Plane Stupid at Stansted

I've been watching the BBC News Channel reports about the Plane Stupid protest at Stansted. While I'm not suggesting that breaking the law is a good idea, it's been very interesting to hear the reactions to the protest.

There has been a lot of comment that people have been disrupted and that flights are a necessity for business and people going on holiday. There have even been complaints about the action by a group of delegates on their way to a conference about climate change in Poland.

Firstly, I can't help but think there's something ironic about catching a plane to a conference on climate change. Surely the best way to do this would be through technologies such as teleconferencing which would eliminate the need to travel at all. Or if not, Poland is pretty easily reachable by rail (check out /http://seat61.com/Poland.htm to find out how). I travelled to a gig in Hamburg this way earlier in the year and it's a really nice way to travel, both relaxing and allowing you to see a lot more than you are able to from a train.

I also wonder how many of the flights were as necessary as people seem to think. I'm very often surprised and disappointed how many people that I meet at various get togethers have travelled by plane, particularly if coming from Scotland to the south of England. While a high speed rail link could very well help to cut a lot of these journeys, and could easily be paid for if the money being proposed for airport expansions were used for this instead, I find it's the opinion of trains compared to planes which needs to be addressed.

Goodbye Bush, Hello Obama

Email campaign from Avaaz.org:


After 8 long years of Bush – a fresh start!

Entrenched interests stand in the way, but Obama's victory brings a chance for the US to finally join with the world community to take on pressing challenges on climate change, human rights, and peace.

After years, even decades of distrust, let's seize this moment of unity, reconciliation and hope to send a message of warm congratulations and invitation to work together to the new President and the American people.

We've built a huge wall near the White House in Washington DC where the number of signatures on our message and personal messages from around the world will grow over the next several hours. We've also asked Obama to personally receive our petition from a group of Avaaz members. Let's get to 1 million signers and messages to Obama! Sign on at the link below and forward this email to others:

http://www.avaaz.org/en/million_messages_to_obama/98.php/?cl_tf_sign=1

This is a time for celebration of democracy, but already the sharks are circling – oil companies, war contractors, conservative lobbyists, and the powerful neo-con clique that brought us the war in Iraq are furiously lobbying to dim the prospects for change. Obama has promised national unity, and these interests will ask a high price for that unity.

Let's act quickly to make sure the people of the world are heard as Obama makes crucial choices in the coming days on how to live up to his campaign promises to secure a strong global treaty on climate change, ban torture and close Guantanamo prison, withdraw carefully from Iraq, and double aid to make global poverty history. Rarely has a US President been more likely to listen to us.

We'll make the point that on most of the pressing issues faced by Obama and the American people – from the financial crisis to climate change -- we need to work together as one world to achieve change. Sign below and forward this message on:

http://www.avaaz.org/en/million_messages_to_obama/98.php/?cl_tf_sign=1

With hope,

Ricken, Brett, Alice, Iain, Paula, Paul, Graziela, Pascal, Milena, Graziela and the whole Avaaz team.

PS – Send us a picture of yourself for our wall - email it to obamawall@avaaz.org

PPS – Here's a link to a report on Avaaz's past campaigning – http://www.avaaz.org/en/report_back_2/

PPS - And here's a list of 10 of Obama's campaign promises that concern the world – you can find his full platform here http://www.barackobama.com/issues/:

· Reduce the US's carbon emissions 80 by 2050 and play a strong positive role in negotiating a binding global treaty to replace the expiring Kyoto Protocol.
· Withdraw all combat troops from Iraq within 16 months and keep no permanent bases in the country.
· Establish a clear goal of eliminating all nuclear weapons across the globe
· Close the Guantanamo Bay detention center
· Double US aid to cut extreme poverty in half by 2015 and accelerate the fight against HIV/AIDS, tuberculoses and Malaria
· Open diplomatic talks with countries like Iran and Syria, to pursue peaceful resolution of tensions
· De-politicize military intelligence to avoid ever repeating the kind of manipulation that led the US into Iraq
· Launch a major diplomatic effort to stop the killings in Darfur
· Only negotiate new trade agreements that contain labor and environmental protections
· Invest $150 billion over ten years to support renewable energy and get 1 million plug-in electric cars on the road by 2015