Climate Craziness of the Week – let the kids freeze, all I want for Christmas is a zero carbon footprint

This guy (Headmaster Rob Benzie)  has become Scrooge in England, except he doesn’t provide even one lump of coal, because, well that would mess up his “carbon footprint”. This is just too bizarre not to pass on, thanks to The Daily Bayonet who writes:

A headmaster at a British school decided a great lesson in sustainability would be to turn off the heat for a day. In December:

Pupils at Ansford Academy in Castle Cary, Somerset, were forced to grip their pens through thick gloves and wear their coats and hats in class as temperatures dropped to 1C. The school’s headmaster, Rob Benzie, shut down the radiators as an experiment to show students how the school could cut its carbon footprint.

The headmaster is unapologetic and wants to do it again:

…headteacher Mr Benzie, 52, defended the day, saying it was ‘a success.’ ‘We turned off the heating as an experiment to see if we can lower our carbon footprint,’ he said. ‘We allowed pupils to wear as many jumpers as they liked and everyone seemed to be happy enough although it did get pretty chilly. ‘We gave letters to pupils to take home to their parents informing them about the eco day. ‘We only had one complaint and that came from a member of staff but they just got on with it in the end.’

Mr Benzie said he hoped to repeat the eco day again next term.

The local school authority and parents should probably teach Mr. Benzie the lesson that freezing children to push a radical green agenda makes his job unsustainable, before he does something really stupid.

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ew-3
December 7, 2011 11:08 am

Funny thing, his experiment likely backfired.
The kids will remember this and vow never to be cold again !

December 7, 2011 11:11 am

If a headmaster pulled a similar stunt in the name of any OTHER wacked-out apocalyptic cult, he’d be in jail for multiple counts of assault.
However, there may be a good side. The kids who had to suffer a day without heat will now look forward with pleasant anticipation to the “future nightmarish world when everything is 90000000000000000000000000 degrees warmer.” This will sound good by comparison.

NC Skeptic
December 7, 2011 11:13 am

Sounds like to me he taught the childern a lesson on what it would be like without a source of heat. I hope they learned.

Myron Mesecke
December 7, 2011 11:14 am

“We don’t need no education
We don’t need no thought control
No dark sarcasm in the classroom
Teachers leave them kids alone
Hey teacher leave them kids alone”

Duncan Binks
December 7, 2011 11:15 am

What an unreconstructed pillock.
Let the wrath of his fellow travellers, the ‘Health & Safety mob’ descend upon the man.
Bah! Humbug!
Duncan, Tiverton, Devon, UK
(just down the road from the above cited idiot – and damned cold it is too)

Skiphil
December 7, 2011 11:16 am

my wild guess is that he’ll help to create some skeptical young thinkers who begin to look critically at CAGW extremism….

Russ in Houston
December 7, 2011 11:19 am

Hopefully the lesson that the children learned was that of the importance of cheap energy and how it makes life so much better.

DJ
December 7, 2011 11:20 am

Mr. Benzie did, of course, walk to work that day? To have a completely honest footprint, naturally.
What would really round out his demonstration is when he gets an infection, the antibiotics he needs aren’t available….the pharmaceutical stopped production to lower their carbon footprint too.
The irony though, freezing the kids to teach them about warming. The lesson’s lost on me. ‘Bout as effective as teaching kids about the evils of chocolate by starving them.

Pete
December 7, 2011 11:23 am

[snip – over the top – Anthony]

Bob Diaz
December 7, 2011 11:23 am

I think he taught the children a very valuable lesson, just how STUPID environmental extremists can be!!! ;-))

Michael Ozanne
December 7, 2011 11:24 am

Let’s get this straight, this moronic [snip] deliberately allowed the working temperature in his establishment to fall below the minimum legal standards required by the Workplace(health, safety and welfare) regulations 1992 and the Education(School Premises) Regulations 1999 . And he is planning to deliberately do it again. A word with the board of governers about not having a moronic [snip] as a headteacher and with the HSE about prosecution should be the logical next step. A criminal offense has been committed here.

Neil Jones
December 7, 2011 11:26 am

While his pupils can have little recourse under UK law his staff can walk off the job if the temperature in their work place is under 60F one hour after their official time to start work. This man is deliberately breaching UK Health & Safety laws and as such is risking prosecution, fines and even imprisonment.

Ethically Civil
December 7, 2011 11:26 am

Skiphil has it right. This shows that lowering “Carbon Footprint” is neither free nor easy, and that far from “death trains” coal trains have carried life, warmth, heat, and plenty.
One can only hope there are three spare ghosts to visit Master Benzie this Christmas.

December 7, 2011 11:28 am

Gee, I see this from an entirely different point of view.
His action makes the great point that we need, very much need, our energy sources. He makes it quite obvious that life without something as simple as central heating would be very difficult and unpleasant. As a result, it makes sense that we would want to have cheap energy as home heating is something we have to have a lot, depending on the season and location.
As I see it, he is arguing for using energy, defeating how own cause.

December 7, 2011 11:35 am

Benzie is the headmaster, yes? The school office building is usually separate from children’s classrooms with regard to heating and AC.
Which brings up the question, did the school office have it’s heat turned off, or did Benzie take advantage of it’s remote climate control system to leave his office nice and toasty?

Lance
December 7, 2011 11:36 am

actually we must thank him….i’m betting he forestalled
.000000000000000000000000000001C of warming…(might be out a couple of zeros)

Curiousgeorge
December 7, 2011 11:38 am

Why is that we allow nut-cases like this to inflict potential harm on innocent people in order to make some stupid point? This principal ought to be locked up before he decides to expand his experiment to the greater population by blowing up a power plant. We already know he’s capable of crap like this. The difference is only one of degree.

Ed Scott
December 7, 2011 11:39 am

Inhofe to UN Climate Conference in Durban: Kyoto Process is Dead

Garry
December 7, 2011 11:39 am

I’m appalled at a U.K. public that allows its children to be physically abused in this manner.
This teacher should be prosecuted and thrown in jail.

TheGoodLocust
December 7, 2011 11:40 am

Mitch
December 7, 2011 11:40 am

The lesson he taught is that so-called “green” initiatives only cause pain and misery.
Next time he pulls this crap, the parents should teach him a lesson in sustainable practices by keeping their kids home (and off fossil fuel powered transportation).

TheGoodLocust
December 7, 2011 11:41 am

Whoops, meant to post a link to the last 4 seconds of that video….

Ron
December 7, 2011 11:42 am

Wondering…
One, if he heats his own house.
Two, how he got to be ‘head’ of a school, with a head on his shoulders like that.
Three, how the school board is enjoying being a laughing-stock.
Four, how long he’ll keep his job.

Robbie
December 7, 2011 11:43 am

“Don’t demonize energy. Without it life will be short and brutal.” John Christy.
I think this piece proves it very convincingly.

Bob, Missoula
December 7, 2011 11:45 am

Nothing a good old fashion ass kicking wouldn’t solve.

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