Simeon Brody
Climate change is the biggest global challenge that we face. Sea levels will rise, flooding coastal and low-lying areas and making them uninhabitable. Extreme weather events will compound this chaos. Ecosystems will be wrecked: deserts will replace existing crops, forests will turn to grassland, species will become extinct. This is the consensus. This is what we're doing to our world for our grandchildren's grandchildren to inherit.
Air travel may not be the biggest contributor to our national or global carbon dioxide emissions, but at the rate with which it is growing, it soon may be. Aeroplanes also cause nitrogen oxide emissions in the upper atmosphere where they cause far more warming than the carbon dioxide alone. It also seems grossly unfair that air fuel is not taxed, nor are the pollutants "claimed" by any of the countries which are responsible for refuelling the planes.
These are some of the reasons that this year's climate camp was held near Heathrow airport. Last year, I joined the campers at Drax Power Station to deliver a workshop on how home-composting can help reduce one's personal carbon footprint, and I wish I'd been able to make time to join the protesters this year. I was glad to see that most of the attendees at Heathrow practised non-violent direct action and that because of the camp, the media has been forced to explore the issues.
One solution to people being profligate with resource use would be to introduce personal carbon allowances. This annual emissions limit would encourage us to be careful with our energy use - if you wished to exceed your allowance you'd have to buy some unused allowance off someone.
To develop this concept, I am helping to start York Carbon Rationing Action Group, which is part of an international CRAG movement aimed at setting limits on our excessive carbon emissions. With catastrophic climate change beginning to happen, this seems sensible, workable and fair, and possibly part of a solution.
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