Letters to the press: Liverpool Airport Expansion

Lack of leadership
I am writing to express surprise and disappointment at the lack of a coordinated and effective response from our elected representatives to the plans for the further expansion of Liverpool Airport. Read more...
Anne Buckley, November 2006

Growth in aviation needs to be reversed
The lack of impartiality in your recent reporting of the break neck expansion at Liverpool airport is truly breathtaking. Read more...
Patrick Cleary, October 2006

Lack of leadership

I am writing to express surprise and disappointment at the lack of a coordinated and effective response from our elected representatives to the plans for the further expansion of Liverpool Airport. It is clear that climate chaos is the single biggest danger facing future generations, and that the time for action is now. It is also clear that aviation makes a wholly disproportionate contribution to our rapidly warming climate.

The huge expansion in air travel is largely driven by unnecessary leisure flying by the top 3 socioeconomic groups visiting second homes and taking multiple foreign holidays. If politicians are serious about reducing emissions and conserving scarce fossil fuel reserves for essential use, then why do they not oppose the planned expansion? It may take courage to suggest that promoting cheap air travel is irresponsible and that as a society we need to think of the inheritance we will leave our children and grandchildren, but at critical times like this, leadership is needed. Unfortunately, locally as well as nationally, we are left wanting.

Anne Buckley
Green Party (Wirral)
November 2006

Growth in aviation needs to be reversed

The lack of impartiality in your recent reporting of the break neck expansion at Liverpool airport is truly breathtaking. (Airport's 11 new routes bring the world closer, Oct 4 and Now it's JLA to JFK, Oct 5). It seems only the views of the business community are relevant to this debate and the appalling environmental consequences of our rapidly expanding aviation industry do not even merit note, so

• lets ignore this weeks report from the Met Offices Hadley Centre which predicts that one-third of the planet will be desert by 2100, forcing millions of the worlds poorest people to migrate(1)
• lets ignore the figures from the World Health Organisation which estimates that over 150,000 people are already dying each year as a result of climate change(2)
• lets not worry about giving our money to Ryanair whose Chief Executive said last year the best thing we can do with environmentalists is shoot them(3)
• lets ignore the imminent peak in global oil production(4) and the ensuing economic dislocation which will cause the next generation to wonder how we could waste the earths finite resources on a weekends shopping in New York.

From our viewpoint of history we look back and wonder how could people justify slavery or succumb to the horrors of fascism. Our children and grandchildren will view us in the same light and ask how could we fritter away millions of years of condensed sunlight in such an irresponsible and destructive manner. The hypocritical approach of mainstream politicians to the problems of climate change and resource depletion and your own unbalanced reporting of the issues are just two aspects that future generations will regard with revulsion.

Notes:
1. http://www.metoffice.com/research/hadleycentre/
2. http://www.who.int/heli/risks/en/
3. The Independent, November 3rd 2005
4. The Association for the study of peak oil and gas is one of many organisations forecasting an imminent
peak in global oil production (www.peakoil.net)

Patrick Cleary
Green Party (Wirral)
October 2006