And the biggest carbon footprint in sport belongs to....
Oct1520093:49 p.m.
Like Kirstie, I've opted to do my bit and throw today's blog into the Blog Action Day pot, so this means I've got to go green and blog about climate change too.
I thought I'd consider the relative carbon footprint merits of Cristiano Ronaldo's Bugati Veyron vs John Barnes method of going to the dole to sign on (for those who don't know, he was banned from driving in April and sacked from his job at Tranmere last week - and now uses a push bike to get around).
Instead of this enthralling face-off, I instead did bit of research and I stumbled across several stories which revealed that the biggest carbon footprint in sport belongs to... David Beckham. Apparently Goldenballs is responsible for 163 tonnes of carbon dioxide annually, compared to the yearly average of a male in the UK of 9.4 tons.
So should the world be holding its breath to see if David manages to sign up for AC Milan - or will that only mean that Posh's carbon footprint increases?
Constant travelling - in one year he flew farther than a trip from Earth to the Moon in miles - plus the several homes and 15 cars to his name, were given as the reason for his excessive carbon use. Well at least he's been doing his bit by cutting out using the electric razor. What was that beard last night all about?
So with the World Cup qualifiers nearly done and dusted, and the green brigade number crunchers still trying to work out the carbon footprint involved for the whole qualifying process, you have to wonder what the picture will be when the tournament kicks off for real in South Africa in 2010.
Estimates suggest the FIFA 2010 World Cup will have the largest carbon footprint of any major event ever, with 65% of the carbon footprint expected to be generated by international travel. The South African Government is working on a carbon offsetting scheme for the World Cup and on securing donor funding to implement this.
One solution might be to ban all football WAGs from the tournament - after all those hair straightners, portable facial saunas, and walk in spray tan units have to cost the earth (literally). Or perhaps it would be better if Beckham sustained a metatarsal injury to his carbon footprint?
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Comments (3)
Johnf 'Hmm the Barnes article is an eye opener, can't afford a chauffeur, exceptional hardship, BMW X5, I'm missing something here! But ok I'll support your green drive and not straighten my hair ever again!' added 16th Oct 2009
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jamieB 'But what about the beard - not Posh...? Some say that he may be a bit nearer to Chester than Milan very soon but it is maybe bollocks..' added 18th Oct 2009
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Flanker2 'Or just stick all the wags on their own wind farm!!! The amount of sh1t that they all talk would fuel a small country for several years for free!.....Speaking of Wind Farms, (on a Green issue), does anyone else think that if the designers could possibly re-design the things, there may not be quite so much public animosity towards them???? Does anyone remeber what a WINDMILL looks like?......You could hardly be pissed off if someone built one or two of those in the 300 acre field 7 miles away from your house, could you?....' added 19th Oct 2009
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