• IN Camden, Councillor Nina De Ayala Parker celebrates herself as a sort of Joan of Arc for the climate change movement.

Her speech at Monday’s full council meeting, advocating for environmental accountability and taking a stand against ecocide, only bolstered her public image.

However, a closer look raises questions.

Just a few weeks ago Cllr De Ayala Parker was the victim of theft, not of an electric vehicle but of a 38-year-old petrol-guzzling van.

Active myself as a green advocate since before it became en vogue, having forsworn my own car in an effort to singlehandedly reverse climate change, I ventured to challenge Cllr De Ayala Parker’s inconsistency on social media.

My query earnt me a block and a legal threat from the councillor. It seems that her call for accountability doesn’t apply when she’s the person being scrutinised.

While the councillor is unreserved in her public declarations for a sustainable future, the same candour is lacking when it comes to her personal choices.

Shouldn’t someone who publicly advocates for environmental accountability consider aligning her own lifestyle with her advocacy? Starting perhaps with parting ways with her outdated van, which clashes with her eco-warrior persona.

The sweet tang of irony; it’s almost as thick as the emissions from Councillor De Ayala Parker’s van!

While she is busy pointing her green-tipped lance at corporate giants like Shell, Shell is inching toward net-zero while our councillor’s van is busy revving in the opposite direction.

Criticism is easy, but credibility comes from aligning one’s words with actions.

Accountability, a term the councillor so passionately used in her speech, must be a two-way street.

Until she bridges the gap between her public rhetoric and private conduct, she runs the risk of being perceived less as a green crusader and more as an eco-illusionist.

Because, at the end of the day, the proof is in the pudding, or in this case the emissions.

MARX DE MORAIS
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