eating your seed corn

Slowly but surely the tourism industry is destroying its own future. Already it contributes 5% of global carbon emissions. And that is just to move people to their destinations. It doesn't include the driving they will do once there, and the boating and helicoptering. 

Aviation produces 610 megatons of carbon per year, more than the world's fourth largest economy. At current growth rates that is expected to rise to 777 megatons by 2010 and over 1,200 megatons by 2025. But it isn't just the scale of the gas emissions. According to some experts air travel dumps greenhouse gases high in the atmosphere where their destructive potential is greatest.

Every advance made in fuel efficiency -and there have been many-, is quickly lost to ever increasing numbers of travelers. And what are their favorite destinations ? Low-lying tropical islands and fragile ecosystems that are expected to be the first victims of global warming. And while rich nations in the Western world can afford to shore up coastal defenses and postpone the inevitable, tourism targets poor countries with few resources. These countries are among the least developed on the planet, and tourism is their primary source of hard currency. But that won't matter much once their beloved homelands sink below the rising sea levels.

Rich governments have every reason to promote aviation. And promote it they do. Washington just announced it will take measures to make sure travelers can get to their flights this holiday season. And the reason is quite simple. Aviation underlies our global status and secures our access to oil and other vital resources. Aircraft manufacturers are defense contractors first and foremost.  Their dabbling in the aviation sector helps pay for the war machines we all depend on to support our lavish and ever more unrealistic "active" life-style.