Categories
Big Picture Peak Energy Peak Oil

The Future of Flight

For decades we have been spoonfed Science Fiction about the future of flight and space exploration as if it were fact.

Richard Branson (“Sir”, if you insist) has drawn us to his vision for commercial passenger space flight :-

https://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/8400353.stm

Yet his participation in the Industry Taskforce for Peak Oil and Energy Security leads him back down to Earth :-

Categories
Climate Change Social Change

While The Mice Are Away…

While all the Climate Change activists are away in Copenhagen…

The story must have run something like this : several months ago, as it became clear that a large part of the social-developmental-environmental movements were going to be in Denmark in December, some big UK civil servants in Whitehall, London went down the pub with some representatives from the aviation industry and out the suggestion popped : “I know, let’s approve the Heathrow Third Runway at the start of the Copenhagen Summit. Nobody will be around to occupy anything or protest.”

While the mice are away, the fat cats will play :-

Categories
Climate Change Emissions Impossible

The Falling Bear

Polar Bear from Plane Stupid on Vimeo.

Parental Guidance : Do not allow young or sensitive people to watch this video film.

Reassurance : No animals were hurt in the making of this film !

In a digitally composed film reminiscent of the destruction of the Twin Towers of the World Trade Center on the 11th September 2001 (as known as 9/11), Plane Stupid show polar bears dropping to their deaths from high rise buildings, with background aeroplane engine noise. Not Falling Man, but Falling Bear.

Global Warming isn’t really about polar bears any more, or rather not just, simply, merely, about polar bears any more. Actually, it’s probably not really about polar bears, at all, any more, because they’re effectively destined for extinction. We can’t save them. But we might be able to save some people, and some forests, if we act soon on cutting Carbon Emissions.

Categories
Big Picture Climate Change Emissions Impossible Low Carbon Life Peak Oil Social Change

Stelios Flies By The Seat Of His Pants

At the conference “The politics of climate change : from economic crisis to business revolution” on 5th June 2009, Stelios Haji-Ioannou ended up flying by the seat of his pants.

“I’m usually [cast as] the Devil. People are trying to find a high-profile industry [to target]…[they choose] airlines.”