ABSTRACT
This all means, for example, that global warming is an even greater threat than global terrorism. It therefore behoves us to coolly enumerate (and then analyse) the causes - both 'proximal' and 'distal'. By proximal causes, I refer to those that we can control locally, such as car use and ownership. The worst offenders by far are aircraft, so we must seriously address the issue of flying off on holidays abroad, etc. Modern methods of network conferencing could greatly cut back on the need to travel on business or for international conferences. It used to be said in the 1970s, when the Boeing 747s became widely used as passenger carriers, that one flight of a B747 from London to New York used up so much ozone that it would take a hectare of virgin Canadian forest over a century to restore it by photosynthesis (Toronto Globe & Mail, 1974). Of course, since then the Canadians (and others) have been busy chopping down their forests to compete in the woodchip trade with Japan!
