Bob has a better chance of "fixing it" than that other kid's entertainer --- Al Gore
Telegraph News Brussels calls in Bob the Builder to fix global warming
Bob the Builder will be called on this week to "fix" climate change, having been recruited as the latest weapon in the European Union's battle to convince children to help to save the world from global warming.
The children's character will take part in a publicity stunt during an energy ministers' meeting in Luxembourg, where he will extol the virtues of home insulation to help to reduce carbon dioxide emissions.
Can EU fix it? Bob the Builder goes to Europe
But environmentalists say the hard-hatted handyman must first make his case to the European Commission's president, whose fuel-guzzling four-wheel-drive vehicle breaches the EU's green message.
José Manuel Barroso drives a VW Touareg. Although he claims that it is for private use, critics question his choice of an off-road car that has a top speed of 140mph, especially when it may face no greater challenge than the sedate streets of Brussels.
Demonstrators at the commission headquarters in Brussels last week asked how Mr Barroso could expect children to observe new environmental guidelines when his vehicle churns out almost double the amount of carbon dioxide the commission wants to see European cars emit by 2008.
Jan Kowalzig of Friends of the Earth Europe said: "The commission's new global warming campaign is called 'You control climate change'.
"But EU commission president Barroso clearly does not feel this applies to him. Barroso is being hypocritical by launching a climate change campaign while continuing to drive his big gas-guzzling car, a monster SUV.
"As a high-profile politician he should lead by example, making significant changes to his own lifestyle."
Mr Barroso said Brussels was trying to encourage a change in behaviour without being moralistic. "We never said we were perfect," he said.
"This is not a moralistic campaign. We don't have a totalitarian mentality. We don't want to control the private life of every citizen. It's up to each person to take the measures he wishes."
Mr Barroso's campaign includes a poster at the institution's Brussels headquarters advising people to "Turn down. Switch off. Recycle. Walk".
9 March 2006[Money]: Brussels wants central control of North Sea oil and EU energy policy
Monday, June 05, 2006
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