Tuesday, September 11, 2007

Living like Xerxes

Connection of the day: Brad Rourke at PJM on what the movie 300 can tell us about the global warming crowd. An excerpt:

According to The Times of London, one of [carbon offset company] Climate Care’s projects involves using human labor in the developing world to pump water for irrigation, using “treadle pumps” that look not unlike Stairmasters. People step for hours on these things, pumping merrily along. Climate Care puts it this way: “One person - man, woman or even child - can operate the pump by manipulating his/her body weight on two treadles and by holding a bamboo or wooden frame for support.”

Treadle pumps used to be in vogue in British prisons – and were finally outlawed, according to Spiked Magazine, having
been deemed too cruel a punishment. Here, they are being touted as suitable labor for a third-world child. All, ironically, so that guilty consciences can be set at ease.

No comments: