Environmental group Plane Stupid celebrated its success yesterday in closing down Stanstead Airport for most of a day and leading to the cancellation of 21 or so flights. They posted on their website the reason for doing so as;
"The nature of climate change means that we have only seven years to make massive cuts before the extinction of millions of species and even the human race is inevitable"
And congratulations to them for stopping some flights. Yet, one can ask what did that do to achieve their goal of changing the CO2 and other greenhouse gases polluting our atmosphere in 7 years? The answer is not a lot really.
In fact, they have done the opposite of what they intend. In shutting down an airport like Stanstead which processes 24m people a year, many people flying budget airlines on breaks they could not previously afford, these 'environmentalists' have just polarised the debate again, just one week after the Climate Change Act was passed and after a hugely successful march in London.
At this point I must declare a vested interest being a (bi-monthly) Ryanair passenger (I can't use the word customer here for fear of implying some level of customer service) through Stanstead.
If my flight had been cancelled or I had booked a flight through Stanstead at that point I would be livid with the interruption of a much needed break and a chance to see my fiance. If that had been my family winter holiday, or for a trip Christmas shopping the actions of 50 well intentioned individuals would have had a significant negative impact on my perceptions of a huge issue that needs to be debated, namely the expansion of Stanstead, including an additional runway.
The debate over the impact of aviation does not centre on the fact that it is bad, it centres on the key to all solutions, namely the market. Or to borrow from the spouse of the soon to be confirmed Secretary of State (Hurrah!) "Its the economy stupid".
Amidst reports from America of recyclable goods piling up, costing more to process than to sell afterwards can we ask our enthusiastic environmentalists to put their energy into a real solution?
The solution is simple, how can we make the market value of recyclable goods less than that of first use goods. Even I can surmise one way, although the word Tax sends shivers down my spine. How about Government committing to 100% recyclable materials where possible, or only awarding contracts to companies that do. I for one would like to see 100% (or as high as possible) recycled envelopes with the House of Commons Stamp on it.
Until the fringe environmental campaigns understand that smart campaigning is the only way to have real influence over the future and that idiotic displays such as this one only harm the environmental campaign and are entirely pointless. MPs respond to constituency pressures, not to transient headline grabbing stunts.
