Campaign Against Climate Change (Scotland)

Campaign Against Climate Change (Scotland)

PLEASE SEE BELOW FOR DETAILS OF THE CLIMATE CHANGE DEMO IN LONDON ON 4TH NOVEMBER! Please email us on aberdeen_climatechange@yahoo.co.uk for details as to where Aberdeen people will be meeting.

Day of Action Against Short-Haul Flights

We will be supporting the Day of Action Against Short-Haul Flights, which is co-ordinated by Plane Stupid (http://www.planestupid.com/) a national organisation which supports grass-roots groups against airport expansion and the current high volume of air travel. Many groups are planning protests outside travel agents and flight shops and we will be doing something similar. The official day of action is Monday 6th November, but we will be holding a protest on Saturday, 11th November, from 11am in Aberdeen. We are planning a lawful protest involving banners, however, we would like to have a bit of a surprise effect and therefore ask people who are interested in taking part to contact us directly for details.

Here are some of the main reasons for the Day of Action:

1. 45% of all flights within Europe are for distances of less than 500 kilometres. Train and bus services are available for most of those journeys, often taking the same amount of time or just slightly more.

2. Aviation is the fastest growing source of CO2 emissions in the UK, and every flight contributes about three times as much to global warming than the the CO2 emitted, because of the effects of emitting water vapour and NOx high up in the atmosphere. The Tyndall Centre for Climate Research has calculated that all other sectors of the economy would have to stop emitting any greenhouse gases at all by 2050 if the UK was to meet its target of reducing total emissions by 60% whilst allowing for aviation growth as planned.

3. The government's target itself is way too low to prevent the meltdown of Greenland and West Antarctica , the extinction of about 50% of all species, probably millions of death and also the risk of runaway greenhouse warming. We need emission cuts by 80-90% now, and that means FAR LESS FLIGHTS.

4. 160,000 people a year are dying from global warming already, according to the World Health Organisation. Millions of people in Africa and Asia are suffering from droughts and flooding made far worse by the less than 1 degree C warming so far. Short flights may be comfortable for us and seem 'essential' to our jobs and personal lives. But surely, the terrible suffering and the deaths in places like Somalia, Sudan, or Bangladesh are too high a price!

5. There are 87 domestic flights from Aberdeen every day, compared to 26-27 international flights. Most of the recent growth in air travel to an from Aberdeen has been growth in domestic flights.

6. The UK government could easily impose fuel duty on domestic flights (something that would not be as straightforward with regards to international flights). We have fuel duty on cars, buses and trains - there is no excuse for exempting the most polluting form of transport! The money raised could be spent on an integrated sustainable transport system, with decent cycle lanes, bus lanes, and affordable rail travel.

Almuth Ernsting