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Archive for the ‘Airline’ Category

The Price Of Flights Will Soar If Co2 Reductions Come Into Force

If the U.S. fulfills its pledge to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, then the ensuing CO2 reductions will cause a host of little mentioned, but very severe and punishing effects to the travel and tourism industries.

The EPA (Environmental Protection Agency) released what it refers to as its "endangerment findings" last Monday, and they outline the public health risks associated with carbon emissions.

The Obama administration has pledged to work closely with Congress as its looks to pass clean energy reform legislation, that would entail cutting carbon gas emissions by more than eighty percent, but such a bill would badly damage the U.S. economy and would cause a major reduction in the number of flights, cause big prices increases, and have a majorly negative effect on the travel and tourism industries.

Ken Green, who is an environmental scientist with the American Enterprise Institute, said, "The European diplomats who all who flew over to Copenhagen are the excepted class, as is Al Gore, but the rest of us are not supposed to fly, and so they’ll be raising your ticket prices and putting restrictions on flying that make it more difficult".

"The impact on passengers is going to be higher ticket prices. If you try to cap carbon, and the airlines have to buy emission permits from other sources that could reduce their emissions, they’re going to pass that cost along to consumers. It may mean less availability of flights".

Each gallon of jet fuel creates 23.88 pounds of carbon dioxide, and domestic flights alone produce an estimated 11.1 million tons of carbon dioxide every month, and an estimated 133 million tons of the gas annually.

Domestic airlines consumed an enormous 929,849,433 gallons of jet fuel in October and President Obama’s proposed a cap-and-trade bill would require cutting the gallons of fuel burned by a staggering amount.

Airlines be left with just two choices:

1) Reduce the number of flights
2) Buy purchase emission permits from companies or countries that create little CO2.

New advanced technologies are not even on the drawing boards yet, and experts say the shorter the timeline to develop carbon-efficient systems, the higher the prices will be, or the less flights there will be, or both.

The GOP And Climate-Gate

A group of twenty eight Republican senators recently called on the United Nations to appoint an independent investigator to probe leaked e-mails that they claim raise serious questions about the science behind global warming and Rajendra Pachauri who is chairman of the U.N.’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, announced last week that, "The U.N. would conduct an investigation, that the controversy over the e-mails was serious, and that he didn’t want to brush anything under the carpet".

The GOP senators then wrote to Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon saying that, "While such an inquiry is a positive step, they want an investigation that is truly independent of the IPCC (Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change) and the U.N. in the style of the independent investigation led by former Federal Reserve Chairman Paul Volcker in the wake of the Oil for Food scandal".

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Since 1980, Southwest Airlines has made the obese pay for a second seat if they can’t get the armrest down,

and United Airlines is now set to follow suit.

The Growth Of Obesity

Obesity is a huge problem that’s considered a major risk factor for conditions like heart disease and diabetes, which cause countries across the globe to spend billions of dollars on health care, and according to the CDC (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention) the proportion of obese U.S. adults rose again last year, to 26.1 percent of the population.

Following a three-day conference in Washington, D.C., entitled, Weight of the Nation, the CDC released twenty four recommended obesity prevention strategies which focus on environmental and policy level change initiatives that can be implemented by local governments and school districts to promote healthy eating and active living.

Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius, who attended the conference along with former President Clinton stated that reducing obesity is at the heart (not stomach) of President Obama’s health care plan, and Clinton cited a study that showed that the country could save billions of the estimated $147 billion annual cost of obesity if it invested just a fraction of that on prevention.

Obesity Enters The Political Arena

The CDC’s new recommendations deal for the most part with making healthy foods more available, and promoting physical activity in communities across America, but they also enter into the realm of government restrictions, and call upon communities to,

a) restrict the availability of unhealthy foods and beverages
b) institute smaller portion sizes
c) limit advertisements of unhealthy products
d) discourage the consumption of sugary drinks.

The issue is politically charged and will almost inevitably dovetail into the present debate over health care reform and politicians and others are already taking sides.

Texas state Sen. Kel Seliger, who recently opposed a trans fat ban that would have applied to the entire Lone Star State said, “It’s a question of limiting personal choice”.

The measure was passed by the Texas Senate, but died in the House whereas California became the first state to institute a ban on July 25, 2008.

The California ban requires restaurants to begin phasing out the use of trans fat oils by July 1, 2010 and after 2010, any restaurant that still uses trans fat as an ingredient will face a be fine of up to $1,000.

* Trans fat is the common name for a type of unsaturated fat with trans-isomer fatty acid(s). Trans fats may be monounsaturated or polyunsaturated but never saturated.

Texas state Rep. Jodie Laubenberg, also came out against her state’s push for a trans fat ban agrees and added, “Is it the government’s role to tell me what food I’m going to eat? If that’s the case, then why not ban caffeine?”. Where do we stop?”.

Alabama, which has the second highest rate of adult obesity in the country, is expected to start charging its employees an extra $25 for health insurance next year, and advocates of the plan say it will help make employees healthier while reducing health care costs.

Mississippi had the highest rate of adult obesity, 32.5 percent, for the fifth year in a row.

Three additional states now have adult obesity rates above 30 percent, including Alabama, 31.2 percent; West Virginia, 31.1 percent; and Tennessee, 30.2 percent.

Colorado had the lowest rate of obese adults, at 18.9 percent, followed by Massachusetts, 21.2 percent; and Connecticut, 21.3 percent.

Mississippi also had the highest rate of overweight and obese children, at 44.4 percent. It’s followed by Arkansas, 37.5 percent; and Georgia, 37.3 percent.

Following Alabama, Michigan ranks No. 2 with the most obese 55- to 64-year-olds, 36 percent. Colorado has the lowest rate, 21.8 percent.

Prof. Judith Stern, who specializes in obesity and other subjects at the University of California at Davis, says she disagrees with the decision that was taken in Alabama, and questions how the state can make overweight people pay more, yet not impose similar requirements on smokers or alcoholics.

“It singles out unfairly certain groups, and this case it would be the obese overweight group. It’s not workable nor should it be, because we don’t put a surcharge on other unhealthy behavior”.

Another group, the Trust for America’s Health, states in a report that was also issued this month, that America’s obesity policies are failing, and shows that adult obesity did not decrease in a single state last year, and reveals that the percentage of obese or overweight children in over thirty states is at or above 30%

The group avoided the political issues but recommended that communities and schools,

a) make nutritious foods more affordable and accessible
b) increase opportunities for physical activity
c) ensure everyone has access to coverage for preventive care
d) provide nutrition and obesity counseling.

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