This week’s Mediahuis/INM Irish regional newspapers’ column.
Michael Commane
On the same day that US climate envoy John Kerry met his Chinese counterpart Xie Zhenhua in Beijing to discuss the climate crisis, Irish media reported on a national strategic railway plan that is due to come before the cabinet later this month.
The report recommends a railway link between Ballina and Rosslare and the return of trains to Donegal.
Former shortsighted decisions by Irish governments saw the closure of what were then uneconomic railway lines, including services in Dublin, Kerry, Cork and Clare. The closure of the Harcourt Street to Bray line can only be described as vandalism. The then chairman of Córas Iompair Éireann, Todd Andrews is reported to have said that only ‘Protestant solicitors from Carrickmines’ used the train.
As the world begins to burn, governments have at last realised that rail travel makes great environmental sense.
On the day John Kerry was in Beijing, a region in western China recorded a temperature of 52.2C.
We simply can’t continue as we are. I find it bizarre to hear experts on the media advising Irish holidaymakers how to survive in the sweltering heat in many of the countries experiencing temperatures in the 40s and even 50 degrees Celsius.
The world is on fire and I’m wondering are we really facing up to what is happening. Planes are renowned for being fuel guzzlers. Aer Lingus proudly advertises that it has four daily flights to New York. Our airports are bulging at the seams. People are flying here, there and everywhere. Only last month I heard of someone who plans to fly once a month to Rome. I can’t get my head around the current travel craze.
Why would you want to go on holidays to somewhere where you have to avoid going outdoors. It sounds beyond absurd. We see and hear of tourists taking extreme measures to avoid the heat. And this is called a holiday? But besides the evident craziness of such behaviour, what about our carbon footprint?
One minute we’re all talk about the importance of recycling but when it comes to buying aviation fossil fuel we do so with reckless abandon. Honestly, I’m confused and don’t really understand what’s happening. Did you know that aviation fuel used for international travel is liable to VAT at zero per cent? Can anyone explain why that is so?
Does it make sense that there are occasions when it is cheaper to fly from Dublin to Kerry than travel by rail?
Should air travel be more expensive? An unpopular question to ask but we need to be made aware of the extremely perilous times in which we are living. The world is on fire and we have to help stop the impending disaster.
Over the years I’ve done my fair share of travel, indeed, only in April I went for a long weekend to Germany. Was it necessary? No. I’m not saying I am never going to fly again but when it comes to our current flying frenzy I have to admit I’m bewildered.
It seems we develop some sort of brain fog once we get the tiniest whiff of aviation fuel.
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