It's at moments like this that you understand why the environment movement is sometimes seen as the Morrissey of the campaign world. In recent months a string of prominent environmentalists - and new-green politicians - have come forward to denounce the relentless hairshirtism of the movement, and ask for something more positive to take its place. The Flight Pledge - a promise to take fewer, or even no plane trips at all - is not that something.
As the site explains, air travel is the fastest-growing contributor to climate change, and it is expanding like a mushroom cloud. That nice Amanda Lamb off A Place in the Sun is probably personally responsible for about three new airport runways, as ever more people buy second homes overseas, or at least get into the habit of regular weekends in Dubai or Torremolinos depending on taste. Flying to foreign parts is lovely. Not flying to foreign parts is not so lovely. But irritatingly, the planet just can't afford it. Of course, it is possible that we may run out of oil before carbon emissions cook us. In which case you will probably regret having foregone that dirty weekend in Las Vegas.
www.flightpledge.org.uk
guardian.co.uk © Guardian Newspapers Limited 2008
