We have to fly less - Government action is vital

Talking of letters to the press - I was annoyed by the Western Daily Press suggesting campaigners would lose the fight to stop Bristol airport's expansion that I wrote another letter a couple of days ago - Let us all hope that their analysis is very wrong. 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.

Last month Greens quizzed Mayor Ken Livingstone on airport expansions and he made a dramatic u-turn and said he would rule out any expansion in the South-east, arguing that the aviation industry had told him "a pack of lies" about the economic benefits of expansion. It is time others also woke up. Why should every industry have to make cuts in CO2 emissions so that aviation can be excluded?

Incredibly Environment Minister Ian Pearson, who has a collective responsibility for this massive expansion in aviation, said this week that the Government is powerless to face down airline lobbyists! It simply beggars belief that he admits that the Government isn’t up to the job of facing down unelected industrial apologists. This is despite a recognition that climate change is the biggest single security threat facing us today. Mr Pearson should consider resigning from the government in protest and let someone else take on this vital task.

I'd just sent that off to the press when I see Mr Blair in The Guardian saying he wont tackle flying! Tony Blair’s lack of political leadership on this one is astonishing.

Research by the Tyndall Centre on Climate Change, shows that if we don’t act to limit the airlines’ projected growth (doubling by 2020, trebling by 2030) then flying is likely to account for the UK’s entire carbon emissions in just a few decades!!

As Green MEP Caroline Lucas has said: "Leaving the job to the airlines themselves and hoping for a ‘techno-fix’ that will enable them to increase flights whilst cutting emissions is like crossing our fingers and hoping for a miracle: efficiency savings are running at about 1-2 per cent a year whilst actual emissions are growing three times faster. The figures simply don’t add up."

Basically we have to fly less, and, uncomfortable as it might seem, this requires government action. While Mr Blair's Government refuses to take legislative action to limit aviation growth, all the Government is left with is showing leadership and setting a good example. Tony Blair has signally failed to do even this.