It’s that time of year where many people in west Wales get subjected to the noise and fumes of the annual Rali Ceredigion. Those living on the route even get locked into their homes for considerable lengths of time during the rally. All the logical complaints to Ceredigion County Council (CCC) have been ignored. Councillors argue it’s good for the economy. Never mind they’ve declared a Climate Emergency; when the pennies get counted, the carbon dioxide emissions are forgotten.

I’m aware that the organisers have offset the carbon dioxide emissions but I’d like some honesty though, what particular part of the whole event is being offset? Many of the rally drivers come from abroad. Is their journey here offset? How about all the journeys made by supporters?

And what exactly is offsetting?  Planting a few trees that ought to be planted even if there was no rally is not something I support in principle. It reminds me of my Catholic upbringing where we would queue to go into the confession box, own up to our sins, be told to say a few Hail Maries and not sin again. Which we did, of course, because it taught us we’d get away with wrongdoing. It wasn’t until I was a bit older that I had a real mea culpa moment, started to examine my own actions and learned to behave responsibly. I’m not a saint but I did ditch the car and stopped flying.

Passing the buck is common in our western society. Western consumption levels and their resulting carbon dioxide emissions should be dealt with by western citizens, not offloaded onto some offset scheme that makes your slate look clean. Exporting carbon emissions from our activities means we expect to carry on living the way we’ve done for most of the last century while other people on this planet carry the can for us.

The saying, we are all part of the problem, therefore we are all part of the solution, demands we ask questions of ourselves and therefore that we stop doing things that are bad for the planet. No matter how the organisers of Rali Ceredigion dress up their environmental policies, a rally is a polluting event with participants travelling from all corners of the planet to show off their prowess behind the wheel of a souped-up car. The rally organisers use green language; yes, greenwashing is easy, but a rally can’t be green. They claim to be ‘committed to protecting the local and global environment by conducting our activities in a way which provides for a sustainable future for our sport, without unnecessary compromise of the environment.’ Note the word, ‘unnecessary’. They further claim to, ‘Promote sustainability’, ‘Evaluate the wider impacts’, ’Educate our teams, competitors, officials and volunteers about environmentally responsible behaviours’, all wishy washy language. They promise to deal with rubbish and go paperless and recycle of course, as if that makes up for all the damage caused. Driving 150 cars at speed along our rural roads, while many residents are told ‘you will be unable to leave your property whilst the stage is “live”’ is unacceptable.

I have some questions for the rally organisers, CCC and its councillor AND the supporters themselves. Is there really that much fun in creating noise and pollution? Is speed that important to you? Can you not stop the thoughtless worshipping of the combustion engine?

This unnecessary burning of fossil fuels is simply immoral. Plus, with all levels of governments committed to phasing out fossil fuels, this particular activity has no future. Please can we consign Rali Ceredigion to the dustbin of history where it belongs.