Aviation huge threat to environment

[acmejack]

UK homes, firms and motorists will have to cut carbon dioxide emissions to zero due to air travel growth, a study says.

Even if such growth is halved, the rest of the economy will need cuts beyond targets set for 2050, said the Tyndall Centre for Climate Change Research.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/4266466.stm

[htuttle]

1. Bring back zeppelins!

I think it might soon cost too much to fly in a jet plane. Zeppelins are both fuel efficient and environmentally friendly.

Of course, you could probably get somewhere quicker on the train...

[dcfirefighter]

2. I'm convinced that the US needs a federal railway system

much like the federal highway system.

I'd like to see a public network of high speed (low curve) passenger rail w/adjacent freight rails between the most populous 50 metropolitan areas, and

dedicated passenger and freight rails between the next 100 metropolitan areas, and

mixed passenger and freight rails between the next 200 metropolitan areas.

The rights of way and rails should be owned by the public, the rolling stock themselves should be owned by private entities. Time slots on the railways should be periodically auctioned - reducing congestion and more than paying for the rail system. Any excess should be returned to the public.

[ReaderSushi]

4. Insufficient population density.

Any system of mass transit requires a very high population density which is the Northeast Corridor is the only profitable route for Amtrak. The American people because of our regretable desire to live in suburbs generally lack the needed density.
And because high speed trains are such a cool high tech toy, every congressperson is going to want a stop or few in their districts and the economics be damned.
A shame really, the coasts from Montreal to Miami and Vancouver to San Diego would be ideal for this.

[funflower]

8. When you consider the economics of public trains, don't forget the

enormous costs associated with driving fossil-fuel-powered automobiles - and all that that entails. The economics of train travel are not just about whether you can pay for them with ticket sales.

And welcome to DU, ReaderSushi!:hi:

[Kolesar]

3. Tourism is socially unacceptable

But Friends of the Earth director Tony Juniper said: "The Department of Transport's own models on aviation growth show dramatic reductions in air travel when assumptions are added for fuel taxes and other factors.

"Aviation is a rogue sector and its environmental impact is out of control.

"Climate change is the most urgent challenge facing humanity and yet aviation policy is doing the opposite of what is needed."

[BeFree]

5. High altitude CO2?

"The report called for a change to current rules, under which aviation and shipping are not considered part of a country's CO2 output.

Aviation is regarded as especially polluting because of the large amount of fuel used at high altitude.

"At the moment aviation is completely outside the Kyoto agreements and all international and national targets and it doesn't make sense for aviation to be outside," Mr Morley told BBC Breakfast.


"The large amount of fuel at high altitude". So, who's ready to give up airplane flights?

When ya think about it, those emissions in the higher spheres would tend to become greenhouse gasses that last longer and are in a position to cause more change. At least down here we have trees and stuff to absorb the CO2,... up there?

[phantom power]

6. I'm always amazed at people's abilty to define problems out of existence.

"I know! Let's just not count the CO2 we release from aviation and shipping!"

These people treat reality like it's Calvinball.

[rfkrfk]

7. tax on jet fuel for international flight is zero, not one penny

US tax on jet fuel for domestic flight
is four cents a gallon, and airline whores
have the gaul to bitch about that.