The right-leaning Heritage Foundation has given mankind a stark choice - the environment or the travel industry. 

The theory is that Climate Change legislation aka the Waxman-Markey Cap and Trade scheme would supposedly reduce greenhouse gas emissions by simply making it more expensive for people to travel.

The Heritage Foundation blog quotes Steve Sear, Delta Air Lines vice president of global sales, as saying that “The ACES act is a “cap-and-trade” scheme that would limit overall carbon emissions and require fuel and energy companies to buy and sell the right to pollute. This legislation could have a significant negative impact on already-strained U.S. airlines, resulting in hundreds of millions of dollars in additional fuel costs that will either have to be absorbed or passed on to customers.”

The irony of this argument is highlighted by the situation that island states and nations dependent on tourism find themselves in. If they support the legislation, they kill their own economies. If they don’t, well… they could end up living underwater in a couple of decades as the sea level rises.

Would you want to visit the Oahu beaches if you had to take a boat to get to Ala Moana from your hotel? Would you want to visit Oahu if airfare and other rates shot up after Cap & Trade?

Well, think about it, but you’re screwed either way. 

Photo by Ivy Dawned (creative commons).

Posted on August 19th, 2009 by PLing
Filed under: Sustainable Travel, Travel News