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Mo
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Post by Mo »

I often wonder just who we think we are. We expect to go jetting round the globe regardless. Then something like this happens and upsets people's plans.
I know some people have no choice with family working the other side of the world, but the expectation seems to be that you can fly all you wedding guests off to an exotic location.
OH said he heard someone complaining that Gordon Brown wasn't doing enough to bring stranded Brits home.

I've always thought that all this flying used more resources and caused more pollution than it should, I can now almost hear myself saying "if nature intended us to fly we would have wings".
We sometimes forget we are part of nature till nature bites back.
And there's far more news coverage of how this volcano is inconveniencing us than it's effects in Iceland, or of the people really hit by a natural disaster - the earthquake victims.

Rant over (for now).
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Meanqueen
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Post by Meanqueen »

Quite agree with you Mo. We are at the mercy of nature, and should never take things for granted. Why do people think they have a right to fly anywhere any time? And why do people always think it is someone elses responsibility for getting them out of a mess? You make your choices. There are always some people who are suffering a lot more than we are when these natural disasters strike. They have no choice. We should be focussing on how lucky we are not to have been swamped by spouting volcanic ash.
Ilona
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Post by Steve the Gas »

Its the sp pyro-plastic flows you gotta worry about people yike* )hlp>
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wendy
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Post by wendy »

So right Mo.
It's an ill wind etc.
We have a lovely quiet Sunday and I am sure the atmosphere is benefitting from no planes being flown !
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p.penn
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Post by p.penn »

I think that if I was going to criticise people for flying, which I am not, I would be looking at the environmental impact in other areas - many unnecessary and damaging things are endorsed and accepted by society. I guess planes are an easy target.

I see nothing wrong in flying to take a well earned holiday - after all the human cost is much less than driving somewhere, isn't it. I feel sorry for the people who cannot take their holidays and envious of those who cannot get home.
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Richard
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Post by Richard »

I agree, I think that the non-flight issue has raised many things, mainly that we are at the hands of nature and will never beat it. Did a Blog article on Friday about it.

However, when you say that people have the right, of course they have, as much right as we have of owning a car - take away cars which aren't really necessary and we'd probably knock a few centuries off the age of this Planet instantly!

One could go on, do we shop ethically, there are responsibilities there too. Oil in Seas from ships, pollution of rivers, all because of us as a whole.

You take your chances, yes, but every time we walk the streets we do as well !!

My daughter's stuck in Spain, kids can't go to school, daughter can't go back to manage the Estate Agent's where she works who have two people off this week and son-in-law who runs a Pharmacy and is running out of his own important dr-ugs as well.

I agree that the people who moan and blame everyone about it are wrong, but to say they haven't the right to fly is wrong.
Let's look at what we ourselves do which isn't to the benefit of the environment before we judge others.

Sorry, unlike me to spill off, but that's how I feel!

)t'
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stace
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Post by stace »

Of course people have a right to fly Ilona, just like you would have the right to say go on a boat, get on a bus, its just another means of transport thats all. If people like to travel to the sun, for most of us its the only way to get there, we all use something that is a threat to the planet, most of us work hard from one year to another, and we should be able to spend our money as we please. We think nothing of jumping in the car each day to do what we have too. I feel for the ones that are stuck, not knowing when they will return.
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Post by manda »

Mother Nature will always have the last say and we have to accept that...... like it or not.

"if nature intended us to fly we would have wings".

Mmm...... but that could be said for a lot of things..... If nature had intended me to hear someone 12,000 mies away she'd have given me ears to do that. Inventions like planes, cars, washing machines, telephones, the computer etc etc...they gradually become integrated into life and yes they are taken for granted like so many things we take for granted.

I did find it ironic today, as the news has obviously reached us (another invention making that possible), there was some woman going on about "civil unrest" ...now it's things like that that make me think people are ridiculous...OK it's HUGELY impacting on all walks of life but what did she think having an uprising is going to do about it ? No doubt she would be one of the first ones to complain if she went up in a plane and the engines stopped due to the dust accumulating.

I don't see anything wrong in people flying family to far off places for a wedding if that's their thing (not mine) to each their own. If a resource exists people will use it its just the way things are and when that resource doesn't exist then things have to change and adapt...I'm sure our grandparents and great grandparents would think we are totally mollycoddled with the things available to us now.

