13,500 join Greenpeace Heathrow campaign

posted by DAISY in Transport

© Greenpeace / Jiri Rezac

Over 13,500 people have signed up to Greenpeace's campaign to stop the expansion of the UK's Heathrow airport, by becoming owners of a plot of land designated for development.

The UK government last month approved the expansion of the airport to six terminals and three runways, increasing annual flight numbers from around 500,000 to somewhere between 700,000 and 800,000. Amid controversy, supporters - including Labour Prime Minister Gordon Brown - have stressed the economic benefits of increased airport capacity and argue that the expansion will create more jobs in the troubled economic climate.

However, not only will the expansion have a huge effect on the surrounding areas in terms of noise pollution, congestion and development (700 homes and businesses in the village of Sipson will be demolished to make way for the runway), but the amount of Co2 emissions will skyrocket. Currently aviation emissions account for around 13 per cent of the UK's total. An increase in flight numbers will simply serve to negate the hard work that the UK has done so far to combat climate change.

By buying a plot of land on the development site, Greenpeace hopes that the expansion will not be able to continue, and has issued an open invitation for people to sign up to become "beneficial owners" of the land.

The campaign has acquired a large following, including environmentalist George Monbiot, Royal Society Research Fellow Dr Simon Lewis, actress Emma Thompson and comedian Alistair McGowan (pictured above).

"I don't understand how any government remotely serious about committing to reversing climate change can even consider these ridiculous plans." said Thompson.

The Department for Transport’s ‘UK Air Passenger Demand and CO2 Forecasts’ November 2007 states that in 2005 Heathrow emitted 18.2 million tonnes of CO2, with 476,000 flights. Using this as a base line, an extra 226,000 flights at Heathrow would result in an additional 8.64 million tonnes of C02. (Source: Greenpeace)

Tellingly, Heathrow's expansion approval is also happening at the same time as the EU announced plans to take the UK to court over unaceptable levels of air pollution.

The UK government has meanwhile committed to reducing carbon emissions by 80 per cent by 2050. Despite the Climate Change Act and its support for renewable energy development, if projects like this are approved on behalf of an increasingly outraged nation, it's going to make it pretty hard to meet this target.

Watch a video report on the Heathrow expansion here.
Learn more about the Greenpeace campaign, or add your name to the list of "beneficial owners" at http://www.stopheathrow.org/.
Join more than 5,000 members of the Facebook Group "Stop Heathrow Expansion" here.