Carbon Health Warnings on New British Cars

According to the Times, "all advertising for new cars will have to carry cigarette-style “health warnings” about their environmental impact, under a European plan to force manufacturers to reduce carbon dioxide emissions. Advertisements in newspapers and magazines, will have to devote at least 20 per cent of the space to details about fuel economy and CO2 emissions. At the moment manufacturers have to include only basic mpg and CO2 figures in the small print. Car advertisements will have to carry colour-coded emissions labels such as those already displayed on new fridges and washing machines, with bands ranging from dark green to red."

This is the thin edge of the wedge! As with cigarettes, one keeps upping the ante. Now the cars are getting this in advertising and sales literature; next will be bumper stickers on the cars stating their rated emissions, and finally the cars themselves will be colour coded with paint ranging from dark green to red, so that we can instantly pick out the scarlet letter and hurl abuse at them. ::Times Online

stickers from New Economics Foundation