A Question and an Answer

June 2006

The Question:

Dear Rob

Apologies for the random interruption. I write on ethical/eco matters mainly for [name of paper deleted] and have two things to ask given your interest in this stuff.

Firstly, wondering if you might be interested in joining the panel or mind being involved in next year's [name of awards deleted]. Admittedly this is quite an early approach - we've just held the first awards but it looks like they were interesting enough to merit a yearly fixture, so I'm already thinking about next year.

Actually, written this the wrong way round because that's ages away and in the meantime, are you interested in giving your top eco tip for a green(ish) issue of Esquire magazine. Don't worry I'm asking Zac Goldsmith, Woody Harrelson, Al Gore, Ed Norton and of course Cameron as well. Looking for something that might entice readers of Esquire to limit their ecological footprint, and taking it as a good sign that this last bastion of eco intolerance has let me edit some green pages at all.

Any help gratefully received.

best wishes

[name deleted]

The Answer:

Dear [name deleted],

Don't fancy judging the prize, but here's my entry for the way to reduce your ecological footprint.

One way to reduce CO2 emissions is to ask Al Gore how much he made from $500,000 share-holding in Occidental Petroleum. I bet the surviving U'wa Indians - who threatened to commit mass suicide if Oxy went ahead and drilled on their patch of Colombian rainforest - are delighted to see how thoughtfully Gore is using the share dividends. Now the U'wa know that they have not lived and died in vain. And rather a lot of them have been dying this last decade thanks to the inward-investment-friendly junta. But hey, it's a heart-warming story, all these concerned millionaires, let's not have a few facts intrude, huh readers?

best

Robert