‘The airport is the airport, but the planet is more important’

“The airport is the airport,” said Marvin Rees with a shrug when pressed last week by my fellow Bishopston councillor and climate activist Lily Fitzgibbon.

A glib answer to those who have been campaigning to prevent the airport expansion for a while now; but possibly an attitude reasonably shared by many Bristolians.

The airport IS the airport. People use it when they need to, but otherwise how does it impact our everyday lives? It’s not even in Bristol, it’s in North Somerset. What’s the problem?

I grew up in North Somerset, only three miles from City Hall where Lily asked her question that failed to rouse an answer from the mayor.

I grew up facing the green hills surrounding the airport. My first plane trip was from the glorified bus shed that was the old Lulsgate airport.

Planes flying overhead were common in Long Ashton, but not intrusive. It was handy living near an airport, for that one holiday a year that my family, like so many families, took – if that.

Now, 30 years on, residents of North Somerset call their councillors with concern about the airport traffic, wiping black diesel from their windows, and the constant rumbling of planes overhead.

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Read more: Massive Attack argue against Bristol Airport expansion

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Since 2019, I’ve been campaigning alongside fellow Green Party activists to stop Bristol Airport expansion.

In 2020, North Somerset council voted against expansion following outrage from locals and climate activists. The airport is appealing once again, and once again Bristol Greens will be campaigning against it.

Emissions from civil aviation accounted for six per cent of climate heating worldwide in 2018; half of that from frequent fliers.

Since the pandemic the aviation industry has – excuse the pun – been in a nosedive.

With travel bans, conferencing software, a rise in ‘staycations’ and quarantine measures making travel a trial; aviation has suffered dramatically.

In Europe alone, the industry sought €41.9 billion in government bailouts. This begs the question: why are airports seeking to expand?

There will be an increased effort by airlines to tempt people back to flying, and we can predict that this will be a surge in cheap and frequent flights.

Fine, you may think, why wouldn’t an industry do all it can to recoup loses, and create profit and jobs? It’s a fair question.

The climate crisis is now on red alert. Excuses that we need to fly frequently has been quashed by our behavioural changes during the pandemic.

No amount of ‘greenwashing’ by airports, making their ground operations ‘carbon neutral’ can offset the devastating effect of the emissions of a 50 per cent increase in flight operations from that same airport.

Climate experts the world over have stated the importance of flying less. If we can come out of the pandemic with a more conservative approach to flying, then we have achieved something positive.

But instead, airports are doing all they can to expand. Leeds, Luton, Heathrow, and Stansted are all in various stages of attempted expansion.

This is a dangerous precedent, and there’s good reason why climate activists have been fighting them at every stage.

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Read more: Bristol Airport accused of ‘greenwash’ as it announces net zero ambitions

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Bristol Airport launches its appeal to start expansion next Tuesday. This appeal is expected to go on for ten weeks and will hear evidence from residents, climate scientists and activists, councillors, and campaign groups.

We know why those locally are against it; more pollution, noise, traffic, the green belt eaten up by carparks; the constant rumble of lorries through peaceful villages.

But this growth, which would see more than 97,000 flights arriving and departing the airport per year, is more than a threat to the tranquillity of those that live near it.

Double the flights means double the emissions, which means approximately an extra million tonnes of CO2 equivalents into our atmosphere every year.

To put that into perspective, Bristol’s current total carbon output is approximately 1.6m tonnes a year.

The airport may not technically be in Bristol, but with only five miles difference, nobody can argue the impact wouldn’t be felt keenly, and that’s before the vehicles the expansion would put onto the roads.

In 2018, a motion brought by new shadow cabinet member for climate & ecology, Carla Denyer, saw Bristol City Council declaring a climate emergency; the first city to do so.

Since then, Bristol has set a target to become carbon neutral by 2030, and to drastically lower air pollution levels.

However ambitious and hard-working we are in decarbonising individual workplaces, homes and transport, an expansion the size proposed by Bristol Airport will literally and figuratively smother all those targets.

Even without the airport, Bristol is running against the clock to bring air pollution under control, despite the unfortunate set back of the clean air zone; an extra million tonnes of CO2 equivalent a year over Bristol makes you wonder why we are bothering at all.

But of course, this isn’t just about Bristol. We’re all aware of the looming spectre of global climate change.

There’s an old adage: if you put a frog in a pot of scalding water, it will jump out. But put a frog in a pot of cold water and gently turn the heat up, the frog will stay there until it’s cooked.

It’s fair to say that as far as climate change is concerned, we are past the point of toasty.

If globally, the aviation industry expands to the extent that Bristol has proposed, we are pretty much turning the pan up to flash fry, and by then it will be too late to jump.

By putting our foot down and saying no to the airport expansion, we’re setting an example. We can inspire other cities fighting against airport expansion, we can show them that it can be done.

In May, 24 Green councillors were voted to Bristol City Council, demonstrating how important the environment is to the people of Bristol.

There is a clear desire to see positive change that puts wellbeing over economic growth.

By saying no to expansion, we’re not saying ‘no’ to progress, we’re sending a message that enough is enough, and that the health of the citizens of Bristol, and the planet, is more important.

Emma Edwards is the Green Party councillor for Bishopston & Ashley Down ward

Main image: Extinction Rebellion Bristol

Read more: ‘Ridiculous plans for Bristol Airport will only be stopped if individuals continue to resist them’