I feel for anyone in Iceland who has been placed in any physical danger as a result of this volcano but it would appear that apart from farmers who are in the immediate vicinity of the volcano Iceland has experienced little environmental impact from the eruption. I worry also about the effect on the globe as a whole environmentally and financially ultimately that impacts on everyone including the Icelanders.
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TEZ PAZ
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Post by TEZ PAZ »

I think the sky looks fabulous without all those vapour trails strewn all over it. And at least when you look up at the night sky you can be sure they are stars you are looking at and not planes. >mmm<
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Post by jannie »

If it wasn't for the fact that I arranged our spring break to suit the kids and grandkids this year, my hubby and I would now be stranded abroad as we've always gone away for my b'day and anniversery....I love flying and usually jet off somewhere twice a year...I've been most places from the Pyramid's to the Grand Canyon and would be most upset if I couldn't have my holidays.
I do care about the environment though and I'm sure that we are moving towards cleaner fuels, after all it wasn't that long ago that industry and transport relied on coal, what a filthy fuel that was..When I was a child the lovely green valleys where I live were black with coal slag heaps and you couldn't dry your washing outside because of the black dust. I'm not convinced that the hole in the ozone layer wasn't started in the steam age, it's just that we've only recently had the technology to identify it so it's easy to blame the way we live today...
It's so easy to blame others for the environment, but the truth is - hand on heart- everyone of us has a part to play..we all do something that damages the environment in some way and at the moment it is mother nature to blame not the planes.. )sh
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Stig
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Post by Stig »

Flying is a 'right' in the same way as sailing round the world on a transatlantic yacht is, in that anyone can do it if they can afford to do so.

It's more of a privelidge really and all of a sudden we're forced to realise it.. The environment bites back! But you have to feel sorry for the poor families stuck in foreign parts when their holidays ran out last week!
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Richard
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Post by Richard »

Sorry, I have to say that this has got my back up a bit.

There are many natural disasters around the world and how do we help these people effectively, efficiently and quickly - air - saving countless lifes. Think of Java, Bangladesh and all these places.
There are of course many arguements about air travel involving the environment, but none more so than the car. I could go without a car if I had to, I have for nearly two years before now, found it difficult, but it worked. Not only did I save £'s, I may have saved the world a fraction of a little bit.

In fact, if you don't walk, go by horse or cycle everywhere, everything has a footprint.

Fact is that without air travel in this age, it would all fall apart very rapidly.

Ilona - are you not flying to the Scillies? I know it's a ten minute job, but isn't that accepting your right to travel by air. Why? Because it saves you time. It's costing more than the Ferry but you can afford it, so good luck to you.

Again sorry, but someone posted an anti-environmental statement on my youtube Log Maker video today and it really got right up my nostrils!!

Without prejudice

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Meanqueen
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Post by Meanqueen »

Quote
Ilona - are you not flying to the Scillies? I know it's a ten minute job, but isn't that accepting your right to travel by air.
Unquote

Richard, Yes I am flying to the Scilly Isles, but I do not have the right to fly there. I am privileged to be able to. If I couldn't go for whatever reason I wouldn't be bothered, I would find something else to do. Yes, technology has moved forward, we are able to do a lot more than the last generation, but just because we are able we don't have a right to.

In 10 or maybe 20 years, hopefully a bit longer, I will be gone. The worlds population is rapidly increasing every day, the earths resources are rapidy decreasing and will run out. What gives me the right to rob our future generation of life, none, because I have no rights whatsoever.

I wasn't aware that this thread began by saying people shouldn't fly, I didn't say that. This is the quote from Mo that triggered off my reaction.
Quote from Mo
I often wonder just who we think we are. We expect to go jetting round the globe regardless.
Unquote

I take nothing for granted, I don't expect anything, and I don't demand anything. Whatever comes my way is down to the cards I have been dealt. Yes I will take a little flight, and I hope somebody up there will forgive me for it. Other people can take as many flights as they like if they think they have a right to.

Richard, your blog is spot on,
Quote
it’s through our own ignorance and selfishness that future generations may well pay the price of that and live with less of the things we love so dearly now.
Unquote

Ilona
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Richard
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Post by Richard »

Thanks Ilona, good reply, thank you.

Richard )t'
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Sunny B
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Post by Sunny B »

I was cross while watching the local news tonight, businesses bleating that there shouldn't have been a ban and the local economy has lost money. They would rather have risked sening thousands of people up in planes that might fall from the sky, I think that's terrible.
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