For almost a week flights in and out of the UK were cancelled, due to the dangerous ash cloud that swarmed in the sky last month. This was from an erupted volcano in Iceland called Eyjafjallajoekull.

Flights are now running again in the UK apart from certain places in the Midlands but wouldn’t it have been better to keep them off for longer?

During that period many people were unable to return to the UK while a considerable amount of people found other means of getting home; by hiring different types of vehicles such as bikes or cars or travelling further distances by ferry or train. This shows that people can still travel many miles without getting on a plane. This surely is better for the environment than having thousands of planes flying in and out of the country everyday with each aircraft emitting as much as 1 ton of CO2 per 2,062 miles travelled. So in total, that’s causing a catastrophic amount of damage to the atmosphere. The very atmosphere we live under.

The government is already aware of the environmental issues affecting the planet and the dangers it could have on us in the future, so why not consider decreasing the amount of planes used as there are clearly other ways of travelling. A ferry or train may be less comfortable or convenient for some but a price must be paid for our crimes against the planet. If we don’t make changes now then we’ll have to sacrifice even more in the future for the sake of the Earth; if we don’t the destructive condition of the planet will be too much for us to reverse.