15 Jan 2007

Nailsworth climate blog prompts me into a letter

Just came across Kev's Climate Change Blog - have seen some of his articles in Nailsworth News - anyhow in one entry he has his correspondence with David Drew MP over airport expansions. I have to say I am more than a little surprised by Mr Drews comments. For example he writes:
"On restricting air travel the increase in airport capacity represents the rise in demand. Again you cannot stop this unless you are prepared to say who you wnat to stop from flying and how this will be done. I am quite happy to constrict growth but you can't just stop any expansion at present unless you are prepared to take enormous risks in safety as well as the wrath of stopping people from flying without putting alternatives in place or attempting to build a consensus on why this should be done. The latest poll indicated that 98% of people would oppose this - indicative of how far we have to travel in this area."
Kev's column answers these points and I have covered similar in the past here and on the Glos Green party website. As I have said before the facts speak for themselves: unless the government’s decision to double the size of UK airports is reversed, the rest of its climate change programme is a waste of time.

I will be writing to Mr Drew in the hope of understanding better his position - Government's are meant to lead and while they claim climate change is the greatest threat they do precious little to show they take that seriously.

Meanwhile well over 3000 people sent in objections to North Somerset Council’s public consultation. The Council meet tomorrow night to discuss that matter in Weston-super-Mere.

1 comment:

Philip said...

Was sent this comment in response to item:

Not expanding our airports does not preclude people from flying – expanding them merely encourages more flying.

A return flight to New York equates to one years personal quota of CO2 emissions according to George Monbiot (or so I understand). Whilst car travel is significant, the increase in air travel is by far the MOST significant issue when looking at transport (and this applies equally to the rapid growth of air freight).

The ONLY possible reason for airport expansion is economic growth (GDP), which we already know is the main reason for the problems we have in the first place – government needs to get ahead of the curve, not trail behind stuck in old thinking. The new gambling regulations are on a similar scale in terms of appallingness – why can’t our politicians recognise that business as usual is not an option, and that there is growing pressure/support for them to be bold and creative and to think long term. Building social capital (and placing a focus on well-being rather than growth) should be a priority, as should building an infrastructure/capability that will best enable us (in a world facing the dramatic effects of Peak Oil and abrupt climate change, not to mention economic meltdown) to stand the best chance of responding positively. I feel that some of the decisions being made currently are bordering on being viewed as ‘criminal’ in just a few years time.