I have been struck by conflicting emotions during the current Mt. Eyjafjallajökull saga. While I feel sorry for the scores of stranded passengers I cannot escape a sense that what is happening is actually beautiful. A natural event can throw our high-tech and often arrogant society into a complete tailspin. We have no answer to this utterly normal phenomenon, and on top of this, don’t even seem to understand how to interpret it. Did we really have to cancel all these flights, or was it a gross overreaction? Confusion reigns, and we are – or should be – reminded of our rightful, unmasterly place in the world.
The other emotion is one of near horror. It turns out that what we consider being this uniquely damaging, utterly crippling and outsized event is emitting a mere 4% of daily CO2 emissions relative to the European aviation sector. That’s right, the explosion is responsible for such a tiny fraction of CO2 emissions of such a small segment of our overall economy. European airspace, shrouded in a toxic cloud, has actually become remarkably cleaner in the last few days, at least in CO2 terms. Scary.
So here we are, shellshocked by and confused about this natural phenomenon, yet as soon as it is sufficiently diminished we will resume flying again, spewing such enormous amounts of CO2 into the atmosphere. As Earth Day approaches, shouldn’t we be worried about this at least as much as about the unfortunate inconveniences Mt. Eyjafjallajökull has caused us?
This post originally appeared on NRDC's Switchboard.
Peter Malik is Director of NRDC's Center for Innovation in New York City. NRDC is a non-profit organization dedicated to protecting the environment, people and animals. NRDC was founded in 1970 and is comprised of more than 300 lawyers, scientists and policy experts, with more than one million members and e-activists.
