Afternoon:
10°c
THE eco-activists who call themselves Climate Rush have announced they intend to "hit Heathrow" on Monday 12 January, in "an action against the construction of the third runway and the unsustainable use of national, short-haul flights".
Doubtless, this demo has been encouraged by the apparent success of the runway protest at Stansted a couple of weeks ago by the allied group, Plane Stupid. Both these loose movements believe themselves to be justified in taking such direct action and if necessary breaking the law by the urgency and importance of their cause.
That and their own conceit. On their website, Climate Rush present themselves as nothing less than the redeemers of the time, the saviours of the world. "The Climate Rush is a group of gallant women and intrepid men who will act now to save the world," they say.
They are young, of course, and full of themselves, some the scions of aristocracy, but that doesn't make this tone of overweening self-delight any more appealing. In fact, it vitiates their claims to be taken seriously because it makes it obvious that we have here yet another bunch of single-issue campaigners, finding their self-validation in the unquestionable moral authority of their cause.
Funnily enough, the founders of Plane Stupid originally met on an anti-Iraq War protest march, before the idea had come to them that Ryanair was an even greater threat to humanity. The campaign against flying is just the latest in a series of movements that appeal to immature and self-important people who want to wrap themselves in the moral authority of a cause.
Until quite recently, a good number of these joyful prigs would have had a lot of fun as hunt saboteurs. It may have been hard even for them to pretend that fox-hunting was any great threat to humanity but that didn't stop them opposing it with the utmost self-righteousness. It is instructive to realise that the fact that fox-hunting is happily carrying on uninterrupted seems to be of no interest to them any more, now that their precious law has been passed.
Before that, there were the Greenham Common protesters and the CND marchers. We now know that so far from achieving anything good at all, these movements only gave succour to totalitarianism. All who were ever involved in them should now do penance for that.
Climate change, and the part in it played by aviation, need to be addressed by policymakers and governments, nationally and internationally, in due democratic process. Meanwhile, if these "gallant women and intrepid men" obstruct travellers by breaking the law, they should individually be held financially responsible for the losses incurred. At Stansted, 57 people forced the cancellation of 56 flights. That should be an easy enough calculation. Plain stupid, really.
Kate and Leo go up in smoke
Kate Winslet and Leonardo DiCaprio smoke non-stop in the new film of Richard Yates's novel Revolutionary Road. Given the bitter outcome of this couple's attempt to break out into a new life, perhaps the movie can't be said particularly to glamorise smoking. Indeed, if you know anything about the life of Yates, as revealed by his biographer, Blake Bailey, it should have the opposite effect.
As well as being alcoholic, Yates was a dedicated smoker all his life, consuming four packs a day, despite advanced emphysema. He badly burned himself when he set fire to one flat with a cigarette. He ended up unable to walk even a few yards and became dependent on constant sucking on an oxygen tank to breathe.
When he was finally forced to give up, he found, to his surprise and awful regret, that “stopping cold after 50 years was remarkably easy”. It was too late. He died shortly after. Let's hope the film of his only great novel doesn't inspire a single viewer to light up.
Christmas without snail mail
Could this be the year that Christmas cards are finally revealed to be surplus to demand? They are not, it is worth remembering, part of any ancient tradition, having been invented by an ingenious man called Sir Henry Cole, who worked with Rowland Hill on the introduction of the Penny Post. In 1843, to get people to use the service, he commissioned the first ever commercial Christmas card.
Perhaps when the post was a relatively fast way to communicate, printed cards had a point. No longer, though. The only cards one actually wants to receive are from the people who actually matter to you, not strangers extending meaningless corporate hospitality. And these days, if you are not in touch with those close to you by speedier means, a picture of a snowman is unlikely to put things right. Christmas cards are the vermiform appendix of communication: a right pain but completely and utterly useless.
Reader views (16)
David and Hayden, it's refreshing to finally find scientific minded skeptics in this news outlet. As a future Briton resident, I thought I'd be an isolated misfit. Cheers to both of you for proving that Brits may very well be the voice of Reason in this debate.
- Peter Manousakos, Manousakos, Canada, 28/12/2008 16:52
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Can my children and grandchildren please sue you for the asthma and illness they and I will suffer as a result of the pollution and ill health Heatrow Max will cause, and then sue you again for the destruction of the planet as you push your BAA inspired dubious spin - its terrifying people like you still are willing to take the aviation industry and spout its lies - so much for a moral compass or the change of heart to move away from a an ever continuing consumer trap to the destruction of our planet.
- Christian Ball, London, UK, 26/12/2008 18:32
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"Global Warming Swindle aside, these young people have perhaps been influenced by the broad scientific consensus that anthropogenic climate change is real."
