How To Stop Climate Change

It may have escaped your notice that there was a high level shindig in Paris in which world leaders agreed to change the climate.

The essence of their talks was their concern that climate might change, as it has done so often in the past, so they were going to ensure it stayed the same for all time, or at least until the next elections.  We could all ignore them of course and do it yourself.

It would mean going to bed a lot earlier, ceasing to buy lots of rubbish consumer goods which are soon discarded, changing some of our lazier and thoughtless habits, walk a lot more and above all, stop tourism.

In the UK and its highest levels of government the issue of runway space in the South East is consuming a great deal of time, effort and money.  One lot say we want another runway at Heathrow, to make it a mega hub, others want it at Gatwick, and there are other options relating to the many airfields in the area.

But it is pointed out that one of the main uses of these places is to fly UK people out to tourist destinations and to fly other people in to be tourists in England and other parts of the UK.  Tourism, once a quaint and limited pastime for those with more money than sense has become almost obligatory for many people.

There are many places where it has become the central and key economic activity but with low level work.  As this activity means simply churning money round the system and is highly vulnerable to changing fashion, it is not a form of real investment simply extended low level consumption.

What is missed in our assessments of its worth is the sheer scale of the damage inflicted on many of the eco-systems and vulnerable parts of the planet as well as it's command of scarce resources.  Also, it is common for many areas to subsidise the activity.

If you add up all the airfield provision, tax breaks and support for airlines and plane makers and a few other things, it is possibly one of the most highly subsidised trades on earth.  The taxpayers are helping people to wreck the planet.

What is interesting about the Paris Conference is that much, if not all, of what happened there could have been done online.