Environmental Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
Chapter 13
Conclusion
Paul Upham
C
ONCLUSION
Are trends in contemporary aviation sustainable? How should one answer this as an
academic analyst, if sustainability has a strong ethical and, hence, value-laden com-
ponent? To answer our own question, the approach taken by the editors has been
twofold: to present our own individual viewpoints and those of other academics, but
also to emphasize the further diversity of opinion on the subject.
The collective answer from the authors and commentators is that the
environ-
mental
sustainability of the aviation industry is at least in doubt. However, a consen-
sual answer across the industry and its observers should not be expected. For the
industrial contributors, in particular, aviation is performing well, especially across
the social and economic dimensions of sustainability. Whether academics acknowl-
edge their own values in this arena explicitly or not, impartiality in terms of ques-
tions asked is not possible - hence, the emphasis in this topic on including a wide
range of opinion.
On the economic side, while there is no doubt that aviation is delivering economic
and social goods, a key economic question is how these would compare to those
obtained via alternative use of the same resources (Grayling and Bishop, 2001). In
other words, comparative factor productivity is the key economic criterion, not sim-
ply the level of contemporary aviation productivity (Grayling and Bishop, 2001, p11).
In response, the aviation industry could question whether those resources would be
any more likely to be used in socially and economically desirable ways.
On the environmental side, the aviation industry can point to the growth in
absolute environmental impacts from other transport modes. Levels of transport in
the European Union (EU) are constantly increasing, particular for those modes (road
and air) seen as least sustainable by the European Environment Agency (EEA) (EEA,
2001). Transport is a core activity of the tourism sector, which is itself becoming the
