Focus on carbon 'missing the point'

The focus on reducing carbon emissions has blinded us to the real problem - unsustainable lifestyles, says Eamon O'Hara. In this week's Green Room, he argues that bigger problems await us unless we shift our efforts.

Is it not time to recognise that climate change is yet another symptom of our unsustainable lifestyles, which must now become the focus our efforts?

Yet governments, and those organisations who have now assumed the role of combating climate change, subscribe to the notion that climate change is our central problem and carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions is the cause of this problem.

Undeniably, climate change is a serious problem but it is only one of a growing list of problems that arise from a fundamental global issue.

For many decades, the symptoms of unsustainable human exploitation of the natural environment have been mounting: species extinction, the loss of biodiversity, air and water pollution, soil erosion, acid rain, destruction of rainforests, ozone depletion - the list goes on.

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Transatlantic Plan to Cut Aircraft Emissions Lifts Off

LE BOURGET, France, June 18, 2007 (ENS) - Over the roar of planes at the Paris Air Show here, U.S. and European Union officials today announced a joint action plan to cut greenhouse gas emissions from aircraft.

In the presence of aircraft industry representatives, European Commission vice president responsible for transport Jacques Barrot and Marion Blakey, administrator of the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration, launched a emissions and noise reduction policy called AIRE.

"The future of the aviation industry depends on its ability to combat climate change through innovation and greater efficiency," said Barrot, "and this initiative will enable us to speed up the application of technologies and procedures having a direct impact on greenhouse gas emissions."

AIRE - the Atlantic Interoperability Initiative to Reduce Emissions - is the first large-scale environmental initiative bringing together aviation players from both sides of the Atlantic.

AIRE will make it possible to speed up the application of new technologies and operational procedures which will have a direct impact in the short and medium term on greenhouse gas emissions, the officials said.

An Airbus A380 flies above the crowd at the Paris Air Show at Le Bourget Airport. Photo by Alain Gillet.

Blakey said AIRE will be based on "gate to gate" test campaigns and experiments. The tests will make it possible to assess the environmental benefits and operational and technical feasibility of the new measures.

Blakey indicated that AIRE could reduce emissions of the greenhouse gas carbon dioxide by as much as one million tons per transatlantic flight.

AIRE's new measures include "smooth" or "reduced engine" approaches, which will enable noise and exhaust gas emissions to be reduced during landing. Read More