The very last thing we should be doing, considering its non-sustainable impact on resources and the environment, is subsidising cheap air travel (EU cool on Ryanair chief's plea for future of airline, 5 September, 2003).

On the contrary, we need to tax air travel, in order to restrict its development to a "sustainable" level (which on a global scale means reducing the level already attained in industrialised countries) and prevent its real costs, which will be devastating, from being passed on to coming generations. This, however, will require not just radical, but revolutionary changes in economic philosophy and practice, along with the lifestyles and aspirations associated with them.

The alternative, which is what we are currently pursuing, is extinction.