Friday 9 September 2011

Another environmental lecture from Prince Charles

Prince Charles continues his doomsday scaremongering. He demands that people should "change their lifestyles so they consume less petrol, food and other resources":

Mankind faces extinction, the Prince of Wales has warned, unless humans transform our lifestyles to stop mass consumption, run away climate change and destruction of wildlife
--
He referred to a “sustainability revolution” that would force people to change their lifestyles so they consume less petrol, food and other resources.
“History will not judge us by how much economic growth we achieve in the immediate years ahead, nor by how much we expand material consumption, but by the legacy for our grandchildren and their grandchildren,” he said. “We are consuming what is rightfully theirs by sacrificing long-term progress on the altar of immediate satisfaction. That is hardly responsible behaviour. There is an urgent need for all of us to concentrate our efforts on sustaining, nurturing and protecting the Earth’s natural capital and, moreover, reshaping our economic system so that Nature sits at the very heart of our thinking.”

Read the entire article here

Reality check 1:

Accounts released by the prince’s Clarence House office show that Charles spent £1.08 million (€1.2m) on air and rail travel in 2010-2011, a rise of 56% from the previous year.
--

Charles’s spending is spiralling out of control. Why on earth are taxpayers continuing to fund his lavish lifestyle when public services are being cut," Republic spokesman Graham Smith said.
(link)

Reality check 2:

Residences
Clarence House, the former London residence of the late Queen Elizabeth, the Queen Mother, is the Prince of Wales' current official residence. Previously, he resided in an apartment at St James's Palace. Charles also holds a private estate in Gloucestershire, Highgrove House, and one in Scotland, the Birkhall estate near Balmoral Castle and also previously owned by the Queen Mother. Upon the occasion of his marriage to Diana, Charles had reduced his voluntary tax contribution from the profits generated by the Duchy of Cornwall from 50% to 25%.
In 2007 the Prince purchased a 192–acre (150 acres of grazing and parkland, and 40 acres (160,000 m2) of woodland) property in Carmarthenshire, and applied for permission to convert the farm into a Welsh home for him and the Duchess of Cornwall, to be rented out as holiday flats when the royal couple is not in residence. Though neighbours said the proposed alterations flouted local planning regulations, the application was put on hold while a report was drafted on how the alterations would affect the local bat population. Charles and Camilla took residence at the new property, called Llwynywermod, in June 2008.
In 2006 the Prince bought a house in the village of Viscri in south-eastern Transylvania, one of the Saxon villages with fortified churches in Transylvania designated in 1993 as a World Heritage Site by UNESCO; in 2008 he bought another house in the village of Valea Zălanului / Zalánpatak in the Székely Land region of Transylvania, a 16th century village probably founded by one of the Prince's Transylvanian ancestors. Both properties are rented out as guest houses when the Prince is not in residence

(link)

PS
My free advice to His Royal Highness: Why not begin by changing your own lavish lifestyle? It might increase your credibility as an environmentalist.

This is not quite enough : 
Britain's Prince Charles has converted his 38-year-old Aston Martin to run on biofuel made from surplus wine, his office revealed Tuesday.

2 comments:

A K Haart said...

That man is embarrassing. Funny how the BBC doesn't highlight his personal consumption isn't it?

Edward Spalton said...

But I bet that the Aston Martin runs on a very good vintage!