Winds of change

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In a week when the giant A380 European Airbus makes its maiden flight George Monbiot writing in the Guardian gives some chilling (or should that be global warming?) statistics on the impact of air transport on the environment. His column was triggered by the debate on the building of the Whinash Windfarm on the eastern boundary of the English Lake District National Park. (Hopefully a balanced set of links here for the planning appeal site, the 'no' lobby, and the 'yes' lobby represented by the developers).

In his article Monbiot says..."The Whinash project (or any equivalent large windfarm) by replacing energy generation from power stations burning fossil fuel, will reduce carbon dioxide emission by 178,00 tonnes a year. This is impressive, until you discover that a single jumbo jet, flying from London to Miami and back every day, releases the climate-change equivalent of 520,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide a year. One annual daily connection between Britain and Florida costs three giant wind farms."

The full text of George Monbiot's thought provoking article is available through this link. For more of his journalism visit his Home Page.
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