Car-pooling yes, but have you ever heard about plain-pooling? Well, now you have. The quote by a Dutch government Spokesman, refers to the plan outlined by the three prime ministers of the Benelux countries - Belgium’s Guy Verhofstadt, the Netherlands’ Jan Peter Balkenende and Luxembourg’s Jean Claude Juncker – to fly together to Lisbon in December to sign the Reform Treaty, so that the Portuguese can name the new treaty the Lisbon Treaty. Much noise has been made in the media during the last weeks over the “eco footprint” of the European leaders who, immediately after signing the treaty, head to Belgium for the actual summit. And indeed, it is a ridiculous waste of time, money and CO2. However, good examples are good but often useless. Even if the EU leaders stayed in Brussels, the Europeans would still buy products imported from Australia, still take the car to the bakery and still fly over Heathrow airport when flying from Holland to Greece because it is slightly cheaper. It is a question of lifestyle: the lifestyle of international politics is comparable to the Portuguese’s need for self-promotion. Solid policies that dramatically change the conditions on the basis of which all of us make our daily lifestyle choices will combat climate change. Not the reliance on citizens’ consciousness.