15th July 2006

Today Stroud District and Cheltenham Green party members joined Friends of the Earth groups and concerned residents in an action organised by the Cheltenham-based Climate Change Action group, to highlight aviations' role in climate change and concerns about expansion at Staverton.

Cllr. Philip Booth, a spokesperson for Gloucestershire Green parties and a Stroud District councillor who was at the demonstration said: "At a time when few now deny the urgency of addressing climate change, the rapid growth in flying threatens to throw all efforts to reduce dangerous emissions off course. We must work together to find ways of making the aviation industry reduce its social and environmental impact - this action hopes to highlight the absurdity of expanding an industry that is subsidised by £9 billion per year and generates pollution, noise, congestion – and climate change."

Philip Booth, who wrote a report outlining the overwhelming arguments against the expansion of Bristol airport (i),  said: "The Green party supports this peaceful protest outside Staverton airport to object to any expansion there. The improvements being made will encourage more personal and business jet use - some of those  jets are more efficient as the airport suggests but some are definitely not - but in any case the excellent Cheltenham Borough Council Climate Change Strategy calls for reducing CO2 emissions. These latest moves seem to be an expansion of activities and emissions for the benefit of wealthy companies and individuals."

Philip Booth said: "Let us be clear Staverton is not the worst offender - today at Fairford's Tattoo more fuel will probably be used than at Staverton in a month and similarly Bristol airport and others make huge contributions to CO2 emissions.  Nevertheless this is our local airport and it is our local Councils that have a say in this. We need to get serious about aviation - the fastest growing contributor to greenhouse gas emissions."

Some 25 or more people protested at the main gate with placards and happily engaged in conversations with an ex-Director of the airport and several pilots who appeared to talk to protesters.

Philip Booth added: "It was great to have a dialogue with those at the airport - we must tackle climate change together. It was good to hear that they also have concerns about climate change, cheap flights and the planned doubling and tripling of aviation."

 
See below leaflet used at Staverton demonstration with further actions people can take - immediately below a statement made by Cllr. Philip Booth at the action.

Draft of statement made by Philip Booth at Staverton:

Today, July 15th is International Day of Direct Action against Climate Change. The "Group of 8" (G8) richest industrialized countries are gathering in St. Petersburg, Russia to discuss "Energy Security." A leaked G8 "Communique on Energy Security" calls for trillions of dollars in new investments in oil, gas and coal production worldwide, plus wide-scale global expansion of nuclear energy.

With runaway climate change looming just over the horizon, such business-as-usual poses a direct threat to the continuation of life on Earth as we know it.

19 of the 20 hottest years on record have occurred since 1980. Islands in the South Pacific are already evacuating due to rising sea levels. Storms and hurricanes are growing more severe. Polar bears are drowning as their icy habitat breaks apart and drifts out to sea. Greenland and Antarctica are melting. Scientists warn we are getting closer to "the tipping point" of catastrophic and irreversible climate chaos.

We know all that - that is why we are here at Staverton - aviation is the fastest growing contributor to greenhouse gas emissions which are fueling climate change. Flights nationally are set to double by 2020 and triple by 2030. If we are to tackle climate change then this will cripple other industries as they attempt to cut back on their emissions while aviation continues to grow. Doing nothing just isn’t an option. We need to show Blair and the European Commission the strength of public opposition to the planned expansion of this industry.

We can congratulate the airlines to some extent on cleaning up their act and reducing their emissions through improved design, but this is being outstripped by the phenomenal growth in the total number of flights.

Let us be clear Staverton is not the worst offender - today at Fairford's Tattoo more fuel will probably be used than at Staverton in a month and similarly Bristol airport and others make huge contributions to CO2 emissions. Nevertheless the improvements being made here at Staverton will encourage more personal and business jet use - some of those  jets are more efficient as the airport suggests but some are definitely not - but in any case the excellent Cheltenham Borough Council Climate Change Strategy calls for reducing CO2 emissions. These latest moves seem to be an expansion of activities and emissions for the benefit of wealthy companies and individuals.

This is our local airport and it is our local Councils that have a say in this. We want them to hear that people are saying it is time to take climate change seriously.

Let us not forget that airlines currently enjoy a complex array of tax breaks and hidden subsidies - worth more than £9 billion in the UK alone - which are long outdated and totally incompatible with global climate goals. International progress on removing these and getting the industry to pay its way has been pitifully slow.

If we are to stave off the worst impacts of climate change fairly we must cut emissions by 80 to 90 per cent in the next few decades: that will simply not be possible unless we reduce emissions from flights. Instead of pursuing the outdated model of ‘predict and provide’, approving new runways at the airlines’ behest, the Government should stop building new runways and take immediate steps to force the airlines to reduce their emissions.

The world's 16,000 commercial jet airlines generate more than 700 million tonnes of carbon dioxide - more than the total output of Africa. One flight from here to the US will use 2 tonnes of carbon, nearly a third of the average annual UK person's carbon footprint. The only sustainable solution is to reduce the total number of flights and make the airlines pay the true social and environmental costs of their activities.

