Photo: Iona Books
'The popularity of cheap flights not only ruins the atmosphere, it also negates the effect of more terrestrial green activities.'

Author, minister and broadcaster John L Bell has published a collection of his Thoughts for the Day, titled Thinking Out Loud, which were broadcast on Radio 4's Today programme.

Charity really begins at home
… otherwise it costs the earth

An illogical thought came to mind yesterday when I heard that unless the growth of cheap air travel is curbed, it could eventually account for 25% of the greenhouse gases created by the United Kingdom.

‘The cheapest costs the most,’ I suddenly thought … and then began to test the thesis.

It’s certainly true with regard to air travel. The popularity of cheap flights not only ruins the atmosphere, it also negates the effect of more terrestrial green activities.

Any virtue I feel in switching to unleaded petrol or using energy-saving light bulbs is completely obliterated by a cheap flight to London. It’s like a weight-watcher buying a diet Cola before tucking into a 2,000-calorie meal.

But the claim that the cheapest costs the most is not just limited to budget travel.

Letter

Several newspapers published an open letter asking the government to call to account companies who promote cheap merchandise sourced in the developing world.

As the recent documentary film China Blue illustrates, a pair of trendy denim jeans which sell here for £15 to £20 may have come from a sweat-shop in Asia which has been required to accept a tenth of that sum for the product.

We, the purchasers, get the bargain, but the real cost is born by the workers. And if someone should argue ‘at least they get a job’, the rejoinder must be ‘Yes … but we could afford to pay them more.’

It’s a Dives and Lazarus scenario – that’s one of Jesus’ parables in which the rich man in his castle is aware that there’s a poor man at his gate, but does nothing to alleviate the poverty.

No, actually it’s worse than that. For we in Britain are not simply aware that global warming and trade injustice are realities … we actively encourage them by our unchecked appetite for consumption. And it is the wealthiest who have to make the first move.

With regard to air travel, most people who opt for budget airlines come from the higher income brackets. With regard to cheap trendy clothing, it’s not the poorest who are the biggest bargain hunters.

Avarice

I wish sometimes there was a political party which would say: we will curb avarice rather than encourage it; we will limit consumer spending rather than increase it; we will show costly respect for the environment and trade justice rather than publish reports.

That would be to build the New Jerusalem.

That would be to fulfil the dreams of Isaiah and Hosea and Jesus and all people of good faith who know that the real charity which begins at home has to do with the affluent opting to live on less.

This was broadcast in October 2006.

• Thinking Out Loud is available from amazon.co.uk by clicking here

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