Further to my previous comment - of course we should all do whatever we can to preserve the environment; I just object to wealthy liberal media figures preaching down to the rest of us about how evil our life choices are, when for most people life is a struggle regardless.

Andrew, London,

Going green would be fine if not for the fact that all of the Greenies want everyone else to live the way they do. Oil is what powers our modern society; not oxen, or bikes, or solar panels, or wind. The rest of the world is drilling, why aren't we?

Bill, Peoria, Illinois

We were all green once? No, we were all poor. Holidays at home...because of no money, hand me downs because we couldn't afford new clothes. If you want hand me downs, go to the Salvation army store. We have the highest standard of living in history, why do we want to live like Scrooge?

Bill, Dallas, USA

"Meanwhile the demand for takeaway pizzas and McDonald's has risen as people find the cheapest way to eat."

Pardon me, the cheapest way?

Peter Morrow, Tandragee,

I have never considered myself an enviromentalist. Just a rational human being. I send my newspapers and aluminum
cans to places that recycle them. I donate excess household
items to others. I never waste anything. This carbon credit scam is just that. Don't fall for it. More taxes.

Karen, Marietta, U. S.

The controversy about the green movement is irrelevent. The crux of this matter is that the current model of consumption on which industrial economies are based has a very finite lifetime. As such we should be looking for new technologies to maintain and improve lifestyles worldwide in this new age.

David, Newcastle, U.K.

50 years ago we had heat waves, hurricanes and the threat of an ice age but no one blamed Us for the unpredictable predictably changing climate. We practiced 'Waste Not Want Not" with no "green" taxes or control over our lives. I want my grandkids to be free of the global warming scam

Catherine, San Francisco, Ca

Yes, that's right all you Global Warming deniers. You won't be around when your great-grandchildren have no oxygen to breathe, so why should you morons care?

eric campbell, harrogate, uk

I remember lots of hot summers when I was a kid so, obviously, Global Warming is just a hoax.

CO2 levels are only twice as high as at any time in the past 1 million years and everything is just fine, so let's just keep going as we are and see what happens. Our kids will thank us for it.

John, Lisbon, Portugal

What is actually happening is that people are starting to wake up to the fact that global warming is a lot of nonsense, designed to make Al Gore rich, and as he made 100 million US dollars last year alone from selling carbon credits, the dodgiest scheme ever, the rest of us struggle!

Alex, Queensland, Australia

People are seeing through the hypocrisy of the likes of Prince Charles and his horse Camilla, who took a luxury Caribbean cruise to supposedly reduce their carbon footprint, when we all know Camilla hates flying and loves cruising!

Charlotte Browning, Bolton, England

In Tasmania an Island devided by green policy.friction abounds.some "greenies" wish people would go away.!new pulp mill causing hysteria.Hitler style rantings."no" to nuclear "no"to everything .quaking farmer{on TV} complains posums/wallabies destroying crops ,no food.species protected,do nothing.

hugh, hobart, Australia

According to a one Mr A Scargill we have hundreds of years of coal under our feet, so lets be pragmatic and start mining and using the damned stuff instead of listening to the twittering classes who have far more money the common sense.

Sid Jacques, Durham,

It's the packaging. Package it, as some have, in terms of tangible benefits and you will reach more people. Continue trying to guilt people into it and you will fail miserably. I have come to believe that there are some who care more about looking down on others than any concern over the planet.

John, Lebanon, USA

This is nothing more than a stealth tax, I think the majority of people do their bit but while China is still using fossil fuels for their power stations anything we do is cancelled out.The government will make token gestures while using the rest of the money for trips to the olympics etc etc

Les Merton, Chester, uk

For those with short memories Mrs Thatcher was the first green politician!!!!

paul, London,

They actually sell fresh free range Chicken in Lidl's...

Elly, Southsea, England

Oh how surprising! Run a story saying people are feeling less green and the 'climate change is bunk' comments flood out! Scientific fact lead us to believe the climate is changing. It is not a simple science and perhaps the government has not recognised that but that does not mean that it is no true

Rebecca C, Kettering,

In other words, capitalism works. Shocking.

Frank, Lexington, KY, USA

I was an environmental Koolaid drinker until I learned that CO2, as a percentage of the earth's atmosphere, is a mere .038% ... that's thirty-eight thousands of one percent! It's a TRACE GAS. Now I say to Greenie people: GET A GRIP!

Steve, Philadelphia, USA

What a reactionary point of view. This kind of mindless posturing does nothing to confront the very real problems we are facing in the worlds environment today. It's ironic that readers complain that the so called greens are only trying to make themselves feel better. Grow up and get real.

Samuel Waumsley, Cape Town,

How is being green harmful or liberal? It's a concept of conservation and just becuase more liberals back the idea of being green and helping sustain the environment republicans pass it off as dumb or self-serving. Open your eyes and more importantly your minds.

A, Hoboken, USA

I never believed in global warming. If people were yapping about it 20 years ago and nothing happened, then what more now? Some people can't afford to pay extra taxes on their cars because their families are bigger. Stop punishing people who do no wrong, since global warming isn't real anyway.

Jessica, Antioch, USA

The one person that Sir Matthew Pinsent left out of his very comprehensive list of Olympic heroes/moments was Don Thompson, the 50km walk gold medallist of the 1960 Rome Olympiad. Thompson trained by stoking up the heat and humidity in his bathroom with artificial heaters.

john gatehouse, Salisbury, UK

Back around 1975 Brian Eno produced a really great record called Another Green World. Listening to this is as green as I get.

People loose their minds when the power goes out for two hours. How could we get along with just two light bulbs and no coffee maker or refrigerator?This is what they want.

Steveo, roanoke, va, usa

The Green movement is just another new age Fad. They come along every so often, catch for awhile until everyone gets burned out. Then these very same People get caught up in the next new Trend that comes around. Absolutely madness, like a dog chasing its own tail.

