the dead flowers are at least visible. A hole in our wheezing O-Zone layer isn't.
Labels: Politics
posted by Matt at 9:36 pm
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