Alternative views

The Indy Letters page is always a worthy scope: 'Fuel cards' to fight climate change

Often good suggestions, pithily posed (for some reason they never print mine - even when i try a do pithy)

Take the one on fuel cards. Soul of reason. What's not to like?

Thing is, I stumble with the pure 'tax fuel' notion because it doesn't seem to take into account those who live and work where a car is needed a lot more than places where it is not.

It's a complex interaction, from manufacture through purchase to use and duration to disposal that cannot be reduced so simplistically. And then there are the related issues of alternatives. You simply can't equate an Islingtonista with a Prius for the weekend jaunt to Devon, with a Midlander who has a Fiesta for the daily 100 mile round trip to the factory.

Meanwhile, as I read on to the issue of watercress (next ban?)...

... watercress has been sourced from the US for more than 20 years, many of the farms being British owned. The watercress is air-freighted on passenger-scheduled airlines, so as to reduce carbon emissions.

Try as I might, I can't see how air-freighting something reduces carbon emissions. At least without some qualifier to explain the possible alternatives.