Robert, Redondo Beach, California, USA

Actually, these people have blamed the wrong group. The way Capitalism works is to co-op every movement for change and turn it into a consumable. Look at what the economy did with the 1960's protests against wars or the anti-capitalist Reggae music. The "organic" movement was Capitalist--not green.

Dayahka, Aberdeen, USA

It's always those who never have to worry where their next paycheck is coming from or whether they will have a pension, a roof over their head, food on the table or healthcare that ask everyone else to make sacrifices. They are called Liberals.

James K, Eugene, Or, USA/Oregon

My god the torrent of criticism against the green agenda from the US is shocking. Whether people agree with going 'green' or not there are finite resources in the world and the price we pay for them will increase as they become scarcer or demand increases. Going green can be cheaper for us over time

Phil Ling, London, UK

The day I take direction or advice from Burchill or O'Leary will be a sad day indeed.
The point being missed here is that fossil fuels are a finite resource and they're increasingly held by unstable regimes eg Iran, Russia. This is the biggest short term problem....

Mark Murray, Wilmslow, UK

Environmentalism isn't failing. Its liberalist/Marxist tactics have failed jjust as they will fail for Obama, Gore, Clinton, Matthews/Oberman/Abrams, Hollywood and academia in trying to destroy America and rebuild it in their communist image.

Len, Grapevine, TX, USA

Sad to say that the vast majority in both the U.K and the U.S. are too ignorant and lazy to make any effort to improve the world, even if it just means putting their waste in different bins.
They now have another convenient excuse to continue doing nothing and no political will to force change.

Bill Atkins, Rehoboth Beach, USA

There are loads of ways to be 'Green'. It's not all about buying posh organic food.

Ignore all these rants. Being Green IS worth it.

Jessica, Horsham, West Sussex

Jake in Atlanta says: "environmentalist did not make gas go to over $4/gallon." Really? Who is resisting new oil drilling, new refineries, nuclear power? America imports 70% of its oil *precisely* because of "green" resistance to developing domestic resources. "Lower educated"? Look in a mirror.

James, Charleston, SC, USA

Thank goodness for this article (and book)! "Going green" can't go out soon enough, in my opinion.

Ana Pattison, Hummelstown, USA

Alright, I do agree that Gore et al and what they say are stupid.

Yet a glance across the responses here makes it plausible for one to predict that every mockery on the green dolts here is likely to be followed by......a new Hummer for each family member, gleefully and without reproach.

Tony Chen, Hong Kong, PRC

Jake, you are the one who obviously lacks education. Either that, or you are a product of a liberal public school. The reason gas went over $4/gallon is because the liberals/environmentalists blocked drilling in the US and made us more dependent on foreign oil. Also, they protest nuclear energy.

regina wright, oakville , canada

Cloth diapers/nappies are much cheaper than disposables. I used them for 3 kids because the savings were substantial. Just put them through a cold water rinse with a little bleach and then wash with a load of whites. (I have always been frugal so am not very impacted by these times.)

Fay, Charlottesville, USA

I was shocked recently when phoned by my nephew for help with homework. He attends one of the best private schools in the country, and was writing an essay on the reasons for and for not drilling for oil. Startilingly, his teacher provided many reasons no to, and none for! I was appalled.

James, London, UK

It is about time someone realizes this. The people have rejected this for a while now. The only people who actually pay attention to environmental issues are Hollywood, the media and corporations that incorporate "green" into thier advertising. They are losing us.

Aaron, Ellington, CT , USA

Sadly, most Americans as lower educated, selfish folk. What it really comes down to is "...I don't want to have to change my life even it it benefits society as a whole." Yet, environmentalist did not make gas go to over $4/gallon. Inescapable economics will force change and already has begun to.

Jake, Atlanta, US

How exactly is takeaway pizza a 'cheap' way to eat? Last time I looked there was a considerable mark up on supermarket prices for the luxury of have it delivered cooked to your door.

james, London,

It's one thing to not be wasteful or destructive; it's another to use environmentalism as a tool to control or suppress private enterprise and property. In their guilt over affluence, their zeal to save the world is nothing more than contempt for mankind.

Stuart, Michigan, USA

In what way does using less and buying less cost more?

Hannah, London, UK

As I originally predicted, the "green" movement is and was merely something worn by do good liberals as a fashion statement and a way to make them feel better about themselves.
The global warming hysteria is being replaced with common sense and liberals once again lose.

Mark, Charlotte, USA

"Global Warming", oops, I mean "Climate Change" (detect a difference?), is the "Unifying Theory" of the postmodern religion of Environmentalism, American public schools are the "Church", and the media attempts to define and enforce "morals". Is outrageous costs and truth the real remedy?

Joe, Tampa, USA

The teleprompter-reading skills of our New World leader,Obama, have caused the oceans to quickly cool and recede. Yay!!!

Chris, San Angelo,

When was being "green" ever "cool"?

The politicians have been trying to make it "cool" in order to legitimise the "green tax" for a long time now!

They enjoy getting everyone on the band wagon of the new fad, which is "global warming", now called "climate change" as it's not "warmed" in 5 yrs!

Andrew, Hartlepool, England

It's amazing how much hateful opposition is coming especially from American posters against a sensible approach to consumption and our environment. I'll tell you something: the "Second Coming of Christ" is a hoax, and you can't speed it up by destroying our habitat, anyway.

Matt, Berlin, Germany

'Climate Change' is classic Popperian non-falsifiable non-science. It explains Global Warming, Global Cooling and (wait for it!) Temperature Stability (as a 'natural' descent into an Ice Age is countered by increasing CO2 levels). Thus it belongs with Creationism and Nazi 'Aryan Physics'.

