Flying airplanes generates a lot of greenhouse gas emissions. So, according to the global warming doomsayers we should endeavor to fly less. Indeed according to a recent article at Grist.org the Bishop of London has proclaimed that it is a sin to fly on holidays.
British supermarket chain Tesco has extended the logic to food. That is it’s going to restrict the importation of air freighted goods by half and introduce a system of carbon counting labeling.
Al Gore should approve.
But farmers in Kenya who have developed produce to meet Tesco’s previous environmental requirements are not so sure.
“What is global warming?”, asks Samuel Mauthike, a small scale vegetable farmer in Kenya.
“Is it something caused by us in Africa?”
According to same story at BBC News, Kenyan Jane Ngige has commented, “One minute we are talking about fair trade and market compliance, the next this is less of an issue and the issue is lessening the carbon footprint of the developed world possibly by cutting markets in Africa”.
Ah, the fickle nature of modern environmentalism!
Jennifer Marohasy BSc PhD has worked in industry and government. She is currently researching a novel technique for long-range weather forecasting funded by the B. Macfie Family Foundation.