Transporte (Continuación)

Don't worry. It won't happen again. The Spanish air crash that killed 153 people of the 172 on board the Spanair MD82 at Barajas airport, Madrid, won't be repeated.

Statistics suggest that anything like it simply won't happen again in the near future.

Just to prove me and the statisticians wrong it probably will. I remember how we were just getting over Lockerbie in December 1988 when a British Midland 737-400 crashed near the M1 motorway at Kegworth just a few days later.

But realistically it won't. Flying remains by far the safest form of transport. If you travel by air for a lifetime you have a 1 in 2.5 million chance of being killed.…  Seguir leyendo »

La escalada del petróleo sigue: numerosos y cualificados analistas vaticinan que el barril alcanzará los 200-250 dólares en los próximos doce meses. El Consejo Europeo se ha reunido para abordar este problema y no ha llegado a acuerdos relevantes, lo cual demuestra que Europa no se da cuenta (o no quiere hacerlo) de que estamos en el inicio de una profunda y larga crisis económica y de civilización, dado que esta última se ha construido sobre los combustibles fósiles. Sin embargo, en declaraciones sobre el Consejo, Rodríguez Zapatero ha dicho una cosa sensata: «La medida más eficaz (ante esta escalada) sería que fuéramos capaces de reducir la demanda».…  Seguir leyendo »

The past year has seen a growing storm of environmental campaigners threatening to bring the air transport industry down to earth. The past few weeks have seen two high-profile protests at Heathrow and parliament. Some groups are convinced that aviation is not doing enough in the effort against climate change. Planes seem to have overtaken automobiles for environmental criticism, although their impact is far less.

It is true that we in the industry need to do a lot more. But we have also been doing a bad job at communicating both our progress on the environment and the fundamental role that aviation now plays in the world economy.…  Seguir leyendo »

Es ampliamente reconocido que el actual modelo energético mundial –y en particular el de los países más desarrollados, como España– es insostenible en términos económicos, sociales y medioambientales. El caso español se caracteriza por una elevada dependencia energética, alto crecimiento del consumo, importante penetración de algunas energías renovables, escasos logros en eficiencia y dificultad para cumplir con los compromisos internacionales de limitación de emisiones de gases de efecto invernadero.

Los sectores de actividad con mayor crecimiento del consumo energético y, por otro lado, los más difíciles de controlar por su carácter difuso, son la edificación y el transporte, ambos muy cercanos al quehacer cotidiano de las personas.…  Seguir leyendo »

Each year 1.2 million people are killed in road traffic crashes worldwide, most of them in developing countries. By 2020 the total could have doubled. Worst affected are children, pedestrians, cyclists and motorcyclists. Road accidents are the number one killer of 10- to 25-year-olds.Yet much of this loss of life is preventable. In the industrialised countries, road casualties have been falling for three decades. We are becoming ever more sophisticated in designing road safety systems. We expect crumple zones, air bags and electronic stability control. We expect road users to wear seat belts or helmets and to avoid excessive speed and drink driving.…  Seguir leyendo »

After an excellent year, Boeing is counting its blessings, which include its competitor. They also include an anticipated doubling of the commercial aviation market in the next 20 years, which will require 27,000 new planes, costing $2.6 trillion.

Americans ambivalent about globalization should note how Boeing, under chief executive James McNerney, is prospering. The Sept. 11 attacks devastated commercial airlines, causing Boeing -- which cut its jetliner production in half -- to rapidly shed more than 40,000 of its 93,000 workers who designed and built the planes. But the revival has added back some 13,000 jobs and raised Boeing's stock price from $25 to $88 a share.…  Seguir leyendo »

For once, I agree and sympathise with Tony Blair. Like the Prime Minister, I do a great deal of flying, for business and pleasure, and I haven’t the slightest intention of altering my travel plans in any way. Mr Blair’s one mistake in flying to Florida for a family holiday was to offer a half-baked apology. He would have much done more good, for the global environment and for the quality of public debate in Britain, by sticking to his original position, pithily summarised by The Guardian’s front-page headline on Tuesday: “Carry on flying, says Blair — science will save the planet”.…  Seguir leyendo »

In October President Bush signed the Safe Port Act, authorizing an investment of $6.7 billion to tighten security at American ports. This is a vitally important and overdue step. But it ignores another major problem in maritime commerce: the phenomenal decline of American shipping.