Eric Skelton, Cardiff, Wales

We re-cycle carbon neutral paper from sustainable forests turning it into a Carbon plus product. We tax carbon neutral bio-oil as "ordinary" oil so stopping it's sale. We pay farmers not to grow food and then blame higher prices on "climate change". The Greens ? no the new Jesuits always right.

joe domican, London, UK

Being 'Green' is really about realising that the world doesn't revolve around oneself. It's about making an effort to use less and waste less of anything for the sake of common good. Whatever your views on global warming, there is only so much of everything to go around. Wars have started for less

D Barton, Reading, UK

Massive commodity price increases mean that we'll all be travelling less, and that food produced cheaply in developing economies and shipped halfway across the planet so that we can enjoy out-of season produce all year round will become so expensive as to be inviable. Green on!

fergus, london, uk

Thank heavens for this. It was always an evil business, a luxury of the powerful to torment the powerless.

John K, Chelmsford,

I had always thought the environmental movement had started in America and moved to Europe. I can still remember when a river in Cleveland used to regularly catch on fire. We had really trashed the planet by 1970, but we have made enormous gains in reversing the damage. The pendulum's overswung.

Richard Harris, Oakland, CA, USA

Halfway through the article is the jackpot statement, which should have been the way to go from the start.
Reward people for going green, dont penalise them for not.
Simple, incentives are better than penalties, how comes it takes a credit crunch for our dullard MPS to realise this?

Pete, St Albans, England

Wow and you're JUST getting this now ... amazing. I knew you'd lost your minds years when the 'green' parties in Europe actually became viable. Then you infected North America with the same brain-dead whining, thanks-a-bunch mates.

Alistair Sinclair, San Diego , United States of America

and a frigging PRIUS won't pull my horse trailer, now will it?
No one can explain how we are all going to eat if we won't drill for oil, when trucks bring our food. Trucks use diesel. There IS NOTHING ELSE! We have dreams of other fuels, but right now, it's diesel. Want food, or a nice ocean view?

karla, El Monte, USA

Going green is more than penalizing people who drive big cars. It's being responsible about keeping the underbrush cut on the hills in San Fransisco because not doing it costs the lives of hundreds of thousands of plants that shouldn't die because environmentalist weren't responsible. Cut to live.

WillofLa, Shreveport, U.S.A.

I am so glad that this UK article has cut through the crap. The Brits have been saddled with this stupidity longer than we have, "green" is all a tax grab. That's all. It's a way to grab your money. Wise up people! The "green" stands for your money, from your pocket to theirs.

karla, El Monte, USA

I canvassed against President Bush's "Clear Skies" Energy bill in 2005 for NYPIRG, and we were deployed to Westchester County. Why? Because that's where well-fed whites live. I know this is an important issue, but give the masses green jobs and everyone will go green. This 300 words limit is gay!

Luke, New York City, USA

F-I-N-A-L-L-Y...I found a comments sections where people are making sense and understanding what truly is going on. The Global Cooling crap IS all about anti-capitalism.

The liberals in the seventies first tried to make us believe there was an ICE AGE a-coming...and it didn't take hold...

Marta, Rockville, USA

Cap and Trade still has to be stopped.

Dougx, va beach, USA

We are at a major crossroads where the struggle to be green is like the struggle against communism. The soviet corporation (as I like to call it) was centralized around polluting. If we don't fight for decentralization away from pollution, we too will be prisoners of an unsustainable economy.

Dennis, Hometown, USA

Bottom line: Earth has many finite resources. The less resource, the more it costs. Being green to me is just about using less, eating less and generally taking personal responsibility to conserve. What's so crazy about that?

Did you expect the CEO of a major airline to say green is good?

Catherine, Atlanta, USA

Hair shirts for all you green religionists.

But to force my family into poverty to fit your ideology is fascism.

We will resist you and and your false god.

William Sweeney, Richmond, USA

I'll I know for certain is that I like my grass green, my sky blue and my taxes (ie; government intervention) at the bare minimum. "GREEN" is a trojan horse, and the majority of the voting population understands that. Rational people encourage the itterative approach to reducing polllution.

Bill, Chicago, USA

In other words: It's becoming accepted that "conservatives" are NOT bent on the destruction of the planet, like minions of Ming the Merciless. Furthermore, people are beginning to accept the formerly blasphemous notion that one can be "green" and still have common sense. Imagine that!

Eric, Park City, USA

This Global Warming nonsense has gone on far too long, I'm thrilled that newspapers are finally reporting on it.

In the UK that is, no newspaper would dare print the truth over here in the US. But they'll soon all be broke - and think of all the trees that will save.

Michael, Atlanta, USA

NEWSFLASH: Being Green never was cool.

Matthew Charles, Huntly,

The Left switched their tactics; from global cooling to global warming.

I especially, LOVE the scientific-consensus line; ask a real scientist what that really means.

"Global Warming" was predicted in the book Ecology as Politics by Andre Gorz, published in France in 1975. READ IT !!!!!!

Marta, Rockville, USA

I love this, it's about time people spoke up about these whiny, elitist hypocrites of the so-called "green" movement. Kudos to this author! The anti-capitalist greenies are motivated by class envy and the loathesome Marxist propaganda put forth by public schools and universities...oh, and the U.N.!

Mary, Montrose,

Global Warming is a HOAX. It is sheer con-artistry for the purpose of "people control." Governments want to move OUR money into THEIR coffers, and decide how we will live.

In fact, the temps have been cooling for the past 7 years. WAKE UP! This is a fraud, & it stinks to high heaven.

J.R. Stewart, Minneapolis, USA

Common sense takes over; 30 years of energy production constraints and loony moon bat ideas like MM Global Warming are being seen as the fraud and fleece job that they are.

Chris L, Santa Cruz, USA

too much green can make you sick and it does. Green will be a bad word within 5 years.

