Aviation Expansion

Come to the 'Train not Plane' party!

Posted by jossc — 15 July 2010 at 10:23am - Comments

We've won a great victory against the Heathrow third runway, but there are still plans to expand aviation elsewhere around the country. The airline industry needs to take on its fair share of emissions cuts. We should be thinking about reducing, not expanding aviation. We can start with journeys which can clearly be made through other means - by replacing domestic flights with an improved national train and coach network.

On Saturday 4 September, our friends at the Campaign against Climate Change are organising a 'Train not Plane' day of action in London and Manchester. It starts with a demonstration outside London's City Airport in the morning, supporting the local campaign to stop increased numbers of flights at the airport. This will be followed by a

Article tagged as: 3rd runway, aviation expansion, city airport, co2 emissions, events, manchester

Slideshow: highlights from the 3rd runway campaign

Posted by jossc — 16 June 2010 at 10:17am - Comments

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.

Article tagged as: airplot, aviation expansion, co2 emissions, heathrow, slideshows, successes

Climate 9 trial gets underway in Aberdeen

Posted by jossc — 15 June 2010 at 10:43am - Comments

The Climate 9 with family and friends outside court this morning.

The first major climate trial since the failure of the Copenhagen talks begins today in Aberdeen sheriff's court.

Nine members of Plane Stupid Scotland are in the dock, following their successful shut down of Aberdeen Airport in March last year. For taking direct action to highlight the climate impacts of expanding the airport - a plan closely linked to business tycoon Donald Trump's proposal to develop a new golf course complex in the area - they're now facing charges of breach of the peace and vandalism.

Article tagged as: aviation expansion, co2 emissions, plane stupid, scotland

Government's aviation policy blown out of the water

Posted by jossc — 8 December 2009 at 5:10pm - Comments

The Committee on Climate Change's (CCC) report on aviation, published today, explicitly undermines government plans to allow a tripling of passenger numbers on commercial aircraft by 2050.

While its Chairman Lord Turner has been careful not to totally rule out the possibility of creating extra capacity in the form of new runways, the committee is recommending that "the policy focus for aviation must be on limiting demand for flights and investing in alternatives such as better rail links and video conferencing." In an interview on the BBC's Today programme this morning, Lord Turner confirmed that a 200% growth in consumer demand for air travel by 2050, assumed in the 2003 Aviation White Paper, would make reaching proposed emission reduction targets impossible.

Article tagged as: aviation expansion, climate change, co2 emissions, heathrow, third runway

Don't miss the Alistair McGowan railshow!

Posted by jossc — 29 September 2009 at 4:24pm - Comments

Impersonator extraordinaire, Airplotter and all-round funny man Alistair McGowan is shortly embarking on a nationwide tour of Britain, and he's going to great lengths to make it as green as possible. Alistair is a long-time Greenpeace supporter, and has committed himself to playing a key role in opposing aviation expansion by jointly buying the Airplot with us - the piece of land we acquired slap bang in the middle of the proposed new third runway development site at Heathrow Airport.

Article tagged as: airplot, alistair mcgowan, aviation expansion, climate change, heathrow, third runway
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