Your say / Bristol airport
‘The city doesn’t have to buckle at the sight of pound signs’
Bristol’s strong environmental image is in danger of diminishing over the issue of Bristol Airport’s expansion. Climate change campaigners are reeling from an apparent back peddling by city leaders.
A few weeks ago, Bristol’s council leaders were the talk of the nation for pioneering a bold new promise, one that gave hope in the midst of climate warnings. Bristol City Council became the first in the country to unanimously declare a climate emergency and vow to be carbon neutral by 2030. Amid cheers from campaigners, some of us thought we’d witnessed a pivotal, historic moment and cities around the UK began copying their example.
Celebration and cheers as the council announced a climate emergency
However, the lure of pound signs has driven some to be charmed away from listening to the stark warnings issued by scientists and their advice about urgently reducing carbon emissions.
is needed now More than ever
Mayor Marvin Rees and leader of the Conservative group, Cllr Mark Weston, have publicly stated they support airport expansion because of increased jobs, and claim it will generate £3bn for the region. They argue that climate change is just “a single issue”.
The expansion bid comes after the news from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change that there is only 12 years left to reduce emissions, otherwise catastrophic harm will be caused by global temperatures rising. The airport plans directly conflict with this advice. Expanding from eight million to 12 million passengers a year initially, then 20 million a year after that, CO2 emissions will increase by more than 50 per cent.
Politicians face immense pressure to defend jobs and the economy, but to regard climate change merely as a factor, less important than the value of money and unsustainable jobs, is not only worrying; it is the very reason the planet is in this mess.
Shouldn’t decision makers weigh up values other than money? Poverty is a problem and the economy is valuable, but not an unsustainable and destructive system amidst a climate emergency.
What about the value of the air that living things breathe, the soil that grows food and the rain that regenerates crops? Is a stable climate, the world’s fragile ecosystems and marine life just a ‘factor’?
The health and wellbeing of people living in poverty in the world’s poorest nations will suffer the greatest social injustice of all. They will be the main recipients of climate change harm caused by richer nations.
Is the value of someone living a low-carbon and more environmentally sustainable lifestyle, in a poorer country, worth less than someone living in poverty in a city like Bristol?
Alex Morss questions whether the expansion of Bristol Airport is worth the environmental damage
Is being part of a ‘global economy’ worth more than supporting a worldwide democracy on issues of social, ecological and environmental justice?
Could that growth be encouraged in alternative, more sustainable, ways? Bristol Airport already produces more CO2 than an African country. Doubling its output will contribute to devastating harm to people and wildlife, here and abroad, by escalating climate change.
The city doesn’t have to buckle at the sight of pound signs and allow money to cloud its better, greener credentials. Instead, Bristol should carry on with its brilliant pioneering spirit and lead on better alternatives. And, once again, others will follow.
Alex Morss is a freelance ecologist, writer, editor and educator.
Read more: Bristol declares climate emergency and pledges to become carbon neutral by 2030
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