p18 Columnist may22 19/5/09 17:32 Page 18
news comment
ttglive.com
Kane Pirie Travel Republic
“Flying causes less than
5% of greenhouse gases,
whereas change in land
use causes more than 20%”
E
verybody loves to point the finger at a risky and is frowned upon. We decided to tackle
scapegoat. Our esteemed MPs have it head on and were the first online travel agent
been falling over themselves this week in the UK to offer carbon balancing, back in
to make it clear it’s all Michael Martin’s 2006. We teamed up with the World Land Trust
fault that they stole from the public purse and charity to facilitate this.
then evaded taxes to boot. He made them do it! I can’t understand why so many of our
In the environmental debate, public enemy competitors subsequently chose to work with
number one is often the airlines. But is this profit-making organisations instead.
backed up with figures? In broad terms, flying We also put our hand in our pocket and make
causes less than 5% of greenhouse gases while a small donation for every flight booked.
change in land use causes more than 20%. Happily, these have totted up pretty
Moreover, the destruction of wonderful fast, so we have already given more
and irreplaceable natural habitats, than £75,000 of our own money on
often to provide cheap land for agri- top of the £45,000 from customers.
culture or even biofuels, has horrific This has enabled the WLT to
consequences that are largely purchase our own “Travel Republic”
ignored. In contrast, a plane reserve in Paraguay. We liked their
flying 35,000ft over a simple and direct approach: stop
tropical rainforest land use change by buying the land.
does it no harm. Don’t worry, I don’t kid myself we
More focus on are the vanguard of environmental
change in land enlightenment. But surely it’s better
use is needed to recognise these issues and try to do
– that is where something other than sticking your head
real progress in the proverbial sand.
could be made. It seems to me public concern over the
Personally, I like flying. environment will grow and grow, yet at the
I can’t really visualise doing my same time people will continue to enjoy a
job or enjoying my holidays without summer holiday overseas in their millions.
access to cost-effective flights. We do need to take better care of the
Imagining that people will stop environment, but let’s have a balanced
flying is just an idle daydream debate and get past this current obsession
that progresses nothing. with flying – a small part of the puzzle.
For some travel companies,
even just discussing green Kane Pirie is managing director of
issues in public is seen as too Travel Republic
18 22.05.2009
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