Bob, Bridgeport, USA

Please don't confuse those of us who are ecology friendly with the spoiled, liberal elites. I have driven an "econo-box" 50MPG car for twenty years. We recycle even though our area does not have any programs. And we conserve food, clothes, and water not because it's chic, but because it works.

Terry, Chicago, USA

Hilarious to read the anti-environmentalism out of the woodwork here.

Folks, use common sense-- being green isn't "costly," just the opposite. It entails efficient resource use, renewable energy, generally *reduced costs*. If we don't "go green" soon, to say the least, result will be expensive.

Sophie, Denver, USA

As a a greenie, veggie, etc, from the 70's I can say they still can't overcome their biggest fault which is being preachy, uppity and two level above condescending.

See Al Gore.

Mark, Lyon,

Dan R.: "Humans are an infinitessimally small part of the global eco-system."

Except that we're not. Human expansion has caused unprecedented levels of habitat destruction. And CO2 levels? Scientific consensus on that problem. More fun to stick your head in the sand though, eh?

Sophie, Denver, USA

I think the economic downturn will make us a lot more green. Americans are already consuming less fuel, high energy prices have made reusable energy generation more attractive, people are buying less and producing less waste. Most people buying $9 bread aren't green.

ivan, Oakland,

I think you confuse "green" with "expensive". In reality, most people who seriously study energy conservation and environmental impact actually are looking to save money. I added a huge amount of insulation to my house this year -- to save money. In the process, it reduces CO2 emissions.

Steve, Fort Lauderdale,

Real Greenies have never been chic or sexy. I've carried my water from home in the same cooler for 22 years and have always thought it screwy that people would buy bottled water and think they're cool, healthy and green because sometimes they recycle the bottles. Here's hoping the hoax is over.

Dave, Lancaster, PA, USA

Green doesn't necessitate spending MORE money. The best way to be green is sustainable. Just like this article mentioned, less new clothes from sweatshops by recycling old clothes and buying used, ditching a 2nd car rather than buying a new hybrid, etc. True Green = sustainable = more affordable.

Elad, Santa Cruz, USA

Enviromentalist base their blather on noted changes over a very limited time period. They have no idea if "Global Warming" is a function of mankind or a normal progression of the universe. Several other planets in our solar system have also shown a slight increase in temperature. Bah Humbug!

H.R. Hughes, Pasco, WA, USA

Well, if everyone would drive a Toyota Priapism, going green would be easy but they are hardly the cheapest vehicles around.
And the whole biodiesle concept is causing the world to starve!

Jerry, bishopville ar, usa

Bravo! Finally, the Truth. We want the Free Market Solution: Soylent Green.

LeeO, Dallas, usa

The concluding paragraph says it all:
"It's the downturn that has made greenery look unappetising - but it may yet prove to do more than anything to save the planet."

So: the only way to save the planet is for us all to be poor. This is the eco-belief now. Not better technology, nor better ideas.

Mike Devereaux, Dallas, USA

Being "green" is a middle class thing. Other classes are either too rich that paying lip service is sufficient, or too poor to be able to afford the luxury of high ideals. The only good side is that we may now get some nuclear power stations built before the oil runs out.

Dwight Vandryver, Scholar Green, Cheshire, UK

The "greens" are a joke and an embarassment. Everything they say and do about the environment is feel-good hypocrisy. As others here have pointed out the really outspoken greens are usually rich, and frequently in show business or politics. Their attitude is "do as I say, not as I do."

Mark Chestnut, San Francisco, USA

Interesting article but i think you've missed a key point here. Being 'green' is one side to the sustainable living idea, the other side is that it should save you money. A more economical car, solar panels, growing your own food - maybe it's the Scot in me but it makes more sense now then ever.

Ben, Auckland, New Zealand

I quite like being "green" .... cardboard, food and garden waste go into the brown bin, bottles and cans in another ... if supermarkets used cardboard to store meats and other products the throw away bin would be almost empty. We all know it makes sense, and its no big deal most of the time.

lang, london, UK

Being green is very cool. It is much cooler than being non-green. It's still very cool even if some non-green people do not think so. Green's the way to go. There is nothing cool about trashing the world out of a sense of economic insecurity. And in my experience being green is cheaper anyway.

Joe Basker, Los Angeles, USA

To Tom in Cardiff, here's some education: CO2 is a greenhouse gas: it makes up ust .04% of the atmosphere, only 1-30th of that is man made, and if you include water vapor, is less than .1% of the greenhouse effect. Human CO2 is insignificant. Hardly worth taxing people over, or fretting about.

Colin, Newark, United States

I can't believe that in view of real scientific facts that are now avilable that anyone still believes in ALGORE'S GLOBAL WARMING HOAX! What's the next fad or scheme that the Democrat Party is going to use to seperate us from our money?

Al J, Ft Myers, USA

Great column, let's stick our head in the sand and crash the planet into the sun. Kill the humans!

Marcus, Portland, US

Mr. Serangoon has an interesting account about a switch to CNG as a fuel in Singapore. What I fail to understand is the surprise about price increases for gas Markets usually respond that way with increases in demand without concomitant increases in supply. Politicos are usually at a loss here.

Gilbert , New York,

Being green is easy! When I shower, I exhale directly into the
water stream, and a substantial part of my carbon output
goes directly down the drain--trapped in the plumbing for ages
I hope. I think that it is actually a little cooler around here already!

M Park, Glenview, USA

How is saving money the same thing as being 'green'?

The point of organic bread - whatever it is - has nothing to do with climate change.

