On air: Has our reliance on flying distorted our view fo the world?
| 13:42 UK time, Tuesday, 20 April 2010
is clearly causing a great deal of reflection on the way that flying has changed our world and our view of it. These are some of the issues that we've seen being discussed:
The global nature of trade. For the last two shows we've heard from Neville in Kenya telling us his frustrations at being unable to export fruit and veg. When I asked him if this could be sold locally he said this was 'unrealistic'. As a consequence, his staff have been forced to take unpaid leave.
Is it sensible to have fruit, vegetables and flowers grown in Kenya for consumption many thousands of miles away? Many column inches have been filled with tales of woe from the tulip fields, but others are asking if the whole system is flawed. Or must we be careful not to let a one week crisis hide the benefits of global trade?
The environment. From climate change, to being able to hear the birds on a flight path, a week without planes has given us pause for thought about their impact on our environment.
Our lifestyle. Clearly this doesn't apply to all of you, but many people in the Western world feel nothing about taking two or three holidays or weekend breaks a year by plane. Will this week change that, or once the flights resume will our habits follow suit?
(I remember the day of the 7/7 attacks in London when everyone walked or cycled home. The number of people who got around that way never went back to the level before the attacks. I wonder if something similar will happen here.)
The size of the world. This might sound silly, but lots of people are saying this crisis has brought home the size of our planet. Has the easy availability of flying disconnected us from the physical reality of where we live?
Ideas we've seen:
Restrict the number of leisure flights that people take in a year.
Increase tax on air fuel.
Apply taxes to goods shipped beyond a certain distance.
Take airports further away from cities.
Leave as it is. This is a one-off event which shouldn't force us to change how we are.
Please post your reactions to what's happened.
