Fun and carbon footprint

As a revisionist battle rages on about the reality of human-caused global warming, I can't help but think that overpopulation and intense human activity in the northern hemisphere are contributing to the massive arctic ice meltdown. This said, I believe that those of us who are the most aware about carbon footprint issues are also the more likely to frequently catch a commercial flight or to ride helicopters for fun and pleasure. As a result, we are talking from both sides of our mouths and ought to reconsider our behaviors before pontificating about some cure against global warming.

I was reminded of that reality when Pierre Verot, a former middle school mate of mine, who's lived in Canada for more than 40 years was sharing his ambivalence on the subject, during a CMH helicopter skiing trip in British Columbia. He was taking some of his clients skiing with Thierry Cardon, a mountain ski guide, chopper pilot himself, who also used to work for a short while with me at the Avoriaz ski school in France. Are we a bunch of hypocrites when we embrace “anything carbon-footprint,” change our light-bulbs, drive Priuses and install solar panels everywhere around our homes, and yet don't think twice before jetting to some far-away vacation spot, taking a not-so-necessary business trip, or racking up some quick vertical in the Canadian Rockies to make tracks on some anonymous mountain range?

The answer is probably yes. Let's face it; most of us love to fly. Some of us even make it a point to collect as many frequent flier miles as humanly possible when business purpose could be as easily and most cost-effectively accomplished by teleconferencing. The airline business is in terrible shape, but the right thing to do in order to address our double-standard might be to levy, upfront, a carbon footprint fee. This would be my tax idea on fossil fuels, with some extra weight placed on jet-fuel; this would fund alternative energies and high speed rail. Yes I know, yet another surcharge, to be fully honest and at least be able to “walk the talk...”