Jimmy, London,

The chilly economic climate? What about the chilly CLIMATE?? The fact that global temps have been dropping has put the kibbosh on all this global warming nonsense. Now people see Al Gore for the Chicken Little that he is.

brendan, washington dc, usa

Hey! The whole point of "going green" is the opportunity to restrict other people's freedom while looking like a hero. I am a public school teacher who refuses to force this stuff on my students; instead I let them investigate all of the ramifications and make up their own minds!!!!

dor, st.louis, us

It was cool to be green? I knew it was silly, lame, foolish, elitist, ignorant, and phoney, but never cool.

Ann Suddeth, San Francisco, USA

What annoys me are the adverts / flyers from businesses that claim to be "carbon neutral" when it's obvious that the only way they have achieved it is by paying off someone else under the carbon trading scheme.

dave, kent, UK

Interesting point about people being forced to do what they should do anyhow, if they had half a brain.
PLEASE - stop referring to non-dispo nappies in such an uninformed way as it'll make me doubt the rest of your article. Cloth nappies are NOT luxury items as they are CHEAPER and NOT bleached!!!

Jac, Aigues-Vives, France

Oh OK - So the Polar Icecap will now stop thinning, the Tundra will stop melting (with concommitant vast release of Methane) and everything will be fine because it was just some chatterati getting overheated - excellent!!!

Andrew Iddon, London, UK

Great article! I've always been suspicious of the rabid tree-huggers' motives - I'm sure they are not driven solely by altruism! For example, we've been bombarded with TV ads by T. Boone Pickens, a Texas oil man who is now promoting wind turbine energy. Turns out he has a huge financial interest!

Anne Beavers, Ambridge, PA, USA

When I hear about Gore buying a 100ft long houseboat, and justifying it by saying "It runs on biodiesel, and I'm gonna put solar on it . . .someday", I learn something. . . that he apparently doesn't believe what he's been preaching about global warming. Or he doesn't care.

Yashmak, Stockton, CA,

Greenies...What a joke they blindly follow an unaccomplished clown while turning their backs on history.....A sucker is born every minute. Drill!!!! Drill!!! Drill!!!!

paul, charlotte, usa

I live in Los Angeles, you should see how these "green" celebrities live. I put a CFL in my 15,000 square foot mansion, woohoo! Talk about a Compendium of Modern Hypocrisy! this backlash was inevitable, the elitist and self righteous feel of the whole movement has created growing unspoken resentment

Mark, Los Angeles, USA

Yes, people are waking up to the fact that being green is just plain dumb.

Hopefully, these same people will wake up to the fact that supporting Obama is equallt dumb.

Clem, trenton,

Hey-ho, I agree! Please, let's have MORE misery so we can be even more green!

Jeff Held, Santa Rosa, United States

Good: Fewer ill advised crackpot schemes devised by people with environmental 'science' or political/alternative society backgrounds will (with some admitted losses) balance out to less damage to the planet. Green initiatives always smack of Maoists killing starlings.

Eric Skelton, Cardiff, Wales

In the face of rising fuel prices a few months ago, many Singaporean motorists switched to CNG (compressed natural gas). This entailed an expensive retrofitting.

The irony is that with falling fuel prices now, pump prices have fallen but gas prices have been going up in Singapore.

Roger, Serangoon, Singapore

Everyone combined in this forum will not, for the rest of their lives, begin to use enough energy to make the 'carbon footprint' that Al Gore made jetting around the world promoting his documentary. Just like a celebrity's outcry against guns when they have armed security guards... do as I SAY!

M Licciardi, Gainesville, GA, USA

The goal of Global Warming is to create an apparently global problem so large that only a global body can deal with it. What organization could be better than the good old United Nations, already so successful in so many other global arenas -- like providing welfare for world bureaucrats.

Andrew, New York,

Does Mr Obama get birthday or Christmas presents?

Diana, Derby, uk

The Green cause is falling out of fashion because people have finally woken up to the fact it was a con all along thats costing them money. Its ended up pushing up the price of everything whilst making a few very rich. To top it all, Green taxes have been proven to be retrospective stealth taxes.

anthony, Brum,

The reality is that it is true resource efficiency, which is market driven, not trendy schemes or ultra-leftist restrictions on liberty that drives real environmental change.

James E. Petts, Burnham, England

Remember the Exxon Vadez oil spill? That was horrible. Ahhh, but the ocean have completely cleans the entire area of any trace of that unfortunate incident. Nature did it, not man. Besides, Nature pollutes more than man ever have or ever will. Volcanoes, anyone?

Ted, California, USA

Ted , California, United States

My company has been green for over 30 years. It's saved tons of $ and the expense of it has long since been paid off. Our employees tend to follow the lead. Most of us can't afford the physical upgrades at home, but there are many free ways to help the env. and save $ at home. Be responsible.

Sara, Lewiston, USA

We should be more like that here in the states, the entire Green Agenda here is too much for me. Kudos for getting it right England.

Joe, Mesa, United States

It just goes to show that all the environmentalism movement was really about was increasing the government's power. Liberals will take any chance they can to get our money and our freedom.

Dustin Witmer, Greenville, SC,

The know-all Government immediately took "green" as an excuse to raise taxes. However, unlike them, the majority of the British public isn't stupid and gullible and saw thro' this-and thus "green" quickly turned into "green tax con" for people and tarred all things green with the same brush.

Piscator, Suffolk,

Environmentalism is the cause of the rich. I can bet you anything that if Al Gore or Pelosi had to actually work they wouldn't give a rip about the environment. Notice how all the celebrities who cry about the environment also charge $100/tic for their concerts or 20 mil. per movie. Must be nice.

Tim, Chicago, USA

It sounds like reality is finally setting in.

Chris, St. Petersburg, USA

The first four paragraphs pretty much has the green movement in a nutshell. Al Gore defined my take on the environmental movement. A long hard look at Gore, his movie, and his movement will bring you to only one conclusion: Religious cult. Wonder when he's going to start mixing the cool aid.

