Europe: Green Channel

If you eat organic food in the air (as you do on Swissair flights) are you being environmentally-friendly? Well ... even accounting for the environmental benefits of organic farming, air travel is increasing at such a dramatic rate that unfortunately no amount of organic sandwiches will stop the damage aeroplanes are causing in terms of climate change.

As more and more of us get a taste for the delights of travel (there are likely to be 1.6 billion of us exploring the globe by 2020), carbon dioxide and nitrogen oxide emissions from aircraft are escalating. Friends of the Earth point out that despite technological improvements making aircraft "greener", by 2015 planes are expected to double their current contribution of 3-5 per cent of the global greenhouse effect and could cause half of the annual destruction of the ozone layer.

But, as anyone who has compared rail and air travel prices to Ireland, Paris or Brussels will know, air is often cheaper. All but the richest environmentalists are consequently deterred from choosing rail over plane on short-haul journeys. And when it is cheaper to fly to the Caribbean than it is to fly to Europe it is no surprise that long-haul travel is booming.

The answer? It may not be a popular one, but Friends of the Earth suggests putting tax on air tickets, aircraft fuel and transport of goods by air - if car drivers pay tax on petrol, why should air travel be exempt?

As world leaders debate climate change this week and next at the UN Convention on Climate Change in Kyoto, the role of air travel should undoubtedly be considered. Friends of the Earth will be demonstrating at airports world-wide this weekend, campaigning for "The Right Price for Air Travel". For the traveller, it's a bitter pill to swallow, as it will increase the price of our holidays, but it's likely to do more to save the world than eating organic food on aircraft will ever do.