The social climber’s case for going green

A man I know who works for a large multinational corporation recently took the decision to trade in his people carrier for a Toyota Prius. Very eco-friendly, you might think, but as with so many apparently ‘green’ consumer choices, there’s more to it than meets the eye. For one thing, his girlfriend was so cheesed off — she wanted him to get a BMW — that he bought her a Mini Cooper by way of compensation. And the waiting list for a Prius is so long that for the foreseeable future both he and his girlfriend will be driving cars that run on carbon fuel.

Needless to say, the fact that he’s actually increased his household’s carbon emissions hasn’t prevented him from lording it over less enlightened mortals. He has already announced that for Christmas he’s going to buy everyone a copy of Field Notes from a Catastrophe, Elizabeth Kolbert’s tub-thumping book on climate change.