Weekend 2: Protest.

Beginning of the protest with transport in the foreground... Well, it seems silly to drive to a protest about the environment...

Here's an interesting thought: It costs more to go by taxi from the centre of Stuttgart to the airport than it does to fly from Stuttgart to Majorca. One reason being that although taxi drivers have to pay the full cost of their fuel and then tax on top, aircraft are tax free, essentially a subsidy from the government. Quite how the airlines get away with this in an era of carbon-taxes, congestion charges, and tightening emissions standards is anybodies guess -although I'm told that for domestic flights fuel taxation is already under consideration- but it does explain how the budget airlines make a profit while taking us to Spain 'for a pound' (plus taxes and creatively thought-up surcharges of course). Of course, it also helps that they often get their airports built by the governmant, and the government also takes care of noise reduction, access roads, traffic planning and all the health and social problems caused by having large planes in the garden. Okay, so governments don't usually bother, but either way the air industry isn't held responsible for the damage it causes.

This is on my mind because of the continued attempts by the airport to turn our area into one giant runway. It seems to be on the minds of about 15 000 other people too, looking at the estimated turnout at a major demonstration on Saturday. We all walked from the different villages that would be affected (or buried) by the proposed next runway and met on a farm which was very carefully chosen, as it is one of two built by the state only a few years ago, because the families previously lived on land that was taken for building an exhibition centre- and will now be buried under the runway if the airport gets its way. It seemed to sum up the attitude of the airport and the state nicely.

'Nature Reserve': Protected from development...
Oh, but you want to build an airport? That's different...

While at the event I met up with a number of people from our youth group, and together we learned some other interesting facts, like the fact that the proposed runway would be built on a 15 metre (45-50') high embankment which, if built on the northern site, would take out the two farms, several gardens and enough of the most productive farmland in Germany to grow wheat to make a million loaves of bread a year. In order to make this mess the state was going to generate a million truck journeys a year. If this runway gets built, then planes landing from the east would fly 100m (300') above a school on their final approach. When asked about this a local politician conceded that the expansion would 'Not be without problems'.

Of course we have been promised “This will be the last building project, honest” which gave us a laugh: as I've mentioned before, promises of this nature aren't exactly convincing after the last few years, and besides, the airport chief has publicly suggested that a third runway is on the cards in a couple of decades “After people are accustomed to having two runways.”

But here is the best bit: the whole thing is a white elephant in any case. The airport is running well below capacity, so it's not like they are stacking planes up, and passenger numbers are going down year on year as well. On top of this, there will soon be a new, high-speed railway coming. This has the potential to clobber the short-haul market very comprehensively by simply being faster than air from point to point if experience between Köln and Frankfurt or Brussels and Paris are anything to go by. If the airlines have to pay fuel tax eventually, then the low-cost airlines will have to charge €50-100 more per flight, which may stop their growth down a bit. Meanwhile more local businesses could leave as their owners get sick of the pollution and the noise, more farms will be destroyed, and more people will leave the area. One local person recently told us: “If you're looking for a house, wait for the new runway, there will be plenty going after that's built”

In other words, the runway isn't needed, has an economic case based on non-existent growth, probably won't pay for itself, certainly won't pay for the incidental and indirect costs to the local economy, will cause major environmental damage and displacement and may cause the area to lose more jobs than it generates. Whoopee.

Someone hijacked my camera again.

But here's another thought: 15 000 people turned up to protest because we will be directly affected. Why aren't we- why aren't I- as vocal about things that affect other people? There are plenty of examples of how our lifestyles affect people nearby or further away, but those don't get the same response. Maybe our focus on this one issue helps us us avoid looking at how our lifestyle is harming the land and people around us.

'scuse me, is that a splinter in your eye?

[This was written after attending the 'Eine Reicht' protest last weekend, but I waited a bit so I could proof-read it for errors. There are probably loads still there, so if you see one please let me know]