A voluntary eco-tax on airline tickets ...

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Targol
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A voluntary eco-tax on airline tickets ...




by Targol » 17/01/07, 11:36

BERLIN (AFP) - To fly away towards the sun of the Caribbean or the Mediterranean? The idea is tempting, but polluting. Environmentally conscious holidaymakers can now, thanks to the German NGO, "Atmosfair", take the plane with a clear conscience, putting their hand in their purses.
"We know that people, even very attached to the defense of the environment, cannot give up taking the plane, especially for distant trips. So we tell them: + pay compensation for the damage you cause to planet + ", explains Dietrich Brockhagen, director of the Bonn-based organization" Atmosfair "(west).

With the money paid by "ethical" travelers (or "fair" in English), the NGO finances the installation of solar panels to supply the kitchens of a hospital in India, or the construction of a power station in India. Brazil, running on methane released from garbage.

The idea has nothing to do with the international tax on airline tickets, originally promoted by French President Jacques Chirac, and that considers air transport as a source of funding to buy drugs for the Third Party -World. The Atmosfair project, for its part, assumes that air transport is polluting, and that this pollution has a cost.

On the website of the association (www.atmosfair.de), the "emission calculator" evaluates this cost, proportional to the duration of the journey, but which also takes into account complex parameters, such as the average filling rate of the device.

It turns out that a Paris-Bangkok round trip emits 6,8 tons of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere, 68 times the annual pollution of a refrigerator, or the equivalent of the average CO2 emissions of an Indian in seven years and a half. To relieve his conscience, the passenger borrowing such a flight is invited to pay 137 euros to the NGO. For a return trip from Frankfurt to New York, it will cost 80 euros, but ten times less for a simple Berlin-Munich.

"It's not that expensive, and then I can afford it all the more since the price of plane tickets has fallen a lot in recent years", argues Annika Wandscher, 35, a ministry employee. Berliner and convinced follower of the system.

For three years, the young woman has paid her contribution each time she has taken the plane, including for her vacation in Tanzania or Honduras, for a total of around 300 to 400 euros. "If we do nothing, the damage caused to the planet will be such that it will cost us much more," she assures us.

The system, still in its infancy in Germany, should only report 500.000 to one million euros in 2007, according to its promoters. It could, however, soon receive the support of the Green group in the Bundestag, whose 51 deputies plan to impose themselves to contribute for each of their trip by plane.

"It is a voluntary contribution, but we also recommend, politically, to tax more heavily air transport, including kerosene," said Green MP Winfried Herrmann to AFP.

Outside of Germany, the "buy-back" of air pollution is particularly developed in the United Kingdom, where it "weighs" several million euros per year. Prime Minister Tony Blair himself has learned the hard way that his fellow citizens are particularly sensitive to the issue: he had to face the beginning of a controversy last week, some environmental activists accusing him of polluting the planet by taking too much plane for his vacation.

“Personally, I think these things (not taking a vacation on a plane) are too impractical to be expected of people to do them,” Mr. Blair replied on his return from Florida.


source: Yahoo news

The best, in my opinion is still not to fly but hey, this initiative has at least the merit of existing.
Do like me, take your vacation near you. : Mrgreen:
There is no need to go thousands of miles to rest and refresh your head: leave the children to step-mom, you will surely find not very far from you a small charming hotel to spend one or 2 nights in lover. It's a good thing. If in addition, this hotel is regulated by geothermal as Le Moulin de Moissacit's double benefit for the planet.

As for Blair's last remark at the end of the article, already that I did not really like the guy, it's not going to encourage me to join his fan-club : Evil:
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"Anyone who believes that exponential growth can continue indefinitely in a finite world is a fool, or an economist." KEBoulding
 


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