The battle over a 3rd runway for Heathrow became an iconic struggle between those of us who know the climate change threat is deadly serious, and those who preferred to gamble our collective future in search of short-term profit. And when that latter group includes such heavyweights as the Department for Transport and the British Airports Authority, you know you're in for a fight - even when the science is on your side.
In the event it took three years of hard campaigning, and the building of a huge coalition of civil society (including residents' groups Hacan and NoTRAG, local councils, Climate Camp, WWF and RSPB) to bring the runway plans down.