Greenpeace Airplot

You may have seen this in the media already but in brief: Greenpeace, along with Alastair McGowan, Emma Thompson and Zac Goldsmith, have bought a plot of land on the proposed site of the Heathrow Airport expansion. They're calling it Airplot and ou can find out more information on their site at www.greenpeace.org.uk/blog/climate/join-plot-stop-airport-expansion-20090112 as well as signing up for updates.

I think the money would be much better spent on improving the rail network in the UK, particularly opening high speed rail lines which would prove a real alternative to flying. I try to avoid flying if possible, and certainly to destinations in Europe it is easy enough to do, if not yet as cheap or fast as by air. I performed a show in Hamburg last year and travelled by rail. It wasn't particularly cheap, particularly when compared with the low cost airlines, and took pretty much a whole day to get there but it meant I was able to see more of the countries along the way, including having a good look around Brussels, and also experience a sleeper train (a great way to travel) and meet some interesting people on the journey.

I struggled to find a website showing the actual savings in carbon emissions (any suggestions of sites welcomed!) but my very rough calculations show that the emissions are likely to be less by rail and are also much closer to the ground so less likely to be emitting gases into the thinner atmosphere. If more people choose to go by rail than air, all the benefits will be increased as there would be less flights happening.

I'm not sure if I've blogged it before, but the way I got to Hamburg was:

Virgin Pendolino from Crewe-Euston
Walk from Euston - St Pancras
Eurostar from St Pancras - Brussels
City Night Line sleeper train from Brussels - Hamburg (originating in Paris)

and the return was similar in reverse, although I ended up coming back through the UK via an alternative route (via Reading or Wales I think) as it was a bank holiday and there was engineering work on the West Coast Main Line.

I got the information about the journey from seat61.com, a great website for information about travelling by rail. I've just checked their site to confirm the route I took and it seems that from 14 December last year (ironically the date that rail timetables in the UK seemed to get easier) the Brussels - Hamburg sleeper service was discontinued. There's more information about this (and places to complain to!) at euronight.net.