Campaign against Climate Change

Heathrow Actions - January 2009

The Government's decision on expanding Heathrow is expected to take place next week, and according to The Times newspaper it will 'approve plans for a third runway and sixth terminal at Heathrow', and 'authorise more intensive use of the airport’s existing runways'.Needless to say, this will will drive a coach and horses through any attempt to curb Britain's CO2 emissions, thereby helping to make catastrophic climate change inevitable....

Here are two actions that will be taking place inside Heathrow later this month:

(1) Monday 12th January: Climate Rush 'Edwardian Picnic at Terminal 1. See more here .

(2) 'Heathrow Decision Day Flashmob' at Terminal Five on the first Saturday after the Government makes its decision on Heathrow expansion (unless all forms of expansion are ruled out). 12 noon (on the dot), Heathrow Terminal 5 Departures ('Security North'section'). Reveal your t-shirt and then pelt Transport Secretary Geoff Hoon with red sponges! See more here.

Demonstration at Heathrow May 31st

The demonstration at Heathrow was a great success ! Thousands gathered at Hatton Cross tube station, under the roar of the jet-planes, to demand "No third runway" and "no runway expansion in avaiation" and calling on the government to "get real on climate change". There were plenty of local residents and West Londoners - but also bus-loads of climate campaigners from as far afield as North Wales and Matlock. A colourful procession then streamed off around the perimeter of the airport with the 7 foot square CCC 'globe-in-a-greenhouse' on wheels in the thick of the throng, giving a clear climate change message. As the long snake of protestors reached the BAA offices on the Bath Road shouts of "No 3rd Runway" got louder. Soon after that the cavalcade finally thread its way into Sipson village - which will be destroyed if the 3rd runway goes ahead. Here 3,000+ demonstrators formed a giant 'NO'- an image that was then beamed around the media. John MacDonnel, local MP and strong anti-Heathrow expansion campaigner, acted as master of ceremonies and George Monbiot and others spoke to the crowd before everyone retired to enjoy local hostelries and entertainments in the streets of Sipson. The event got tremendous coverage in the media and represents a new high in the campaign to stop Heathrow's third runway, stop runaway airport expansion and get a grip on the fastest growing source of greenhouse gas emissions - aviation.

The timetable for the day was as follows:

12pm assemble at Hatton Cross Tube station

12.50: two speakers (Archbishop Address and Deputy Mayor of London to lead off)

1pm: Carnival moves off. It will process around the airport to Sipson village, a distance of around two and a half miles.

2.30: Big NO begins

3.30: Big NO address

4pm: speakers on main stage

5pm: Sipson Street party : there will be food, stalls, drink and plenty to do for kids from face-painting to bouncy castles

7pm: close

More on Heathrow, Aviation and Climate Change

Spurred on by BAA the government wants to build a third runway at Heathrow. Aviation is the fastest growing source of greenhouse gas emissions. If aviation continues to grow at the current rate then by 2050 it will account for half of what even the government thinks is the most the UK should be emitting by then (under the 60% target originally proposed in the Climate Bill - see here ). In other words it would cancel out all the reductions that had been made up to then.

Curbing aviation growth will not prevent the destabilisation of global climate on its own - but there's no way we can get serious about tackling climate change until we get serious about tackling the runaway expansion in aviation. The current trend in the expansion of aviation is just not compatible with any realistic plan to prevent a climate catastrophe.

The government is planning for a near trebling of air passengers by 2030. To cope with these the government envisages up to 5 new runways being built with just about all existing runways working close to full capacity. This amounts to the biggest single programme of airport expansion ever seen in this country. The governments aviation policy is clearly on a collision course with its climate policy. We need to make sure that it is the former that is made to give way.

If we eliminated short haul flights - journeys that could feasibly be made by other less polluting forms of transport - then there would be no need for a third runway at Heathrow at all

But at the moment aviation is given an unfair advantage over other forms of transport. It does not have to pay tax on its fuel (the way car drivers or train operators do) and for the most part does not pay VAT. So the aviation industry is mollycoddled with a hidden subsidy - which gives it an advantage over other less environmentally damaging forms of transport.

Taking an aircraft flight is when most people cause the greatest amount of emissions in the shortest amount of time - a one way economy flight, London to New York, emits more than half a tonne of of CO2. A return flight produces about the same climate-damaging effect as one year's motoring in an average UK car. This is taking into account the fact that emissions at altitude are nearly twice as damaging as the equivalent at ground level due to the 'radiative forcing' effect. Travelling by plane can emit anything between around half as much again, to four times more than travelling by train - and that is before we almost double the figure for the plane to take into account 'radiative forcing' (see in more detail here ). Of course the very fact that aviation makes travel so much easier, and generally cheaper, means that more people travel more often and more climate-damaging emissions are produced. Most flights are not necessary in the way that heating one's house, or commuting to work is - they are part of an affluent lifestyle. Even cheap flights are taken disproportionately by the better off in society. Yet the people who will suffer worst and most immediately from climate change are those who will probably never get the chance to fly. So in other words the climate impacts of aviation represent a particularly striking way in which increasingly affluent, high-consumption lifestyles of the rich are having a negative effect on the poor.

Yet, if aviation was put on a level playing field with other forms of transport (for a start), and if other forms of transport were encouraged to replace short haul flights (the most carbon intensive per mile) then we would not need the kind of expansion in aviation envisged by the government and a third runway for Heathrow. Four fifths of all UK trips abroad are within Europe : so many of these destinations could be reached by coach or train ( and in a sleeper you needn't waste time, or get jet-lagged, either !). The government could be investing in more efficient, lower-emitting, surface transport instead of carbon-heavy aviation infrastructure.

Check here and here for more handy facts about aviation.

Some useful sites are :

Greenpeace STOP HEATHROW www.stopheathrow.org

Airport Watch www.airportwatch.org.uk

Main UK Climate Campaigns:

Heathrow & Aviation
KIngsnorth and New Coal
The Climate Bill
Biofuels

Get your Union to support the Campaign

Main UK Climate Campaigns: Heathrow & Aviation KIngsnorth and New Coal The Climate Bill Biofuels

Get your Union to support the Campaign

Main UK Climate Campaigns:

Heathrow & Aviation
KIngsnorth and New Coal
The Climate Bill
Biofuels