Let's celebrate the freedom of flight
At a time when hundreds of miserable anti-flying protestors are descending on Heathrow airport at it's most busiest time of the year, hell bent on causing disruption - I think it’s high time we start to combat such eco-puritanism by celebrating our freedom to flyAs far as I’m concerned, what I’ve always found completely astonishing, is the fact that a machine of such size, weight and power, can transport me over great distances, at such high speeds, in the most inhospitable environment, with such safety, and at such a cheap price - that, in mine eye, can never be '
unethical', on the contrary, to me, that is nothing short of a miracle.
I’m constantly struck by how blasé most people appear to be when it comes to aviation safety, coupled with their low prices. I was at Heathrow airport only a week ago waiting for my £54 return flight to Shannon airport in Ireland with my fiancée, we always grab a coffee at the Costa Coffee, then sit by the windows so we can read, or watch the planes land. I’m constantly astounded each time I see one of those giant machines come swooping down from the clouds and touching down so smoothly on the runway.
I always find it heartening to know that modern flying has developed into
the safest form of mass travel known to mankind. Indeed, the Executive Director of the European Aviation Safety Agency,
Patrick Goudou reassured his audience at a recent EU/US International Aviation Safety Conference in Prague that
‘aviation remains the safest mode of travel’. The latest safety report from the
International Air Transport Association also confirms that when aviation safety is concerned, Western-built jets are amongst the safest in the world with only one accident per 1.5 million flights – that is certainly a tremendously low accident rate by any stretch of the imagination, especially for something as complex as flying.
Even after having to endure all of Heathrow’s strict and tedious security procedures, nothing it seems can be more thrilling than the moment when your jet arrives at the runway, the engines are put into full thrust and you accelerate to a speed of 160 mph in three seconds flat, and off you go. Even though I might only have a rudimentary understanding of the science involved in flying, I still find myself astounded by the sight of the disappearing ground at Heathrow, and the rapid approach of the clouds – I think it’s about as close to miraculous as it will ever get.
Happy holidays to you all!
Labels: Aviation, Human progress, Social Development
Global warming: two word argument for doing sweet FA
The current debate surrounding global warming and climate change is enough to cause steam to come out of my ears - indeed, these days, the very mention of the words 'global warming' is more than enough to make me go out and buy a second-hand Colt 1911, with extra clips.
What I really hate is the fact that when any eco-worrier utters the words 'global warming' what they really want is the whole of humanity to just stop everything it’s doing - what the greens really desire is for everything to be put on hold, or worse, to be frozen to a stand-still. For example, every time we need to build new roads, the miserable greens shout
'No - what about global warming?' Every time we need to expand our airports, again we hear
'No - what about global warming?' Every time we need new power stations,
'oh no - what about global warming'? Every time we need new desalination plants,
'err no - what about global warming'?The self-righteous crusade to fight global warming has become the number one argument for doing next to nothing - however, even if the greens are scientifically correct (which is still highly debatable), humanity cannot hope to solve any of it's problems simply by being in a state of stasis - if anything, history shows us that growth and rapid development equips humanity so it can, at the very least cope with anything that is thrown at it.
Labels: Human progress, Social Development
Car congestion? Simple, build more roads!
The publication of Sir Rod Eddington's report on the future of transport, and roads in particular, seems to epitomise our political elites attitude towards cars these days. Indeed, comments made by the Mayor of London, Ken Livingstone, a few years ago, illustrates perfectly contemporary attitudes towards modern motoring. The Mayor once said
'I hate cars. If I ever get any power again, I'll ban the lot'.
The debate about the future of transport and roads in the UK is dominated by bean counters and small-mindedness.
Eddington's solution to future urban car congestion is simply to make drivers pay more for using congested roads and motorways during peak times - it took him all of some 350 pages to work that one out, how imaginative. The report is in reality, just an echo of the government's own mantra, that is, whatever happens, Britain cannot simply just build it's way out of the problem of congestion. In the foreword of the governments white paper on transport two years ago, the Prime Minister Tony Blair argued that Britain
'cannot simply build our way out of the problems we face'. It was a mantra that was repeated by his Transport Secretary Alistair Darling, in case you didn't quite get the message, he reminded everyone at a speech to the Institute of Public Policy - that - yes, you've guessed it,
'we cannot build our way out of the problem'. Ok, ok, ok, message received and understood.
To me, the report and it's solutions are, to all intents and purpose, a shining example of the politics of petty, small-minded, local green Nimbyism, that is being placed over and above the fundamental notion of providing universal provisions. Indeed, according to Eddington, 'there is no attractive alternative to road pricing'. Well, he's certainly wrong about that, because there is an 'attractive alternative' - BUILD MORE ROADS.
Eddington admits in the report that the invention of the car and motorways have improved the quality of our lives like never before in human history. He also accepts that the car has given us all more freedom and wealth in the process. The history of human development, is the history of making things bigger, better and more efficient. The report is bereft of vision, leadership, and more importantly bold ideas. The truth is, our society, the 5th wealthiest nation on the planet, needs
new, bold and exciting ideas to deal with congestion. The only things that our political masters seem to have in mind is rock bottom horizons and taxing motorists out of existence - how novel.
For a more amusing and skeptical view on this issue take a look at the excellent
Longrider's piece.
Labels: Human progress, Politics, Transport
Greenpeace: going backwards into the future
The
Guardian has reported that the owners of British Gas,
Centrica, plan on building Britain's cleanest coal-fired power station. The plant will cost £1bn, and is thought it will be operational by 2011. Centrica plan on crushing the coal and turning it to synthetic gas, this gas will then fire the turbines. All the carbon produced during this process will be filtered out and pumped to the seabed in the North Sea for storage.
According to Centrica, the new station would only produce 0.15 tonnes of carbon per MW/hour, which is far better than their rivals E.ON and RWE, who's clean coal stations produce 0.7 tonnes per MW/hour. Centrica also claim their plant is suited to run on British-mined coal unlike their rivals. Sound great to me.
Except, the miserabalists at Greenpeace have condemned the project - I'd like to know, what on Earth have they got to object about? It's carbon free electricity production for crying out loud. A spokesman for Greenpeace, in the
Times (London) tried to defend their
highly dubious position by arguing that;
"This plant will lock us into another 50 years of wasted energy. Like all our outdated, crumbling power stations, this proposed plant will waste two thirds of the energy it generates as thrown away heat".According to
Greenpeace, there's no such thing as 'clean coal', that is just a myth. You'd think that a carbon free clean coal power station would be a step forward, and a cause for celebration for environmentalist - but oh no, miserabalism and backwardness seems to be the order of the day where Greenpeace is concerned.
Thanks to
Daniel Ben-Ami for the heads-up on this one.
Labels: Environmentalism, Human progress
At a time when hundreds of miserable anti-flying protestors are descending on Heathrow airport at it's most busiest time of the year, hell bent on causing disruption - I think it’s high time we start to combat such eco-puritanism by celebrating our freedom to fly
