Top Gear’s Environmental Credibility, Oh Dear!
Mon, Jul 9, 2007
Environmental Graffiti Will be Changing Dramatically Soon. Get a Sneak Preview By Signing Up Here.
Top Gear presenter Jeremy Clarkson has never exactly been an advocate of environmental issues, once saying “There will be no tree, leaf, lawn or peat bog that I won’t drive over.” His latest stunt, however, was even more of an environmental disaster than usual; driving a jeep of the ecologically delicate Makgadikgadi salt pans, one of the world’s remaining pristine wildernesses.
The sequence was shot as part of a series of off-road ‘challenges’ for Top Gear. It involved 4×4s, pickup trucks and quad bikes being driven across the area, the remains of a now dried-up lake..
The Makgadikgadi salt pans cover 16,000 sq km and are a breeding ground for many endangered species of bird. Yet the topsoil is so fragile that the tracks left by Clarkson’s vehicles will remain visible for decades. The main worry however, is that others may follow Clarkson’s lead and use the salt pans as a giant off-road playground. A local Safari guide, David Dugmore told the Observer Newspaper
“The thing that worries me is the viewers and public are going to go out to the lakes and we will end up with every Tom, Dick and Harry that comes up, with vehicles and quad bikes, which will absolutely spoil the place.”
You Might Also Like Our Friends' Posts From the Intertubes
“The only true currency in this bankrupt world is what you share with someone else.”
September 10th, 2008 at 12:15 am
What an egocentric, selfish lout this man Clarkson is. And shame, shame, shame on Top Gear, BBC Magazines, and the parent company of both — BBC Worldwide, which is the commercial arm of BBC: the British Broadcast Company.
Let’s take a stand! We all need to do our part and put pressure on all of these entities to abolish their environmentally destructive practices. Let’s demand restitution for the damage Clarkson has done to this amazing ecosystem, along with a commitment to stop further destruction. With global warming, peak oil and other issues of climate change dominating the world news, it’s amazing to me that BBC has an entity in place — Top Gear — that is all about gas guzzling sports cars tearing up the environment.
I’m still reeling from the knowledge that Clarkson and Top Gear are byproducts of the BBC. If enough of us rally against this action we can make a difference and end this diabolical behavior. I’ve submitted my comments to each of entities. Please, now, won’t you do the same? An engine search gets you to each of them easily.
September 25th, 2008 at 11:39 pm
“lets take a stand!” yeah, sure thing buddy. Like eco-nuts haven’t tried it before. Nothing will happen and Top Gear will continue being awesome.
October 1st, 2008 at 9:39 am
It’s people like you that are wasitng space on the web. I mean, seriously have you nothing better to do in your life but destroy entertainment and fun for others!
Take some strong eco advice, get a life.
December 6th, 2008 at 10:24 pm
They must have had some sort of permission to go there…I mean..it’s Botswana. I can’t see a big tourist expansion there, just to drive your car across…and possibly die doing it.
May 5th, 2009 at 12:31 am
Quad Bikes often get a bad press, but I would hope that there is a mid ground where people can have fun riding their off road quad bikes or road legal quads without causing serious damage to the environment. Although I do enjoy Top Gear, I personally felt that riding across the Makgadikgadi salt pans was unnecessary (the ‘challenge’ required for the programme could have been achieved in many places that would cause no environmental damage) and did not justify the potential damage that might have been caused to the wildlife in the area.