Green needs to get glamour

We hauled the kids and dog up to London in the driving
rain on Saturday, and marched them from Millbank to Grosvenor Square, alongside
12,000 assorted protesters. It was very jolly; people dressed as polar
bears and riding electricity-generating bicycles.

But, as we sat over our - expensive - lunch later, we felt a little
depressed. The protesters were great, and committed, but they were the
same hippies, shouting the same message. Why is no one listening? Why
is caring about the climate still a fringe activity?

The fact is that climate change is a reality, and a pressing one. It's
going to affect us all, whether in our lifestyle or our pockets. At
this very moment, ministers from every country in the world are in
Bali debating how we deal with it. But 2/3 of the British population
doesn't trust the politicians to deal with it. And they're right, of
course. Radical action to cut carbon emissions is politically
unpalatable.

But what we doing then? Recycling makes bugger all difference.
Stopping using plastic bags isn't going to do much other than con our
consciences into believing we're making a contribution. And as for off-setting...

It's all a little bit better than nothing, I guess, but when is Middle England
going to stand up and shout about it?

I'm afraid that all the good intentions and work being done by the
'Green Movement' is, if anything, a hindrance. All the dreadlocks
and piercings keep it a fringe movement. It needs to become
both cool and posh. It needs to be adopted by Sloanes and celebrities.
The Duke of Beaufort and Daniel Craig have to get on their bikes. Tara
Palmer-Tomkinson needs to picket the Porche garage. We need a wind
farm at Cliveden!

Somehow, sometime soon, green needs to become the new black. But how?