While it’s true that the United States Navy still dominates the world ocean — its total tonnage equals the combined tonnage of the next 17 smaller navies — American commercial shipping is but a puny remnant of its former self.

In 1948, more than a third of the world’s merchant fleet flew the stars and stripes; today that figure is down to 2 percent.…  Seguir leyendo »

George Monbiot asserts that the EU emissions trading scheme is a red herring (Ministers know emissions trading is a red herring and won't work, December 19). The truth is the argument that he puts - that Britain should, or could, tackle aviation emissions on its own - is the diversion.There is no question that combating climate change is the most serious challenge we as a society face, and that aviation has a key role to play. Monbiot's position on aviation, as he explained two months ago (Drastic action on climate change is needed now - and here's the plan, October 31), is to cut the UK's aviation capacity by 90%.…  Seguir leyendo »

I suppose I should be flattered. In a speech to fellow airline bosses a few days ago, Martin Broughton, the chief executive of British Airways, announced that the primary challenge for the industry is to "isolate the George Monbiots of this world". That shouldn't be difficult. For a terrifying spectre, I'm feeling pretty lonely. Almost everyone in politics appears to want to forget about aviation's impact on the environment.On Wednesday the secretary of state for communities launched a bold plan to make new homes more energy efficient. She claims it will save 7m tonnes of carbon. On Thursday Douglas Alexander, the transport secretary, announced that he would allow airports to keep growing: by 2030 the number of passengers will increase from 228 million to 465 million.…  Seguir leyendo »

En la Terminal 1 de Barajas, lejos de las rutilantes y carísimas vigas de bambú curvado con que Richard Rogers y Antonio Lamela concibieron la catedralicia bóveda de la T-4, la pequeña persiana bajada de Air Madrid representa la delicada frontera que separa en la economía posindustrial la cumbre de los éxitos rápidos y el abismo de los fracasos vertiginosos, esa sutil membrana que divide el cielo hacia el que vuelan algunos proyectos cargados de expectativas jubilosas y el suelo en el que se estrellan, derretidas como las alas de Ícaro, ciertas aventuras enredadas en el hilo de sus propias limitaciones.…  Seguir leyendo »

Por Ignasi Guardans i Cambó, diputado al Parlamento Europeo. Alianza de los Demócratas y Liberales por Europa (EL PAÍS, 23/11/06):

Hasta el momento, en el mejor de los casos, los pasajeros hacen en cada caso un acto de resignación, que a pesar de su carácter laico se asemeja mucho a la más genuina resignación cristiana: Dios, en su infinita sabiduría, sabe más que nosotros, y si nos hace pasar por este trance seguro que tiene sus motivos. No somos nosotros, pobres criaturas, quienes debamos poner en cuestión su Providencia. Pero aquí el papel de Dios, como muy acertadamente escribía en estas páginas uno de sus mejores columnistas, lo asume la Unión Europea, aunque nadie sepa muy bien a qué o a quiénes nos referimos al invocar a esta nueva divinidad que ordena nuestras vidas.…  Seguir leyendo »

By Giovanni Bisignani, director-general and chief executive officer of the International Air Transport Association (THE GUARDIAN, 22/11/06):

It is disappointing that the debate on aviation's role in climate change is guided more by emotion than facts. George Monbiot's call for a freeze on all new airport construction, and the introduction of a national quota for landing slots, is a case in point (Drastic action on climate change is needed now - and here's the plan, October 31).He lays much of the blame for climate change at aviation's door, but he ignores some basic truths. UN scientists from the International Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) estimate aviation's contribution to global carbon emissions to be just 2%.…  Seguir leyendo »

By George Monbiot (THE GUARDIAN, 31/10/06):

