Dear Plane Stupid, volume one

As radical and outspoken opponents of airport expansion, we occasionally recieve illiterate and ill-thought out rants accusing us of being facists or communists (and everything in between). However every now and then we get an email which makes us stop and think, and this is one of them.

Dear Plane Stupid,

I'm constantly inspired by the brave actions which continue to bring public attention to the madness of airport expansion. You are an example to us all! However, I’m not so sure about all your policies. On a few major issues, you simply aren't being radical enough.

One challenge I have is that we already live in a world of severe emission overshoot. Total radiative forcing, whatever the probabilities given by incomplete Global Climate Models (GCMs)*, are already causing southern oceans and some forest ecosystems to dramatically reduce their CO2 uptake. This saturation is a prelude to collapse, where ecosystems flip from being ‘sinks’ to becoming net sources of carbon.

At this point any surplus emission capacity we might optimistically think we have would be quickly lost as carbon from these two sources quickly pushes us past the 1.8C threshold of warming. If this happens, climate feedbacks will quite simply overwhelm our ability to respond.

Monbiot’s famous conclusion of a year ago, that we need to reduce aviation by 90% by 2030 is itself almost certainly now too late a timeline. There is therefore no case for the vast majority of long-haul flights any more than there is for short-haul which you are rightly campaigning against.

My second challenge is to your campaign for aviation tax. Taxation would certainly put up prices and reduce air travel but it would also legitimise aviation in the process. We need to be firm with one clear message; aviation, not just the growth in aviation will if not reduced dramatically and in a very short timeframe (along with all other emissions) take us to a point of runaway global heating. In probability terms we may be close to that point.

The time has come to campaign for a 90% reduction in aviation in the shortest possible timeframe. By stepping up the challenge in line with science we raise the alarm on the true danger; current emissions not just growth in emissions.

*GCMs fail to take account of reducing carbon sequestration by ecosystems as atmospheric CO2 concentrations increase, soil respiration increases resulting from warmer temperatures and expanding agriculture, and reducing albedo as ice loss accelerates.

Deepak Rughani

Deepak is a campaigner with Biofuel Watch