Should Indians drive cars?

photo credit: Baranka [says NO! to videos on flickr]

Justin Rowlatt, the BBCs so-called ethical man, says:

Now that my year of living ethically has come to an end I am free to explore the question that has haunted me throughout the last year. Do your ethical efforts really count for anything when:

India and China are building new coal-fired power stations every single week.

Well, I agree with the comment posted by jay chandran:

The so-called ethical man who blames India and China saying they are massive polluters is making a mockery of his own common sense and those of the readers by forgetting that China and India together are home to nearly 36% of world population and the per capita CO2 consumption of these 2 countries are some of the lowest in the world.

The people in the developed world including the UK should do something about their own lifestyles including:

• low cost flights
• yearly holidays to exotic destinations
• high energy consuming lifestyles, including total dependence on cars for transport

before lecturing the 3rd world where a minority of the population has just started to enjoy the sort of life that a commoner in the west has enjoyed for decades and majority of people are still suffering extreme poverty.

Tony Blair always gave classic examples of hypocrisy of western leadership on climate change issue when he was asked about his yearly holidays to exotic destinations, that it was for scientists to sort out global warming. I don’t think developing world needs any guidance on ethics of living from the West.

Alternately,I am sure “ethical man” will be able to learn a few lessons himself if he can keep his eyes and ears and more importantly his heart open on his visit to India.