Wednesday, October 08, 2008

Civil exchanges online. A rare pleasure.

I got a reply (well, with a few score others) from a celeb jounro!

The piece in question is below, and I'd popped in a sarky one liner more to keep the author on his toes. He's better than most in the green arena, though can, has, does and will still err on being a bit 'thee and me' in the who's in and who's out of Greeleet VIPdom.

But I did swing to his defence a wee while ago when he came out the the nuclear bunker. Not so much for the nuclear bit, but for his right to speak.

Green shoots of recovery

I was just teasing (some of these posts can come across as a bit worthy), and actually really appreciate the fact that an author here a) reads what they have set in motion and, b) better yet takes the time to reply/engage. Few do. Major kudos.

However....

'marklynas
Oct 08 08, 3:18pm

- Junkketeer - We're talking pretty small beer, just a Shares ISA. Without revealing my entire personal finances, I ain't rich, despite having written a couple of excellent books which everyone on this site really ought to rush off and buy. (there, I have shown there is no better thing than repeated publicity)

- youngpretender - you're quite right, of course. RBS is horrible, and their investments in fossil fuels are indefensible. I'll offload those (small quantity of) shares just as soon as they regain some value...'

I, too, am pondering the penning of a eco-book, with all the recycled, natural-inked, 'just had to fly there to find out how flying there was killing us' pitfalls.

But with this being the Grauniad and all, and there being about 20 articles daily on what to do and, more controversially what NOT to do (or else) du jour, it must surely have occurred that fronting up on investing in a company that invests... etc.. was kind of what a lot of folk get lambasted for/finger-waved at by commentators here all the time. Bit like Mr. Monbiot lobbing up (he didn't I hope) in his new motor for the 'hundreds drive round the UK in cars to show how much fuel we can save by being more careful driving' irony event winner today.

Especially if many seem to figure they'll just have one last, wafer-thin PR-jolly to Antarctica to see.. er ... report on how tourism is killing the polar bears before the ice melts. Or hell freezes over. Or those shares gain enough value so a profit can be made first before any enviro-breast-beating kicks in on a per word basis.

Ain't easy, is it, caring about the future but also trying to be pragmatic? Keep up the good work.

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