It's not just that aviation represents the world's fastest growing source of carbon dioxide emissions... aviation emissions alone would exceed the government's target for the country's entire output of greenhouse gases in 2050 by around 134%.

[...] What all this means is that if we want to stop the planet from cooking, we will simply have to stop travelling at the kind of speeds that planes permit.

This is now broadly understood by almost everyone I meet. But it has had no impact whatever on their behaviour. When I challenge my friends about their planned weekend in Rome or their holiday in Florida, they respond with a strange, distant smile and avert their eyes. They just want to enjoy themselves. Who am I to spoil their fun? The moral dissonance is deafening.

Taken from George Monbiot's column in the Guardian 28 February 2006