Brad , Duluth, USA

I recycle all that the local council will take. I don't drive, have never travelled abroad and organic food is too expensive for my family to consider, unless it's on the reduced-for-quick-sale shelf
Doesn't mean I don't care, just that I live within my means.

maggi Crowston-Boaler, Beeston, England

"Recently Mr Obama has been talking more about thrift than trees. Instead of showing off his recycling skills, he explains that his children don't receive Christmas or birthday presents." Does this mean that he is not part of the American Culture or is he is Muslim or Quaker or a nasty parent.

John Smith, Valencia, USA

The "greenest" era was just after the second world war, I can only remember "make do and mend" for the first ten years of my life. Life has been too soft for too many people, it's time for them to find out what us oldies knew all along but were constantly told that we were boring old fools.

david webb, bournemouth, uk

Am I the only person in the world who learned ALL this
in the 70's??? Give a hoot, don't pollute! I learned about
recycling, wind power, solar power, & personal responsibility.
People are acting like this is a new problem. I even remember GAS restrictions in the 70's only 5 bucks
per stop.

Kelly Carey, Sidney NE, USA

The Green movement was never more than Good Old English Miseryguts Puritanism meets Guilt for Over Indulgence on Credit. Thank heavens all those holier than thou green witterers will now tumble out of fashion.

John Ledbury, Kings Lynn, England

To Will Duffay:

Do you think all Americans are rich? How do you know Bob in Dallas is wealthy? Because you saw the TV show Dallas?
I grew up in Florida where a bunch of liberals burried car tires off the coast because "it was going to creat reefs" and that turned out to be a mistake. Green lies

Will McHugh, Atlanta, GA, USA

Cloth diapers (non-sposies, nappies, whathaveyou) cost about 1/6 the price of disposable ones and malformed veggies are often cheaper. So not all things green are expensive.

But unbleached cashmere jeans? Really? Who's responsible for that atrocity?

Michael, Jacksonville, FL, USA

This article neglected to mention another thing contributing to environmentalism falling out of fashion - the demise of the global warming theory:

http://www.climate-skeptic.com/2008/06/gret-moments-in.html
http://www.petitionproject.org/
http://www.oism.org/pproject/review.pdf

Barry, San Diego, USA

So Greens are only wealthy?!? Enough with the ridiculous stereotypes. God forbid we should actually care about the environment. Once again, my fellow man and woman demonstrate their disgusting selfish and misguided views by criticising compassion and common sense, i.e. pollution is bad.

Paul, Ottawa,

Sad that a piece of fraud passing off as a documentary should be the biggest success of our era.
The majority of the public has now twigged that CO2 was a fraud. How long do we have to wait for the politicians to catch up? Saving the planet equals misery for most people and they don't like it

David Cage, Highworth, UK

The cost of "going green" is just far too high... Domestic wind, solar, heat pumps, wood pellet boilers are all incredibly expensive and well beyond the means of those who need these technologies.. They are mainly imported of course.

Scamp, Aberdeenshire, Scotland

What an curious misinterpretation of environmentalism! Julie Burchill may equate green with affluence, but most campaigners have long argued that ever-increasing affluence is incompatable with sustainability. But can we find ways to reduce excessive consumption by choice rather than by a recession?

Tim Cooper, Sheffield,

I'm 100% in favor of pursuing clean energy technologies, but for economic and geopolitical reasons alone, not because of some hysterical delusion that we're about to turn the Earth into another Venus with 600 degree temperatures. Humans are an infinitessimally small part of the global eco-system.

Dan R., San Diego, CA, USA

Being loathed by Julie Burchill sounds like an excellent reason to become an environmentalist.

Paul, Coventry,

Like all fads the "Green" movement is fading as people have begun to realize it's really a simple, socialist movement to lower the standard of living (and economy) in order for the government to "come to the rescue" and institute more regulations and taxes. Name 1 "Green" policy that lowers taxes.

Noamie, Atlanta, USA

It was only a matter of time before the Salads started feeling the repercussion of their nonsensical theories and stifling environmental levies. There is only so much money to go around. Higher prices due to environmental taxes means less money for necessities, like food.

Bob, Belleville, Canada

Above article and comments are born more out of denial of the unpleasant obvious than out of insight + productive acceptance of the undeniable. Credit crunch and the rising costs of everything means less energy 4 most everybody, less consumption, and the invention of different & realizable dreams.

Hans Nef, Zurich, Switzerland

It's time our Political and Media leaders epecially the BBC abandoned their loony delusions about the evils of CO2 and AGW which have as much reality as Bush's MWD. The data. at Hadley - CRU show global cooling since 2003 . Peak warmth was 10 years ago. 2008 is cooler than any year post 1996.

Norman Page, Houston , USA

I'm all for reducing pollution and waste, recycling makes perfect sense... but 'they've' turned the whole thing into a sick farce with this Global Warming nonsense (the new evangelism). My carbon footprint indeed.

erik, nyc, usa

Anyone with a parent/grandparent who lived through the Great Depression knows how recycling got its start. It was the economics - not the politics - of it that made it a necessity.

Today's global-warming (oops! climate change) disciples have turned a useful lifestyle into a religious calling.

rick, Houston, USA

"...Mr Obama has been talking more about thrift than trees. Instead of showing off his recycling skills, he explains that his children don't receive Christmas or birthday presents."

That's not green, that's just being tight!

Julian, Twickenham, UK

We can't stop climate change. We can only affect it on a miniscule, insignificant level. THE SUN causes climate change. I'm tired of all this propoganda that has actually turned in to real legislation, taxation and government control. Water is the greatest greenhouse. Should we ban water?

