Posted by jamie — 25 February 2008 at 2:28pm
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With all the excitement happening today at Terminal One, it's worth remembering that yesterday was another eventful one in Heathrow's calendar as a Virgin Atlantic plane steered
away from its usual transatlantic route to fly between Heathrow and Amsterdam. No, the
guidance systems weren't malfunctioning: it was a test flight to demonstrate
that biofuels can be used in aircraft. But what's that dripping from the
undercarriage? Could it be a tonne of greenwash?
Virgin announced its plans to test biofuels
some time ago but has been reluctant to say exactly what kind of biofuel they would
be using. To quell concerns about the impact on the cost of food, a press
release assured us that it wouldn't "compete with food and fresh water
resources". The rumour was that it would be made from algae, but in the
end it turned out to be a mixture of coconut and babassu oil. These aren't food
crops as such, but if the aviation industry leaps on them as an apparently easy
way to reduce emissions, that's going to have a huge environmental impact.
'Hole in security not as big as hole in climate policy' as Greenpeace hangs huge banner off BA tailfin.
25 February, 2008
Climate campaigners climbed onto the top of a Manchester to London plane after it parked at Heathrow Airport’s Terminal One at 9.45am this morning. They are now covering the tailfin with a huge protest banner that reads "CLIMATE EMERGENCY – NO 3rd RUNWAY".
The Greenpeace volunteers – two women and two men – waited until all the passengers had disembarked from the one hour flight before walking through double doors at Terminal One, crossing an area of tarmac and climbing stairs onto the fuselage of the British Airways flight.
Posted by bex — 25 February 2008 at 11:41am
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Climate emergency - no third runway
As the banner on top of this London - Manchester flight says, we're in the middle of a climate emergency. The fastest growing source of greenhouse gas emissions in the UK is just about to get another boost from Brown's government. On Wednesday, the consultation on whether to nearly double the size of Heathrow by building a new runway will close, and the government looks set to cave in to the aviation industry.
This morning, four of our volunteers have climbed on top of a plane at Heathrow and are wrapping a banner around the tailfin. The plane - one of 32 flights every day between London and Manchester - had just arrived in Heathrow and the passengers had disembarked when four volunteers walked through the double doors at Heathrow Terminal One, crossing an area of tarmac and climbing onto the fuselage of the British Airways flight.
Posted by jamie — 22 February 2008 at 5:11pm
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London mayor Ken
Livingstone was never going to get an easy ride over his planned changes to the
congestion charge, and Porsche's threat of a legal challenge is perhaps no big
surprise. Famed for its fast, sleek, inefficient cars, it claims the new
£25-a-day charge on gas guzzlers is "unfair and disproportionate".
As well as the promised judicial review, the
company has started a petition for the Jeremy
Clarksons of this world to voice their opposition to Ken's plan. "We know that huge numbers of people in London and across the
rest of the country support our case," they claim. "They agree with
us that it would be bad for London - that it is
unfair and sends the wrong message about what sort of a city London is whilst having no meaningful benefit
on the environment."
London mayor Ken
Livingstone was never going to get an easy ride over his planned 
