Richard's blog

Environmentalists have long complained that the Government's solution to aviation emissions, the EU emissions trading scheme is about as useful as a (vegan) chocolate teapot. That's the ETS, which will, by the EU's own account, reduce industry growth to just 78% by 2020, instead of 83%. But the aviation industry's international lobby group has decided it's the greatest threat to the industry, like, ever.

Giovanni Bisignani, head of IATA - a group set up to complain in a whiny voice whenever anyone suggests that aviation might want to stop shitting on the carpet - used to oppose the ETS as unfair. Now he's arguing that the ETS is going to lead to a patchwork of different schemes, all of which overlap and interlink, which he thinks is far worse than an international agreement. The ETS should therefore be scrapped while everyone starts all over again to work towards a multi-lateral agreement.

I should probably point out that IACO, another international aviation body, has been trying to get an international agreement for several years now. It has been a complete failure, because every country wants their own carriers exempted and everyone else's charged to the hilt. There are no signs that this situation will change, because the industry lost almost $5 billion last year thanks to the recession.

So where does all this leave us? The ETS is rubbish, and that while it exists the UK Government can keep using it as a get-out-of-jail-free card to avoid doing anything about aviation emissions. But is it better than nothing? I'm meant to say yes here, but consider this: if the industry succeeds in overturning the ETS, then the Government might actually have to do something about reducing aviation emissions. The enemy of my enemy?

Environmental activists from across the UK have 'adopted' Heathrow residents to support them in their fight against a third runway and prepare them to defend their homes in the event of BAA being given permission to build the runway. The activists were brought together by Plane Stupid. Over tea and cakes in St Mary’s Church Hall in Harmondsworth on Monday 30th March 40 residents were adopted.

Local resident Lynne Davies said, “We are very excited about this scheme. Many local people are feeling very vulnerable with the threat of a third runway hanging over them. They will appreciate this support. And it shows our determination to stay put. We don’t believe the new runway will ever be built but this link up with the young activists sends a clear signal to the Government and BAA that we are not alone.”

BAA have announced that plans to build a third runway at Heathrow cannot be submitted for planning permission until 2012, after the next election. If we trust the Conservatives (and that's a big if), then the runway won't get built. Cameron and his transport supremo Theresa Villiers have been very, very clear that they would change the Government's planning framework to reject expansion at Heathrow. They're currently leagues ahead of Labour in the polls.

This is the second airport expansion BAA delayed this year: back in February they announced that Stansted would be delayed until 2017 - effectively taking their plans off the table. It must be embarassing for Labour, who spent most of last year rushing through the consultation so that the runway could be brought in during their time in office. Or did Labour's fiddling of figures in the consultation cause the delay?

After weeks of media exposure, no one could possibly think that the consultation was solid enough to last through a public inquiry. Had BAA pushed ahead as planned then every consultant from here to Oxbridge would have been queueing up to have a go at their magic planes and disapearing NOx levels. It would have been open season, and topped off by a new Government waltzing in and scrapping both expansions. Faced with the prostpect of egg all over their faces, is it any wonder they backed off a bit?

Four activists from Plane Stupid Scotland were arrested after a peaceful banner drop near Edinburgh airport. After dropping a banner reading 'Airport expansion is stupid' from the fourth story of a car park opposite the terminal building they were taken to St Leonard’s police station and charged with Breach of the Peace. The four were to appear in court on Friday, but the case was thrown out moments before the court opened.

The action was highlighting the double standards of the Scottish government committing to an 80% reduction in greenhouse gas emission by 2050 whole planning to expand all of Scotland’s airports. The group also questioned the logic of 60% of flights from Edinburgh airport being to UK destination.

One of the protestors, Natalie, said "Ordinary people like us must realise that if we don't take action to save ourselves then no one else will. Overwhelming Scientific evidence points to the fact that we have very little time left before our emissions take us to the point of no return and aviation is the fastest growing cause of carbon emissions in the UK. Yes, Climate science is complex but some things seem very clear cut; expanding airports at a time when we need to be dramatically curbing our emissions is stupid."

After causing no alarm and agreeing to peacefully take the banner down, the protesters were unexpectedly taken to St Leonard's police station in Edinburgh, along with a friend who was simply taking a photo of the stunt. It became apparent the real reason for their sudden arrest was for CID to aggressively interrogate the four, part of their on-going efforts to find informers from within the group. Laughably, the CID men compared the group's "leaders" to Hitler and warned the protesters that dogs could easily have been set on them!

This is yet another heavy handed arrest by police treating protestors in the UK on the same level as criminals and terrorists. After recent reports from last year’s Climate Camp showing police included confiscation of soap "because protesters might use it to make themselves slippery and evade the grip of police" more and more protestors are denied their freedom of expression and ending up in custody for speaking out against Government policy.

Johnny Agnew, a spokesman for Plane Stupid Scotland said “It feels as if this country is becoming a police state. The police are so nervous about public protest that they will arrest and charge us over anything possible. Every day we are confronted by endless advertising from powerful corporations and yet normal people cannot make their voices heard.”

