A group of climate change activists were protesting and threatening all sorts of action around Heathrow Airport, London this week, voicing their concerns regarding the building of the third runway in the airport. But do they actually comprehend the full picture?
Lets check out a few facts. Firstly, the aviation industry has undoubtedly contributed to global pollution. However, it is also FACT, that the aviation industry has contributed only a very small proportion to the global pollution as compared with the many other industries also contributing to global warming. Checking on ANY scientific paper written will show clearly that the automotive industry has contributed several times more to global warming than the aviation industry. Surely these people should be marching off to car makers' headquarters demanding for faster development in "greener" cars?
Secondly, it is known fact that the greatest proportion of contribution of greenhouse gases from civil aviation comes not from the actual flights in the air, but rather from the aircrafts engine running at very inefficient settings whilst taxiing and waiting for takeoff on the ground. As have been proven in numerous scientific studies, by reducing the time between leaving the gates to taking off for each flight to 10 minutes or less, we would reduce a significant amount of pollution generated by the aviation industry. By building a third runway in Heathrow (which as we all know is one of the busiest airports in the world), we would actually reduce the queue time for the planes between leaving their gates and reaching a runway for takeoff. This in fact is a pollution-reducing scheme and should therefore be promoted!
Maybe these people standing around in Heathrow waving banners should have better spend their time in finding the solutions to solving climate change rather than barking at the wrong house.
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