It is a testament to the power of money that Nicholas Stern's report should have swung the argument for drastic action, even before anyone has finished reading it. He appears to have demonstrated what many of us suspected: that it would cost much less to prevent runaway climate change than to seek to live with it. Useful as this finding is, I hope it doesn't mean that the debate will now concentrate on money. The principal costs of climate change will be measured in lives, not pounds. As Stern reminded us yesterday, there would be a moral imperative to seek to prevent mass death even if the economic case did not stack up.…  Seguir leyendo »

Por Antxon Olabe, consultor ambiental (EL PAÍS, 27/09/06):

Alrededor de 12 millones de personas respiramos aire de mala calidad en España. Prácticamente la totalidad de las ciudades importantes y sus áreas metropolitanas presentan índices de calidad del aire insatisfactorios, según los estándares fijados por la Unión Europea. La incidencia de la contaminación del aire en el agravamiento de problemas respiratorios en la infancia y en las personas mayores ha hecho saltar las alarmas en Europa. Se estima que uno de cada diez niños europeos padece problemas de asma y que, en total, en torno a 20 millones de europeos sufren cada día problemas respiratorios.…  Seguir leyendo »

Por David Hoyos, economista ambiental y miembro de Bakeaz (EL CORREO DIGITAL, 22/09/06):

La Unión Europea celebra por octavo año el 'día sin coches' en el marco de la Semana Europea de la Movilidad, con el objetivo de sensibilizar a la ciudadanía sobre los efectos nocivos que el abuso del automóvil comporta para la salud de las personas y el medio ambiente. Las instituciones públicas abrazan de manera entusiasta este tipo de jornadas puesto que les permite ofrecer una imagen más verde, si bien el caos que acostumbra a organizarse les supone más de un quebradero de cabeza. Lamentablemente, durante estos días mucho se oye pero poco se sabe sobre lo que es la movilidad sostenible y lo que implica en la práctica.…  Seguir leyendo »

By Jon A. Krosnick, a professor of communication, political science and psychology at Stanford (THE NEW YORK TIMES, 30/08/06):

THE crash of a Comair jet in Kentucky on Sunday ended the longest safety streak in aviation history: it’s been almost five years since a passenger died in a commercial airline jet accident in the United States.

Crashes are actually very crude gauges of the safety of air travel because they remain so rare. We must pay attention instead to the little events that happen every day in the skies and on the ground that very, very slightly increase the risk of another disaster.…  Seguir leyendo »

By Anatole Kaletsky (THE TIMES, 09/03/06):

As I write this, I am flying back from a two-day trip to New York, as a result of which I am responsible for creating 1.2 tonnes of carbon dioxide. Next week I will be making two return flights to Europe, adding another 0.2 tonnes, and the week after that, I will be taking my entire family on a holiday to the Caribbean, creating roughly six tonnes of CO2.

Am I a carbon criminal for creating 7.4 tonnes of pollution, thereby bringing forward the day of judgment when we will all get our just deserts by roasting in a technological, post-enlightenment version of Dante’s Inferno?…  Seguir leyendo »

By Keith Jowett and Roger Wiltshire, chief executive of the Airport Operators Association and secretary general of the British Air Transport Association respectively. Response to For the sake of the world's poor... (THE GUARDIAN, 03/03/06):
George Monbiot's diatribe against aviation was full of the sort of emotive language one might see on an extreme eco-warrior website, with references to Orwellian nightmares and "unparalleled disaster" (For the sake of the world's poor, we must keep the wealthy at home, February 28).It is astonishing that one of the few industries where Britain is still a world leader, and which is essential to the prosperity of this nation, can be criticised in such a cavalier manner.…  Seguir leyendo »

By George Monbiot (THE GUARDIAN, 28/02/06):

At last the battlelines have been drawn, and the first major fight over climate change is about to begin. All over the country, a coalition of homeowners and anarchists, of Nimbys and internationalists, is mustering to fight the greatest future cause of global warming: the growth of aviation.

Not all these people care about the biosphere. Some are concerned merely that their homes are due to be bulldozed, or that, living under the new flight paths, they will never get a good night's sleep again. But anyone who has joined a broad-based coalition understands the power of this compound of idealism and dogged self-interest.…  Seguir leyendo »