Things are changing

The Green party are part of 'Rethink!’, an alliance of environmental organisations and community groups from across the UK, which has recently been launched to call simply for the Government to reverse its support for the airlines spelt out in its Aviation White Paper of 2003. For the Government to support continued growth of the aviation industry is a frank admission that it would rather lose the battle against climate change – and write off the rights of the millions living near airports and under flight routes – than call time on cheap stag nights in Riga, weekend breaks in Rimini and freshly-picked Kenyan flowers in European supermarkets.

Airlines have also been left reeling after a vote in the European Parliament called for a raft of measures to tackle their growing contribution to climate change.

Euro-MPs in Strasbourg voted by 439 to 74 to adopt proposals drafted by Green Party MEP Caroline Lucas to introduce a range of measures including an airlines-only CO2 Emissions Trading Scheme and emissions charges to tackle their non-CO2 greenhouse gas emissions. There were 102 abstentions.

People are at last waking up to the fact we need action. Support here at Staverton shows people want us to take climate change seriously - we know we have to if we want to build a better future for future generations.

LEAFLET: STAVERTON AIRPORT - RIGHT TARGET!

International Day of Action Against Climate Change – 15th July 2006

We all know Climate Change causes Climate Chaos. What many of us don’t know are the stark facts about Runaway Climate Change. Runaway Climate Change will occur if we fail to limit the temperature rise to 2 degrees C this century. If this occurs, ‘positive feedbacks’ such as the dieback of the Amazon Rainforests, the melting of the polar icecaps, the thawing of the Siberian Permafrosts, etc. will be triggered and Global Warming will become self-perpetuating and unstoppable. If this happens the temperature rise this century would exceed 6 degrees C. The last time this happened it led to a mass extinction of 95% of earth’s species.

We are all witnessing a mass denial still in the face of this impending doom from our politicians, even the ones currently jumping on bandwagons. This mass denial operates at international, national and local levels. Nationally aviation is subsidised by the taxpayer by 9 billion pounds a year which encourages flying and the Government White Paper on Aviation actively encourages regional airports to expand. Aviation is the fastest growing source of greenhouse gas emissions which have doubled in the last 13 years and now make up 11% of the UK’s total emissions.

At the local level in Gloucestershire we have Cheltenham Borough Council (CBC) and Gloucester City Council (GCC) both boasting about the fact that they have signed up to ‘The Nottingham Declaration on Climate Change’, which recognises that “climate change is one of the key drivers within our community this century. … It commits the Council to undertaking a number of objectives to help tackle climate change.” (GCC web-site). CBC signed up to this Declaration in May 2002. “This committed the council to producing a climate change strategy and to reducing greenhouse gas emissions from council activities.” (Cheltenham Climate Change Strategy – May 2005).

Yet Staverton Airport is currently jointly owned by Cheltenham Borough Council and Gloucester City Council (Glos. Echo – 6/7/06). In order to comply with ‘The Nottingham Declaration on Climate Change’ and adhere to their Climate Change Strategies, both CBC and GCC need to take immediate steps to force Staverton Airport to reduce their emissions from flights and must state that under no circumstances will they allow Staverton Airport to extend its runways or increase flights or expand its aerial activities in any way. In fact as part of their Climate Change Strategy targets of “reducing CO2 emissions from activities in Cheltenham by 20% from 1990 levels by 2010 and by 60% by 2050” (CBC Climate Change Strategy – page 3) they should include the Airport in these targets, otherwise these reductions will have to come from elsewhere in the town.

Aircraft emissions have a greater relative climate impact than surface emissions because they are emitted at altitude. As well as emitting CO2, aircraft emit nitrogen oxides, water vapour and particles which form contrails and increase cirrus cloud formation, both of which contribute to climate change. The IPCC (Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change) estimates an ‘uplift’ of 2.7 from aircraft CO2 emissions – this means that the total warming effect of aircraft emissions is 2.7 times as great as the effect of the CO2 alone.

What can I do?

Climate Change and Aviation’s impact on this issue is a matter of survival – flying for pleasure is no longer an option for the human race and this includes the flying of freight such as luxury goods and fruit – 95% of fruit in the UK is imported, either through lorries or aeroplanes. So a good start to combat the effect of flying on the climate is to stop buying any fruit likely to have imported on an aeroplane, e.g. exotic fruit.

Another step is to write to CBC and GCC about their Climate Change Strategies and their commitment to ‘The Nottingham Declaration on Climate Change’, and to ask them the following questions:-

What is the exact amount of greenhouse gas emissions produced annually by the flying activities at Staverton Airport?

How do they propose to arrive at their target of 20% from 1990 levels by 2010 for Staverton Airport’s flying activities?

Please provide written assurance that Staverton Airport will never be allowed to expand.

Ask for a copy of the study published in May 2004 on the long-term role of the airport, which includes an environmental assessment of development options and the impact on CO2 emissions.

Ask them for proof that they have adhered to the following (from CBC’s own Climate Change Strategy): -

“CBC, through its representation on Gloucestershire Airport Board and Working Group, will ensure that climate change issues are recognised and monitored in future plans for Gloucestershire Airport.”