Keith Melton of the Green Liberal Democrats writes:
Another area where I think we should pause for a while before allowing things to "go back to normal" is the issue of travel and transport. We have become entirely hooked on the ease of travel these days and large proportions of people in the highly developed (over-developed?) world assume easy travel is a human right. So much so that many of those who think nothing of catching airplanes or hopping on cruise ships, have never really considered their responsibilities for the pollution such trips create. For a long time, Liberal Democrats (and Liberals before them) have adopted the fundamental position that there should be a responsibility that the "polluter should pay".
In other words, if, by our actions, we cause pollution of some kind somewhere, then it should be our responsibility to ensure that pollution is cleaned up. The fact that we don`t and that most business models do not allow for such responsibilities, leads to what economists call the cost of "externalities". A truly circular economy - or, better yet, a truly doughnut economy - would treat the non-payment for externalised costs as "selfishness" and penalise accordingly.
Just as a matter of interest, it struck me that the chancellor was being rather brave, for a Conservative, when he said that airlines should "... find other forms of funding and not turn first to the government for help getting through the coronavirus crisis." He may just have been being a Conservative free-marketeer (?) or he may have seen the kudos he might garner from the Green Lobby (including GLD, of course!) by seeming to be green as well as careful with our tax monies!
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