Flying and climate change
Posted Tuesday, February 06, 2007, 9:29 AM by Lonely Planet
It's a funny time to be travel-mad in the UK. On one-hand, we've never had it so good. More budget airlines, flying further and cheaper than ever before; speedier rail links to the continent opening later this year and most of us have 132 lovely days to do with as we please. That's leave, weekends and bank holidays.
So why are so many people apologising for travelling, cutting down on flights and coughing up sting taxes levied on flying at short notice with barely a whimper of complaint? The answer is that flying itself continues to be under the spotlight from environmental groups and a media grappling with the explosion of concern about climate change. What were once nice white vapour trails in a deep blue sky are now harbingers of accelerated global warming, with carbon-belching jet engines accounting for 5.5% (and climbing) total carbon emissions with no fix in sight.
Not that this is stopping the majority of people flying - growth predictions remain strong. But the government had fired the first shot in a war that is sure to see travel get more expensive by doubling air passenger duty putting £5 on the price of a short-haul ticket and up to £40 on a longer trip. Not enough, say environmentalists. Too much, shout the airlines, pointing out that the tax is doing nothing to ease the effects of air travel and in some cases getting staff dressed up as bowler-hatted tax collectors to claw back the revenue from travellers who booked before the tax rise came into effect.
If you're like me, this gives great pause for thought. I love travel and I'm a passionate believer in the benefits it brings, both to host communities and to individuals who get out and experience the world. I feel this outweighs the potential harmful impact of my journey - especially as I offset my travels and seek alternatives where necessary. But this is one issue that isn't going away, and that's going to give us all pause for thought in the near future. What do you think about this one?
Tom Hall, Lonely Planet London
Labels: Europe, Politics, Sustainable and responsible tourism
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5 Comments:
I'm afraid that the writing is on the wall for air travel.
I point you to George Monbiot's illuminating piece in The Guardian:
http://environment.guardian.co.uk/climatechange/story/0,,1877388,00.html
Carbon offsetting is one viable option - especially if you pay for more emissions than your journey produces. It does not solve the problem, but if we all did this when flying a lot of the problems would be solved. (For example you can use Climate Care, at http://www.climatecare.org/)
Short haul flights (think of Blackpool-Stansted) should be heavily taxed because:
1: Most fuel is burned at take off (burnt fuel=emissions).
2: There are viable alternatives both speed & comfort wise as well as environmentally as well as price wise.
Medium (think of London-Istanbul) and Long Haul (think of London to LA) flights should NOT be penalized by high taxes as the benefits outweigh the damage by far and there is no viable alternative.
Taking a train from London to Istanbul would take three to four days and you'd cross the pricing system of about eight national railways which wreaks havoc to a good deal.
Furthermore, I am unsure about whether it wouldn't actually be more environmentally friendly to fly instead of taking the train.
I was shocked by the high departure taxes that the UK levied on departing flights earlier this year. I was planning on visiting the UK this summer via Heathrow but after finding out that I would have to pay over $100 usd per passenger just to leave the UK, I changed my mind going there! That's almost the price of my hotel bill for 3 days!!! We are flying to Paris instead and spend the extra money there, thank you very much!
Mmm, well there might well be benefits in travelling... but travelling with the full conscious knowledge that what you are doing is effectively murdering the possibility of life for future generations... I'm not sure how you can really describe that as beneficial...
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