Last week we went along to the glorious No Boris Airport protest supported by the Campaign against Climate Change, the RSPB and Jenny Jones and covered on the BBC news website. At the moment there are two proposed airports in the Kent Medway region - Boris Island would be built on an artificial island, and another airport plan has been developed by Norman Foster for the Isle of Grain. We joined environmental activists outside City Hall to oppose all plans for a new airport in Kent. Anew airport in Kent is estimated to cost £50bn, would be built in the middle of four major flight paths, threatens the natural habitat of endangered and protected birds and is very close to the sunken SS Richard Montgomery, a munitions ship which contains enough unexploded material to send a metre-high tidal wave hurtling towards the banks of the River Thames.
At Climate Rush we are opposed to the new building or expansion of airports in the UK. We do not buy into the economic or social arguments for airport expansion because we believe that sustainable green jobs build healthy communities while building and expanding airports creates far fewer jobs than promised, greatly increases levels of air and noise pollution which damages our health and reduces our quality of life, and greatly contributes to climate change. We think that in a time of climate chaos, when the next five years will be the most crucial period we’ll ever have to avoid runaway climate change it is simply insane to propose building a new airport in Kent.
Airports create huge amounts of air pollution, not only from the planes themselves but from increased traffic taking people to and from the airport. Air pollution in the UK is currently at fatal and illegal levels, leading to up to 50,000 premature deaths in the UK, and is linked to up to 30% of childhood asthma cases and permanent reduced lung capacity in children. We believe that the health and quality of life of communities living near airports is more important than short term economic gains, especially when better alternatives are available.
The truth is that the jobs promised when new airports are being built or expanded rarely materialise, and even if they did there are much better ways of creating jobs. The 1 Million Climate Jobs report is a great example of research showing that jobs can be created that build the economy without wrecking our future. Jobs insulating our homes would bolster a local community while reducing energy bills, the amount of energy used in homes and the impacts of climate change without the threat to public health, quality of life, and natural wildlife that are associated with building a new airport.
Boris Johnson has said that without a new airport built in Kent we will be stuck in ‘economic stagnation’. It’s an argument as short sighted as it is dangerous because it fails to consider the economic effects of climate change. Why try to build a future based on carbon-intensive industry when we know that these industries cannot be sustained in the future? Ultimately, we have a choice between trying our best to transition to a low carbon economy or suffer the worst effects of climate change, and in doing so see our high-carbon economic infrastructure crumble. Aviation activism is one of the frontlines in deciding what decision we make about our future, and fighting airport expansion in the South East is a fundamental battleground. It’s more than opposing a carbon emitting airport - it’s about building a green future in the UK through prioritising our railway infrastructure and creating green training, apprenticeships and employment for long-term jobs improving our local communities for the long haul.
Rail travel emits ten times less CO2 than flying short haul, and many long distance business meetings can be conducted through video conferencing. The new airport proposals in Kent will carry an additional 150 million passengers per year at a huge climate cost. The answer to debates on whether better transport links to India and China are needed to keep Britain from becoming economically irrelevant should be framed in the context of our commitment to reduce our carbon emission by 80% by 2050 and the consequences of failing to reach these targets. What would many business models look like in a 5 degree world? Would those projections change how many flights are deemed necessary to maintain business as usual? The UN estimates that climate change will cost £290bn a year by 2030 – those who are concerned about economic growth and security will be doing all they can to oppose aviation expansion, not to build it.
Tags: birds, Boris, Boris airport, business, campaign against climate change, carbon, city hall, Climate Change, climate chaos, climate rush, estuary airport, flying, global warming, green economy, Isle of Grain, transport, wildlife