Environmentalists savaged British Prime Minister Tony Blair
Tuesday over his refusal to give up long-haul holiday flights in
the interests of saving the planet.
"I would frankly be reluctant to give up my holidays abroad,"
Blair told Sky News when asked if he would stop flying to Barbados
as a contribution to the environment.
Blair, who has championed international action to counter
climate change, said individuals could make a difference on global
warming but what mattered was an international agreement.
People could be turned off the green agenda if they were asked
to make sacrifices such as giving up cheap air travel, he said. He
also put faith in technological solutions to make air travel more
energy efficient.
"Tony Blair is crossing his fingers and hoping someone will
invent aeroplanes that don't cause climate change, but that's like
holding out for cigarettes that don't cause cancer," Greenpeace
campaigner Emily Armistead said in a statement.
"The prime minister should be halting airport expansion and
getting people back onto the railways. He's finally forfeited any
claim to be a world leader on climate change."
Environmentalists say aviation is Britain's fastest growing
source of carbon dioxide which contributes to global warming.
"It's disappointing that Tony Blair is refusing to set an
example on tackling climate change, but it is even more
disappointing that his government is failing to take decisive
action to cut UK emissions," Friends of the Earth's head of
campaigns Mike Childs said.
Blair, set to step down this year after a decade in power,
appears at odds with environment minister Ian Pearson. He was
quoted last week as calling Ryanair, Europe's largest low-cost
carrier, "the irresponsible face of capitalism" over its stance on
climate change. Ryanair rejected the charge.
Blair said it was a "bit impractical" to expect people to give
up overseas trips for a holiday closer to home.
Blair's expected successor as prime minister, finance minister
Gordon Brown, last month announced a doubling of taxes on air fares
but the government also gave the green light to a major expansion
of the country's booming airports.
(China Daily January 10, 2007)
