Alice Miles argues in her Times column on the climate change protests at Heathrow that, “Pretty much anyone without shares in BAA would not wish another runway on that particular part of England (if, indeed, upon any of it).”
I really don’t think this is true, even if some people won’t admit to wanting another runway in green company. I’d wager that the vast majority of those who have been delayed taking off or landing at that airport would welcome something that would cut down on these delays. While everyone I know who flies out of there regualrly is positively clamouring for it.
The idea that somehow this third runway at Heathrow is what will tip the world off the climate change cliff seems rather over-wrought even to me, someone who is fairly sympathetic to the arguments about global warming. For instance, if a third runway at Heathrow was built but at the same time a carbon tax was introduced and a new generation of nuclear power stations commissioned we would easily see a net decrease in carbon emissions.
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