I’ve never really been a hairy toed hippy. Nor a confirmed tree-hugger. But I have always been interested in the Greenhouse Effect. I was taught it at school.

Here in the Chamonix Valley one issue which makes a lot of headlines is the Mont Blanc Tunnel. Even though it costs transport companies over 150 euros per lorry they send through it, they still make up that amount in diesel on the sheer reduction in miles between eastern europe and Italy/The Balkans.

That is to say, there are a lot of trucks passing through this valley. More than you’d think. You certainly don’t notice it on a 1 week ski holiday.

What happens when, as for the past 2 weeks, you have a High pressure weather system stuck over the top of a very deep valley? Let me tell you what happens. There’s blue sky. And pollution. No air escapes when the valley’s in a High Pressure weather system. All those diesel fumes build up in the base of the valley. Up and up till they cover us, choke us, and most importantly…. they make us ill. I’d love to see the tunnel closed down forever for my own health.

So obviously there’s a lot of money involved. Someone built that tunnel exactly because it was going to be a gold mine. And frankly, us Chamoniards whining falls on pretty deaf ears. But as global fuel prices continue to slowly rise, what should we do with this amazing resource? This feat of engineering? This accolade to mankind’s ingenuity? Simple. Turn it into a train tunnel. Like the Channel Tunnel.

The French and Italian governments could re-nationalise the transport industry. Take it back from the mafiosi, and enjoy the many, varied reward. Cleaner air for me. Less emissions all-round for the planet. Money up the ying-yang. What’s not to like?

I’m thinking about getting into local politics.

Twitter  Delicious  Facebook

I haven’t had a printer for a couple of years now and it hasn’t bothered me. When I had my office in Chamonix I could generally find an internet cafe to print out a letter or something if there was absolutely no way to do it electronically. But I decided I needed one. The 20km round trip to Chamonix to print out a few sides of A4 sort destroys the carbon footprint benefit of not owning a printer. Plus I’m very lazy.

So I bought one of these bad boys. It’s cool because it’s wifi. It means all the computers can print from it while it quietly sits in some darkened corner not taking up space.

I’d forgotten how nice it is to be able to hit print on your computer and be able to take that hard-copy through to the kitchen table with a cup ‘o tea and a pencil to edit copy.

Unsurprisingly, printers seem to have come on a lot since the last time I bought one nearly 5 years ago. Not only is the easy network-abillity a boon, but they just seem to work a bit better than I remember. I bet the ink runs out just as quickly & is just as expensive, though.

Twitter  Delicious  Facebook