Is there a silver lining to the volcanic ash cloud?

The eruption of an Icelandic volcano has caused travel chaos and grounded an entire European fleet of airplanes. But what does it mean for the climate?

European aviation industry: 344,109 tonnes CO₂ over shadows the 150,000 tonnes CO₂ from the volcano by a massive 206,465 tonnes CO₂

With April being 10:10’s travel month, the eruption of the Eyjafjallajokull volcano in Iceland couldn’t have come at a better time to illustrate the reliance our society has on aviation. While the grounding of planes has created a horrible situation for the thousands of people trying to visit loved ones or return from abroad, it has created an interesting opportunity to imagine a world without planes.

The team at Information is Beautiful have done some number crunching and worked out that over 200,000 tonnes of CO₂ is being saved every day that planes cannot fly due to volcanic ash. If you find that hard to believe then take a look at the video below made by David MacKay, author of Sustainable Energy Withouth the Hot Air which shows how many planes fly every 24 hours (every yellow dot is a plane!)

An interesting twist to the tale of Planes vs Volcano is the odd coincidence that one of the most famous planes to have crashed due to an erupting volcano was, of course, the City of Edinburgh, now best known for being used to make our very own 10:10 tags! With relics of the fossil fuel age now being used as a symbol of hope for a low carbon future, and people all over the UK discovering that travel is possible without taking to the skies, a world without planes is beginning to look achievable.