The price of EU:s global warming fixation: Hundreds of thousands Europeans "will suffer a premature death"

Here is another major - and deadly - European failure:

for more than a decade EU member states have tended to encourage the rise of diesel vehicles, with favourable tax regimes and pricing structures.
This has been one factor in bringing down greenhouse gas emissions from fossil fuels used for road transport, as diesel engines are more fuel-efficient than their petrol counterparts. But it has had an unintended consequence in the form of greater air pollution, because diesel engines spew out more particulate matter and nitrogen dioxide than petrol-driven cars, giving rise to breathing difficulties in vulnerable people, such as children and older citizens.

Failed European environmental policies has led to hundreds of thousands of premature deaths:

Hundreds of thousands of Europeans will suffer a premature death in the next two decades as the result of governments’ failure to act on air pollution, Europe’s environmental watchdog has warned.
In 2011, the latest year for which figures have been reliably collated, more than 400,000 are estimated to have died prematurely as a result of breathing toxic fumes, despite recent improvements in some countries.

A new report just out gives the death figures for one European city, London:

Nearly 10,000 people died in a year as a result of air pollution in London, a study has found.

Experts from King's College London combined the effects of nitrogen dioxide (NO2) and a particulate matter known as PM2.5 to look at the total impact on the city's health in 2010.
The scientists said combining the pollutants "reveal a higher health impact than previously estimated".

London: "The money laundering capital of the world"

The sad story of what´s in for London:

The reason new money floods to London isn’t necessarily sentimental but pragmatic: London sells itself to the 21st century as, in the words of English satirical magazine Private Eye, “the money laundering capital of the world.” Nowhere is this more striking than in the property market.
“London has become a safe haven for corrupt capital from around the world,” says a new report by Transparency International, “facilitated by the laws which allow UK property to be owned by secret off-shore companies.” In this new order the “proper” English are increasingly becoming the service class. The new English hero of the age is the elite estate agent (they prefer to be known as “property brokers”). You find them in the lobbies of the Park Lane hotels and at the after-parties of art auctions, looking to snag a client and sell off a bit more of London.

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But how do the new elite see the English?
At brunch with the wife of a Russian minigarch at a Mayfair club, I noticed one smart young Englishman after another come up to our table to offer his services as a wine merchant, landscape gardener or interior designer. She leaned over to me: “You have to watch the English like a hawk when they come do any work — they’re lazy and always try to rip you off.” It was just the way the English had once talked of their colonial subjects and foreign “help.”
So will this be the future of London? A globalized elite serviced by a class of English butlers, estate agents and money launderers? It’s hard not to notice the historical irony — the nation that once ruled over half the world reduced to being, if not colonized, then at least relegated to second class in the postcodes of its own privilege.

Read the entire article here

Tough times for Hollywood climate change celebrities: The L.A. eco night club has closed

It is tough to be a Hollywood climate change celebrity nowadays. The only real L.A. eco night club, Ecco Ultra Lounge, has gone out of business, in spite of offering "eco-friendly cement, free valet parking for Hybrids, and a solar-paneled roof".

Brad Pitt, Cameron Diaz, Leonardo DiCaprio, George Clooney, Daryal Hannah and the rest now have take their private jets to London in order save the world by partying in the proper environment:

Club4Climate is setting the bar for these future thinking establishments. Located in London, this club starts its message even before a patron passes through the front door. If you walk, take public transportation or bike to the club (and can prove it) your cover charge (normally 10 GBP) is waived. But don’t think you’re getting in that easy. Before anyone can enter they must sign a pledge to be actively eco conscious in all of their future decisions.
Once a club goer has made it through the front doors the real eco nature of the club can be seen; the dance floor. The nightclub floor is suspended on springs that hover centimeters above a set of piezoelectric crystal blocks. When the dance floor is forced down by the dancers it compresses the crystals creating an electrical charge. This charge is sent to batteries that power over 60 percent of the club.

In spite of the long jet flight, the trip to London has its rewards:

When dancers have worked up a sweat they can head over to the bar and refresh with organic drinks in polycarbon cups and then relieve themselves in bathrooms that use recycled water. With this club located on Pentonville Road, there is no reason not to be eco fabulous.

Probably the "recycled water" from the "bathrooms" is also used for the drinks. Ordinary guests could - if they are lucky - in this way enjoy almost the same cocktail that a green celebrity already once enjoyed ...