Those of you who read this blog know that we don't really like to have a go at NGOs and other campaign groups. We feel, rightly or wrongly, that the whole climate change catastrophe is rather more important than some silly in-fighting vanguardism. It's what seperates us from the Revolutionary Communist Party / Living Marxism sect currently masquerading as Modern Movement.

But sometimes I get sent things that really piss me off. This video (and Earth Hour) is one of them. Earth Hour, for those of you who didn't get the memo, is a coming together of lots of people who will all turn their lights off for an hour. And then turn them back on again afterwards. Or something.

Now some of us at the coal face of climate change campaigning might choose to describe such an activity as a collosal waste of time that puts forward false solutions that tell people you can stop climate change while keeping all those existing power structures, lifestyles and consumerist nonsenses going. But while we roll our eyes and try to ignore it, the organisers go and put out videos like the one above, which seem to be saying that taking direct action is less effective than sitting in the dark for an hour.

Of course they don't stop there: how about the idea that you can keep flying everywhere so long as you use a freshly-bought green lightbulb? Popstrel Alanis Morrisette thinks that's the case, and no one at the Earth Hour HQ thought it a bit weird that she's giving her message of inaction from the inside of a plane.

Don't get me wrong: if the organisers of Earth Hour want to pretend we can solve climate change by getting "millions of people" to turn their lights off only to turn them back on again an hour later then fine. Just stop polluting the airwaves with your ill-thought out, partisan bullshit.

I don't normally indulge in e-democracy, because frankly it's a nonsense, but this is great: some bright spark has decided that the laws against breaking into airports aren't enough. They've asked the Government to ban "groups like Plane Stupid" from protesting within a mile of all airports. I don't fancy their chances much, but what the hell: if you agree with them, then add your name to the 15 people already on it.

Firstly let's be clear: unless you've cajoled two million people into signing up through a mixture of lying, lying and lying some more then your poxy petition will get about 300 people to sign it and Number 10 will just throw it away. The endless rush to get more signatures than the last petition has numbed our already bored-with-democracy leaders, who now have to see millions of people standing outside the House of Commons waving pitchforks and large banners with 'Behead the Bankers' before wondering if they should enact a law (unless its to restrict civil liberties, in which case it takes just one phone call from Scotland Yard to see us all locked up for the better part of a month).

So given that our protests tend to be accountable (we all get nicked) and easy to spot (we're the ones waving banners blocking your taxiway) I can't see this petition turning into a law anytime soon. But that's not what Number 10 petitions are all about. They're an easy way to persuade the population that they're doing something important while ensuring that their efforts come to nothing. E-democracy like this disenfranchises people as much as rigged consultations and rooms full of spin doctors. After all, if Gordon and his mates wanted to hear what we had to say, they'd ask us, not BAA PR gurus.

For a country so avowedly capitalist it amazes me that so many people have no idea how the system works. This week we saw another bunch of economic illiterates who seem unable to grasp that most basic tenet: if the service you offer is more expensive and less efficient than a rival, people won’t buy it. BMI scrapped flights from Durham Tees Valley to Heathrow, causing much wailing and gnashing of teeth in the North East. The local paper, the Northern Echo, even persuaded an MP to waste Parliamentary time banging on about it.

So imagine I wanted to travel tomorrow from Durham Tees Valley to London. I haven't booked in advance so need a walk-on fare. There's a flight that takes an hour and a quarter for £184 pounds but I still have to get into London, which takes an hour and costs a fiver. Now imagine I decide to go by train: bearing in mind that we have the highest walk-on fares in Europe. This takes three hours and brings me into Kings Cross. Crucially, it costs just £133 for an anytime single ticket - £50 cheaper than the cheap flight, and once centre-to-centre journey times are factored in, only takes about half an hour more.

So why on earth would anyone who isn’t connected to the aviation industry want to fly from Durham Tees Valley? And why would any business want to pay more so one of their employees can spend an hour squashed up against the bulkhead reading a Tom Clancy novel and another hour rattling along the Piccadilly line into central London? Have newspaper editors and MPs lost the ability to understand the economic system they so support – or are they so addicted to kerosene that they want flying promoted even when its more expensive than other, less polluting ways of getting about?

Source: Flickr

6th March - Early this morning a Plane Stupid activist covered Peter Mandelson in green custard to protest his involvement in the dodgy decision on a third Heathrow runway, as he arrived at a government summit on low-carbon technology.

Leila Deen, 29, said:

"That such a clearly corrupt human being is still in government, despite being unelected, is an affront to democracy and a threat to any hope we have of stopping the impact that climate change is already beginning to have on our lives. We have a tiny window left to stop climate change. I want to tell my children that I did not stand back and applaud as Mandelson ruined our last chance."

Photos available on Plane Stupid's Flickr photostream. All photos licensed under Creative Commons.

Play Leila Deen - Custard Queen here...

"The only thing green about Peter Mandelson is the slime coursing through his veins. That Mandelson is today trying to make political capital out of climate change just days after reports that he met BAA's top lobbyist several times in the run up to the Heathrow decision is an insult to our intelligence and to our whole generation that will suffer from climate change."

"We know that Mandelson is best buddies with BAA's top lobbyist Roland Rudd, and reports suggest it was him who bullied Ed Miliband into accepting a third runway. We can't let the Prince of Darkness cast his shadow over West London."