Extinction is ok – according to Lydd manager !

6th June, 2007

“So what if a few rare species of plant get wiped out – we should have the right to cheap and easy air travel.”

Robin Gordon, marketing director of the airport, says the RSPB has been “bloody annoying”. He says: “They have a national policy against aviation and have sent national figures here to mobilise support.” He claims that the airport will benefit the environment because people wanting to fly south will travel less distance. He says: “More and more people who want to fly are having to drive to the airport and then fly back over themselves, which quadruples the carbon cost of a round trip.” The idea that rare plants don’t matter will be anathema to some. But there are more major issues and flaws implicit:

• It is not just rare plants under threat. Many plants which are not yet rare, may be under threat from airport and aviation expansion.
• Animals as well as plants are under threat. (The latest threat is far from obvious. Orang Utangs are threatened by extinction because Indonesian forests are being destroyed to make way for biofuel plantations. And the aviation industry is seeking to use biofuels.)
• It is patently obvious that having to travel a short distance north on land to reach an airport and then flying back south over the start point will not quadruple the carbon emissions given that the flight is hundreds or thousands of miles and the land trip a few tens of miles.