This, however, is not satire

Last year, a British MP calculated that Santa Claus’ annual trip round the world was environmentally damaging:

It has been calculated that Santa’s team of nine reindeer would emit methane with a global warming impact equivalent to more than 40,600 tonnes of greenhouse gases on the 122 million mile Christmas Eve dash to deliver presents around the world.

That would make his marathon sleigh ride almost as environmentally damaging as an aircraft, which would produce approximately 41,500 tonnes of on the Christmas Eve trip.

The MP of course had some sanctimonious advice for Father Christmas:

The methane calculations were made by Liberal Democrat transport spokesman Tom Brake.

He said the best Christmas present for the environment would be if Santa took the bus, which would keep his total emissions output down to just 10,980 tonnes of – although he admitted the annual trip might take a bit longer than usual.

Mr Brake said: “Boys and girls up and down the country will be eagerly waiting for Father Christmas to arrive with their presents on Christmas morning. What they may not realise however is that Santa would be better off taking public transport.”

But he conceded: “At least he isn’t taking the plane, which would be worse than the reindeer.”

He added: “We realise that it might be a bit late to change things for this year, but hope that Santa will take this research into account when he plans next year’s trip.”

It looks like Old Saint Nick has done what most people do when confronted with finger wagging paternalism and ignored the professional butt-inski.  That’s a good counterstrike against the politicization of Christmas…