I think "broad scientific consensus" could be considered slightly ambiguous. Several sources of data stretching back thousands of years and covering several different climatic periods and hence major climate changes, have enabled the reconstruction of past climatic patterns. Upon examination of these patterns, a large majority of academics (in my experience, a much larger proportion than the academics believing climate change is being caused anthropologically) believe that the change in climate is much more of a natural cycle than anything else.
The media and the general public seem to prefer the more dramatic line that climate change is the doings of human pollution. So, have climate protesters got sufficient academic backing to be so forcefully labelling projects such as the third runway at Heathrow as a large contribution to the "certain climatic disaster" or "inevitable tipping point" which is apparently guaranteed to be just around the corner?
- David, Geography Student Specialising In Climate Change, West Yorkshire, UK, 23/12/2008 21:33
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Seeing as these naïve youngsters have probably been insidiously influenced by our top Scientists, perhaps we should denounce them instead? - for ignorantly propagating their work for selfish reasons of self-enrichment.
- Hayden, Nottingham, 20/12/2008 11:02
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The cause, effect, and politics, of proposed climate change is very different to anything else we have faced before, and 'if true' would require a much more rapid restructuring of the global economy than our 'due democratic process' is currently providing. Global Warming Swindle aside, these young people have perhaps been influenced by the broad scientific consensus that anthropogenic climate change is real. However, i'm sure, through reading other newspapers, you are more than aware of this, so the question begs; why are you calling these young people ignorant?
- Owen, Portsmouth, 20/12/2008 10:33
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"Lack of due democratic process"?! Is there a country in the world with a more responsive democracy than Britain's? I think not.
- Blackstone Coke, London, 19/12/2008 15:50
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As a "young person" myself I just have to say that sexton is right.
Did Plane Stupid hurt or affect the climate in a meaningful way? no. Did theyhurt or affect large airlines? no. Have they even attempted to lobby through more meaningful and peaceful channels? no.
Who did they hurt? Families, children, innocent people just trying to get on with life in an increasingly tough and global environment.
Well done....
- D, London, 19/12/2008 14:15
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i HEART chris w
- Tamsin, London, 19/12/2008 14:00
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Climate change is a convenient excuse for soap-dodgers to drag us back to the Stone Age and an even more convenient excuse for our unscrupulous government to heap on more taxes.
- Nobby Clark, Perth, Scotland, 19/12/2008 13:43
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That was more than a little mean to David S wasn't it Chris W?
I am not sure if expansion is necessary (I frankly don't know enough about the current capacity of these airports.
But having (for the first time in years) travelled abroad on holiday to Latvia and Morocco I know that I could not have afforded to go to either place without the cheap fares offered by RyanAir and the other cheap short haulers.
I remain a sceptic about man made climate change (look at the film "The Great Global Warming Swindle" for an alternate view. Regardless of whether it is happening or what is causing it I think that it would be better for us to deal with the results (I.e. supporting the building of flood defenses in Bangladesh etc) than trying to put the genie back in the bottle.
I support clean fuels, etc but the big problems in this world remain poverty and the low economic growth in the third world which perpetuates, and I do not believe that hand wringing about climate change, greenhouse gases is going to help at all.
Just so you know I am not some raving right winger-the biggest disappointment in politics was the theft of the 2000 election from Al Gore. What a dreadful presidency George Bush Jnr’s has been.
- Jason Stone, Stratford, Newham, 19/12/2008 13:42
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Mr Sexton, it is precisely because of the lack of a "due democratic process" in this country that we need pressure groups like Climate Rush to raise awareness of an important issue which is being ignored for the benefit of the wealthy minority. After all, is it not Climate Rush's democratic right to protest? The era of cheap aviation, like that of foxhunting, is long past and the sooner the older Tory-voting generations become aware of that the better.
- John Buckeridge, Poiters, France, 19/12/2008 13:28
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Basically, climate rush are just a bunch of thieves and thugs in search of a cause. They'll forget climate change when something else comes up.
- James, London, 19/12/2008 13:17
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Didn't Ed Milliband say that climate change required a mass movement similar to the Suffragettes? And what about Al Gore asking for young people to take action on against fossil fuel power - aren't they spokesmen of democracy?
- Sarah, London, 19/12/2008 12:48
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Climate change is an extraordinary situation and it will require an extraordinary response. An incredibly diverse group of people who would never have thought themselves as activists are taking action because time and again climate change is absolutely not being "addressed by policymakers and governments, nationally and internationally, in due democratic process".
- Tamsin, United Kingdom, 19/12/2008 12:33
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surely joyless describes them more accurately than joyful
- David C, purbeck -uk, 19/12/2008 12:31
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Mr Sexton, just because you are aged, calcified and morally bankrupt, doesn't validate your points any more than the youthfullness of Climate Rush invalidates theirs. Your capacity as greedy, Tory bottom dweller with access to the media does, in fact, make the message of youth more important - at least someone with future potential may be listening to them.
- Chris W, london, 19/12/2008 10:49
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