Alan, Tulsa, USA

Mr. Duffay, you need not stereotype us Texans as greedy, rich oil men. Indeed, there is only one major city in Texas that is oil-focused (Houston), and even that city has far, far more to offer than just oil. No need to be like the apartheid rulers of South Africa and the Jim Crow senators, sir.

Peter, Houston, TX

OH my god, i cant believe how many uneducated people there are, i always make the mistake of reading comments and then get so angry by people saying things they have absolutely no idea about. To billy from cardiff. CO2 is a greenhouse gas, it may not be the biggest (water vapour) but it still is big

Tom, cardiff,

You are so right about the brain washing going on in public schools. The Gore Youth are now reorting their parents in Canada for not being Mother Earth freindly. There is nothing like major deep in the average joes pay check to bring saniity back in the discuss.

Jimmy Kilpatrick,
EducationNews

Jimmy, Sugar Land, USA

Yes, I'm green...because I need to save money. I avoid wasting energy, I don't throw away my food and so on. I've seen really few people doing so. Maybe the economy is not so bad as they say, otherwise more people would have stopped wasting so much.

Giorgia, Italy,

Time to dispense with the looney left green agenda - how on earth these people gained political clout is beyond me. The carbon footprint fiasco is the nail in the coffin - a looney idea to curb CO2 which a) is not even a potent greenhouse gas and b) is not even a pollutant to begin with!

Billy, Cardiff , Wales

Alice from the photograph you don't look very old. You are mistaken if you think its for the grand children that we have to change our lives and "be green". For me being green has always been avoiding consuming. TRUE greens have always known that, we are not ugly and boring either - just wiser.

Esther Phillips, Leatherhead,

I completely disagree. Have you not been paying attention to the presidential campaigns? All they've been talking about is alternative fuels, renewable energy, and conservation. The channel PlanetGreen is thriving and T. Boone Pickens is star. Green is more popular than ever... at least in the US!

Haile, Cleveland, USA

Only the rich can afford to go really green...meanwhile I'll continue to wash out my Marmite jar.

Phil, Preston,

You mean people are starting to understand 'green' just meant more money for the gov. to tax us??

I dont believe it!

Mike, Phoenix, AZ, USA

Tad, it's time to face reality. There is NO such thing as living in an "upolluted, natural environment". Even when dinosaurs roamed the earth, they had polluting "bi-products". And what is "natural" is for people to live in homes, in realtive comfort and security, with no guilt from "greenies".

Kay, Tempe, USA

I'm sure Bob in Dallas is comfy in Texas with his wealth and his water, but trying telling poor people around the world (you know, that small bit outside the US) that environmental concerns are nutty. When the glaciers disappear and the rain patterns change they're the ones who'll suffer.

Will Duffay, London,

It's not hard to be sensible...don't pollute, recycling etc is good for your immediate environment. I am more skeptical of the effects of man made carbon on the 'warming' of the planet. Especially after reading COOL IT.

John, Bournemouth,

I am always saddened when Julie Burchill is quoted ranting against the middle classes again. Why bring up class? Why assume one class is into green living more than another? I wish jouranlists will do their homework and give us some thing of quality to read instead of saying what is "cool".

John, Brighton, UK

Their problem is not global warming. Their problem is that they''re nuts.

Mike Zorn, California, USA

It's nice to hear that there is a rumbling of discontent. I am in that "misguided" camp. Gore is Harold Hill and his Green Corporation (offsets my Shipoopi) is brazzenly capitalistic. Al, keep the corn prices rising (ethanol!), fewer people eat and more celebrities can get Oxfam screentime.

Doug, Syrcause, NY, USA

If the word does not yet exist, allow me to coin it - agendizing. The theme of the article is that greens have fallen on hard times and off their talking points. Too bad the author hasn't as well. A shock, I know, but a story about a stolen bike should be just that, not a lead-in to another polemic.

Steve Saulka, Phoenix, US

Nothing to do with the me me me ethos that pervades this whole society? Don't bleat when your house gets flooded. The anti green lot sound hubristic to me, we know how that is rewarded.

Stuart, Manchester, England

The modern environmental movement arose out of the wreckage of the New Left. They call themselves Green because they're too yellow to admit they're really Reds. So Lenin's birthday was chosen to be the date of Earth Day.

Sam, NYC, USA

"In searching for a new enemy to unite us, we came up with the idea that pollution, the threat of global warming, water shortages, famine and the like would fit the bill.... All these dangers are caused by human intervention... The real enemy, then, is humanity itself."

Dick, LA, USA

Andrew in London and Robert Eve in Marlborough, spot on! The enviro-nuts have always and will always be prosperity-phobic when it comes to national and even worldwide economics. From bottled water to carbon credits, it's all akin to wearing the designer-du-jour. Happy this fad may be over.

Bob, Dallas, USA

A few comments here echo la Birchill and go with slating i) 'green' ideals and ii) middle class people.

Re green ideals - whats wrong with wanting to live in an unpolluted, natural environment?

Re the middle classes - they are the only people keeping this country going.

Whats not to like?

Tad, Bristol, UK

Agree with Robert of Marlborough!

10 people can make an awful lot of noise in a crowded room, as long as the others remain silent. But when the rest of the crowd is minded to speak out, they become insignificant background noise.

Geoff Harrison, Beverley, England

Can we seperate anything from the class structure in UK? Being 'green' should have nohting to do with one's class, but, yet again in Britain, snobery, or in this case, inverted snobery, gets in the way of a good idea

Vespasian, Toulouse, France

I don't tend to agree with anything Julie Burchill says anyway. Much of being green is about reducing your expenses anyway. Agreed poor people can't always afford to have a consience but there are plenty of activities which both reduce spending and contribute ecologically

John, Brussels, Belgium

It isn't just the meddling middle classes. It's also the old class warriors and anarchists, who have moved on from socialism to eco-ism. Anyway, as my father in law used to say, poor folks can't afford a conscience - for them survival is the priority. And we're all poor now

Tim, Kingston,

Burchill is right - environmentalism is fundamentally elitist and is driven by pious snobs who can't bear the thought of the proletariat enjoying similar lifestyle choices. In response, an "alternative" lifestyle has been invented which conveniently is only available to the affluent few.

