California steaming
Posted by Paul Horrell at 12:00PM on Friday 02 February, 2007 7 Comments
I've been in America this past week and a half, driving the Audi R8 and the Opel GT (see the Drives Blog) and doing a couple of Big Stories for your future delight. Every one of those days I've seen some neat illustration of the mindset that leads this country to be such a colossal per-capita consumer of resources.
They just behave as if there's no limit, because for nearly all of their history as a nation there hasn't been. It's such a huge place with unimaginable extents of land and oil and water and minerals.
I think that's why as people they behave with such unforced generosity. It's also why as a nation they can seem so bloody selfish, running what looks from the outside like a scorched-earth foreign policy.
Anyway, tonight's dinner was the perfect illustration.
We're in Palm Springs, California, at the end of the Opel GT drive. Dinner was a barbecue. Now Palm Springs is a warm place but in January it's pretty parky at night. So for the 20 of us the hotel had rigged up 19 patio heaters.
Each one of them a little global-warming machine: pouring out carbon dioxide so we could eat in shirtsleeves. Because here in Palm Springs, putting on a sweater is the oddest notion in the world.
Now Palm Springs lies in the middle of a desert. All the lawns have sprinkler systems. Unfortunately someone had neglected to override the timer for the automatic sprinklers where we were sitting. Halfway through the main course, they cut in and everyone got thoroughly doused.
So there in a nutshell you had the American talent for bending nature to its will, whatever the cost. Pouring water to get a green lawn in the desert and pouring out heat to get it warm.
Everyone else went inside to continue the meal but of course we Brits are used to a drop of rain so we stayed out. And watched slack-jawed as the hotel staff ran around and, instead of shutting off the now-redundant heaters, turned them up to dry the cushions on the chairs.
We were sweating; butter was melting on the table. We asked them to turn the heaters down. Instead I half expected someone to arrive with a portable air-conditioner.
(In the interests of disclosure I should say that chasing stories for Top Gear I'm in the middle of a run of 15 flights in 25 days. So it's not that I'm exempt from global warming censure myself. Mr Pot, may I introduce Mr Kettle?)
Advertiser links
7 Comments for "California steaming"
POST A COMMENT USING THE FORM BELOW
Comments are now closed for the blog archives.
That's America at is finest... I, being an American, totally agree with what you have to say about us.
Some people just don't have any common sense I think. America seems to have more un-sensible people in their country than most.
There are some vast spaces in America, where as a visitor I can well see how locals are almost totally unaware of the rest of the world, with the exception of carefully manipulated TV broadcasting. Many 'rednecks' don't appreciate the complexity of environmental balance because they simply don't perceive it affecting them. But this is a beautiful example of what complete OTT civilised pansies we have become!
All mod cons. Why should we get chilly just to save some admittedly cute penguin living on a glacier in a place we'll never go? Besides, with global warming those heaters will become unnecessary. So in a way, we're actually INCREASING efficiency by being so wasteful. Hurrah to us!
Circuitous logic rules the American mindset. We can justify anything to anyone.
As an American who has lived in Europe for nearly 20 years, I have no defense for the conspicuous consumption of my homeland other than to say that I've also spent numerous evenings in outdoor cafes in London, Germany and Greece being warmed by 'little global warming machines'. Seems to me that when it comes to a choice for immediate comfort and convenience and global environmental concerns, the irresponsibility is universal.
Dear Mr. Kettle
There are options for reducing your environmental impact even when you're forced to make regular flights. I work for Lonely Planet and we offset all of our business flights by contributing to a carbon fund. The cost is surprisingly low in my opinion.
http://www.carbonfund.org/site/
Of course, reducing emissions by living in an environmentally conscious manner is the best option. But for the situations where you are forced to generate carbon dioxide a carbon fund can help to ease your guilty conscience.I completely disagree with Chairman Kaga. Yes I'm not what you'd call an environmentalist, I'd much rather have a Rangey V8 than a Prius, (actually I'd rather have almost any car other than the Prius, except maybe the G-Whizz) but even I know we need to cut down on carbon emissions. You should put a jumper on and not turn the heating up, you should do your washing on a low setting, try not to use your car for short journeys, e.g. going to the local pub. I would still love that Rangey, mind.