1/ Entirely unsurprising to see @CarolineLucas getting on the 'we need system change, not me flying to America change' train. These kind of insidiously tech-utopian arguments have been gaining ground on the Left for a while now. There's only one problem - they're nonsense.
2/ The 'we need system change' argument deployed by @CarolineLucas mis-characterises systemic decarbonisation as something that doesn't translate into profound changes for individuals. This is a comfortable lie being sold by politicians who are afraid to level with the public.
3/ So, let me be clear - a structural approach to decarbonisation is *just the mechanism through which the burden of reducing emissions is distributed equitably and progressively*. It is not decarbonisation in itself.
4/ It should surely be self-evident that making fossil fuel companies disappear cannot possibly magic away our emissions, when the very transatlantic flights that Caroline Lucas takes advantage of are literally powered by fossil fuels. Aeroplanes don't run on unicorn farts.
6/ By attempting to convince people that there are ways to avoid the horrors of global warming that don't involve massively curtailing consumption at the level of the individual, Caroline Lucas is taking the public for fools. That other politicians do this is no defence.
7/ As I recently noted in an interview with @samgelder, "no one said saving the world was going to be easy or cheap. But the alternative doesn't bear thinking about." The sooner @CarolineLucas & other politicians start being honest about this, the better. hackneygazette.co.uk/news/environme…
8/ ...and the sooner @CarolineLucas and other purported environmentalists in positions of power and influence start leading from the front, rather than excusing away their entirely discretionary, high-carbon lifestyle choices, the sooner the public will take them seriously.