Andrew, London,

Obviously someone trying to promote a new book. There is nothing new in suggesting that 'green' behaviour is a middle class pursuit - it always was.

Elisabeth, Cambridge, Cambs

Let China, the US & the other major players exhaust all the fossil fuels. We will then be cowering in an ice age!

ian cheeswe, london, uk

Yep, I have to agree. Today at a fruit and veg stall they insisted on putting my one bunch of bananas in a plastic bag, refusing to use my own re-usable bag. When I insisted they said I was putting the plastic bag employees out of work, and I probably use a plastic bin bag in my bin anyway.

Tracey, Cranleigh, Surrey

Australian governments are considering a 100% green energy plan. The basics of which can be viewed on website:
w w w .DearkevinRudd.com.au/

kevin Rudd is the current Australian Prime Minister.

Peter, Sydney, Australia

I subscribed to green ideology in the Seventies when sensibility ruled. Wholemeal bread, grown own veg if possible, running, use of car as little as possible. Then politics stepped in and following that the big bucks. Then corruption. Gore is a failed presidential charlaton. Carbon trading a scam.

logdon, Stockport,

I hope that when the circus of trendiness has moved on and the "we're all doomed" hysteria has died down, it will be left to people who really know something to concentrate on what actually works.

Frank Upton, Solihull,

People preaching about carbon footprints, plastic bags, organic free range chickens, and other green nonsense - especially coming from those who drove their precious darlings 100 yards to school in a huge 4x4 - now seems an absurd relic of a smug, overly-affluent, self-indulgent age. Good riddance.

Sean Hunter, Glasgow,

luxuries such as non-disposable nappies? Luxury indeed, unless your're the one washing them. Good to see the usual hysterical anti-green climate-conspiracy mob all checked in here. I'm sure the taxes and promises will return after the next summer flooding or similar event.

will , london , UK

Why is green lifestyle expensive?
First organic isn't green! (never seen so much packaging in my life!) And then please explain me how producing less waste, recycling more, driving less, burning less, flying less, and buying less is costing everyone more!

Ivan, Newcaslte,

As with so many other issues which have a 'worthy' core, environmentalism has been hijacked by the usual sanctimonious middle class meddlers who seem to spend their entire existence 'protesting' against some imagined malignant 'oppressor', thus alienating the majority striving to achieve a balance.

DanOxford, Oxford, England

Alice - you write: 'Where only a year ago the smart new eco-warriors were revered, wormeries and unbleached cashmere jeans are now seen as a middle-class indulgence.' Wrong. I never revered them. The greens are the very worst kind of middle class patronising snob you could ever hope to avoid.

arthur, London,

People such as Micheal O'Leary of Ryanair are environmental terrorists.

Jim Wills, Brisbane, Australia

No- he's a BUSINESSMAN providing a SERVICE. This is EXACTLY the sort of emotive labelling and personal attack on those the 'green' lobby disagrees with that is so damaging to their cause.

DanOxford, Oxford, England

I totally agree with Robert Eve. The whole thing is just a political gimmick which smacks the everyday man with countless extra taxes that do absolutely nothing to curb "global warming" (don't even get me started on that - it's just the Earth's natural cycle to warm up & cool down!!).

Chippy75, Chester,

The people of this country have shown how green they are in the recent by-elections. It must have been noted, but not commented on, how few votes the green party succeeded in getting.

This planet came out of the ice age without the intervention of man and is warming again.

Man is insignificant.

Clive, Redruth,

Next, God forbid, they'll be obliged to fry up burgers and make pizza in their own kitchens.

Marc, Paris, France

We were all green once. Holidays at home, grow your own, composts and hand me downs verses cheap flights abroad, piled up supermarket trolleys, overflowing bins and wearing the latest logo . Which is the healthier lifestyle? If people are changing back due to the credit crunch then its no bad thing.

Richard, Fareham , Hants

Going green cant be described as a terrible thing. It shouldnt take much effort to recycle plastic goods etc but one shouldnt feel they have to totally revamp their lifestyle to completely suit the planet. I think people just need to find a sensible balance. as with all things in life.

Lloyd, Glasgow, Scotland

Surely must be some mistake. Cashmere jeans were never green. The overfarming of Cashmere goats has turned vast swathes of Inner Mongolia into desert. Unlike sheep, the goats rip out grass by the roots. Cashmere has to be one of the least green and most decadent fibres known to man.

Tim, Shanghai, China

Has it really taken this long for people to figure out that the best way to reduce your environmental impact is simply to consume less? To stop wasting food and energy? To stop buying shiny toys they don't need?

F. Martin Naisbrough, Didcott,

Green is middle class self-flagellation, targeting things that were once seen as signs of success such as foreign holidays, whilst government has jumped on the bandwagon viewing it as a sacrosanct revenue raiser. Thus the new parking meters outside my home are only there to save the polar bears.

David Curtis, Camden, UK

People such as Micheal O'Leary of Ryanair are environmental terrorists. They do not believe the scientists because it suits them to fool themselves and others in their greed to make money. My suggestion is to boycott his airline until he speaks and acts like a responsible person.

Jim Wills, Brisbane, Australia

I am unemployed but I will be going more green because it makes sense.
I have a fire place but no fire is installed and I have decided to install a wood burning stove. You can pick them up quite cheap (new) on ebay. There's lots of wood in my area & companies give it away. Being green can be cheap.

Graham, St Albans, uk

Being Green was never cool!! Just another form of political correctness.

Robert Eve, Marlborough,