Leaving a Paper Trail

This video was shot in October 2008 at Dublin Airport. It was influenced by my involvement in the campaign against the planned new runway at the Airport. I was dismayed at the silence of the debate about the runway’s impact on climate change.

In the UK, the connection between airport expansion and climate change is well-established in the public consciousness. The need to curtail national carbon dioxide emissions is also well understood. There are a lot of airport expansion programmes, but also a vigorous movement against it that includes not just “environmentalists” but a cross-section of British people who oppose such plans.

Ireland quite simply lacks any such national debate on the issue. This is curious given that the government has failed to cut emissions in other areas, and will soon face large international fines for that failure.  I have been involved in attempts to raise the profile of this debate in our country, and this video depicts what that feels like.

Fortunately, the urgency of this issue has backed down of late. In December 2008, the construction of the runway was postponed indefinitely due to the recession.