HeadDesk

[andrewducker]

From here:

Tony Blair says it is unrealistic to think the tax system can be used to reduce air travel in the UK. The prime minister said it would take a "fairly hefty whack" for people to
cut back on flights in the UK and abroad.

He told the Commons liaison committee that it would be hard to sell, and said he would not be keen on such a move.

Instead, he said, the best way to tackle climate change was to invest in more environmentally friendly aircraft and to invest in other new technology.

Because the government isn't here _precisely_ to look at the big picture in a way that we can't individually do and push us to do the things that actually we ought to be doing.

I can't see how it can possibly be that much harder a sell than the Iraq War, when he didn't exactly have a majority behind him a lot of the time.  If he's willing to do the right thing there, why not here?

Comments

[heron61.livejournal.com]

A commercial airliner uses as much fuel and produces as many greenhouse gasses as if every passenger on a full plane drove to their destination alone in a mid-sized sedan. That's horridly wasteful. I'm absolutely certain that more efficient planes are possible (if nothing else, using turboprops would make a significant difference over jets, although this would also somewhat reduce speeds). I also think that every government should provide strong tax incentives for developing and constructing more-efficient planes, as well as instituting substantially higher taxes on current planes. However, such planes don't exist yet and until they do, finding ways to reduce air travel is an excellent idea. If nothing else, short-term air travel is both common (at least in the US, I don't know about Britain) and could be easily replaced by train travel (often with little or no increase in travel time).

[pseudomonas.livejournal.com]

as soon as you find a way to drive a car across the ocean

It's called a ship. Or a tunnel. Until we can get aeroplanes running on biofuels, or much more efficient, or something, people might just have to travel by a slower means.

[pseudomonas.livejournal.com]

viz here for biofuel in aircraft (not jets yet)

[pseudomonas.livejournal.com]

Ah, someone's removed the comment this was in reply to. Huh.