nicholas |
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I read with interest Jonathan Dawson’s recent article which poses the question “Are poverty alleviation and human rights work worth the carbon cost?”, and loved the irony of him hoping to combine a visit to the climate camp with his departure from Heathrow.
http://www.newstatesman.com/200708300051
I guess this falls under the radar of most CRAGs since it could be written off as business travel. But an interesting question none-the-less. Can we really justify long haul plane travel? It certainly makes it more difficult to try and convince others not to take that flight.
poverty alleviation and human rights work
john ackers
That is a great article but my feeling is that Jonathan Dawson didn’t really explain what measures they were taking to reduce their air travel, simply that they travelled a lot. I don’t understand why capacity building of trainers cannot be delivered from regional centres around the world. Also no mention of computer/internet based training or video conferencing.
Access to air travel is not going to go away. It’s just that it’s going to be carbon rationed hopefully (or taxed). Individuals will still be able to make that special trip. But we do need to reduce our emissions now and not wait for the government.
If you want to look at it very brutally, under a Contraction and Convergence type framework, Sierra Leone will get its own carbon quotas. If Sierra Leonians value Ecovillage Design Education then they might want to provide the necessary carbon credits for the flights.