Porritt's 62,000 air miles are a distraction

Jonathon Porritt, environmental campaigner and local Green party member was challenged by the press for having flown more than 62,000 miles in the past year.

Porritts' 42 flights include trips to Aberdeen and Belfast as well as European destinations, and places further afield such as Cape Town in South Africa and Vancouver in Canada. As a local Green the Gloucestershire Echo asked me to comment. I did (see here for news release) and to be fair the paper didn't go down the usual route of shooting down the 'green hero'. It was a more balanced look which allowed me to make my comment that: "The debate about Jonathan Porritt is a distraction, what we really need to focus on is that our Government still hasn't grasped the urgency or the need for radical changes."

The coverage re this reminded me of Al Gore getting the rap over his emissions (see my blog on 7th March 2007) - he was being nothing like as responsible as Porritt - but again to focus on that distracts from the main message and infact I used some of that blog entry to respond to the Echo - Ken Livingstone was another to get attacked in the press over his emissions - all this is a sharp contrast to the press calling Branson and Bush eco-warriers - see more that at my blog on 13th Feb 2007.

Anyhow as Jonathan Porritt pointed out all the flights were taken in his capacity as founder director of Forum for the Future, co-director of The Prince of Wales's Business & the Environment Programme and chairman of the Sustainable Development Commission.

Mr Porritt revealed the statistics on his website after a question from the public was posted. He states: ".... I believe any activists/champions in this area need to be up-front about their own carbon footprint. There are no personal flights included .... as I have taken none. There are many times in the year when I have little choice other than to fly. I have spent 35 years getting quite good at articulating this sustainability stuff and (hopefully) inspiring others to get things sorted out themselves. I am nearly 57 years old now, and have decided to just 'go for it' for the next three years, to help press every influential button I can during that time. So, once I have judged that an opportunity is worth pursuing strategically, then how I get there is a secondary - albeit still very important issue. When I can use video-conferencing, I do. When I can use the train in the UK, and time allows, I always do. I don't have a car. Do I feel guilty about all that? Absolutely not. Do I feel responsible for making sure that decisions are taken conscientiously and that the resulting impacts are managed properly? Absolutely!"

Of course people need to take responsibility - but as I noted before it is much more important that the Government takes a lead. Individual actions to tackle climate change are great but will never go far enough. The present rate of growth in air traffic is unsustainable - hence Green challenges to airport expansions like at Staverton and Bristol (see elsewhere in this blog - click 'Airport' label below). The truth of it is that we must cancel all airport expansions.

We need action to make those who pollute pay for their damage and 'green' choices to be made easier if we are to avoid catastrophic climate change: travelling the same journey by train would have meant 17 times fewer CO2 emissions. A weekend in Prague should not be cheaper than a weekend in Bournemouth.

As I said in my news release: "Green campaigners constantly risk accusations of being hypocrites. Yet life is full of grey areas and being pure and virtuous is never as easy, nor perhaps even as desirable, as it might appear. We have seen climate change campaigners like Ken Livingstone and Al Gore similarly have their CO2 emissions challenged. It seems that if you can smear the person, then you can also undermine the message. Such smears can damage: prominent people who might support green causes don't speak out for fear of having their supermarket bills fished out of their bin. Indeed every time a 'green hero' is shot down in flames, we all feel that little bit more cynical about our politicians and leaders. Meanwhile greenhouse gas emissions continue to soar. As Climate Change author Mark Lynas wrote: 'Being a purist may be comforting, but it is unlikely to change the world.'"

All this debate got me thinking about just before Christmas when I was asked to comment on Mr Wakeford, a top adviser to Tony Blair on sustainable development (Read that news release here). He was accused of undermining government policy on curbing aviation pollution after it was revealed that he makes a 500-mile round trip by jet from Birmingham to Edinburgh each week. Commuting each week is a little different to someone going to key conferences or events.

As the IPCC and others have said we have only a matter of a handfull of years in which to act. We need radical changes. All credit to Jonathan Porritt for being one of the country's leading green thinkers, promoters and more - who is clearly doing all he can to make a difference.