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Dear raul, Right now, roughly 5,000 barrels of oil a day are being spilled into the Gulf of Mexico southeast of Venice, Louisiana [1] – yet another awful outcome of the tragic explosion at what was supposed to be one of the safest and most advanced offshore drilling rigs in the world. Tell the Obama administration to reject Big Oil's plans to industrialize our coasts. Submit your comments now. It doesn't take a dramatic explosion and monster oil slick to see the perils of offshore drilling. For some marine wildlife, the simple act of determining whether and where to site an offshore rig can be a prelude to disaster. Exposure to petroleum also causes tissue damage in the eyes, mouth, skin and lungs of dolphins and other marine mammals. And because they are at the top of the food chain, marine mammals like polar bears and whales will be exposed to the dangers of bioaccumulation of organic pollutants and metals. Dredging of nesting beaches, collisions and noise disruptions threaten sea turtles. And hatchlings are particularly susceptible to oiling because they spend much of their time near the water surface, where spilled oil or tar accumulates.
Defending Wildlife
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jueves, 29 de abril de 2010
Runaway Drilling Disaster Threatens Sea Turtles... Deadline Monday for Action
martes, 27 de abril de 2010
Pavos...
Booming turkey population ruffling feathers in urban communities
Updated 9h 7m ago | Comments 187 | Recommend 6 E-mail | Save | Print |
Enlarge By Jerry Larson, AP
The Texas Parks and Wildlife Department releases a wild Rio Grande turkey in Feb. 2009 in Blooming Grove, Texas, in an effort to restore native prairies.
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By Dennis Cauchon, USA TODAY
In the dark of night, the intruder smashed a plate glass window of a dessert shop in Lincoln, Neb. Inside, destruction.
The first cop called for backup. The two officers, guns drawn, warily entered the shop.
In a back room, they found the perp, angry and ready to fight, but a little on the smallish side. It was a 25-pound wild turkey.
"The police came outside and were laughing hysterically," says High Society Cheesecake co-owner Marcus Morris, who'd arrived at 11:30 p.m. to start baking for the next day, April 1. "The turkey had gone crazy. I started calling friends to tell them what had happened. Everyone thought it was an April Fool's joke."
Americans, prepare yourselves. The wild turkey is back in vast numbers and may be coming soon to a garage, backyard or windshield near you.
The High Society Cheesecake caper is one of many real-life turkey dramas playing out this spring in what could be called "Turkeys Gone Wild."
It's mating season, and male gobblers have begun a relentless two-month quest to have sex with as many females as possible. The urge to breed has brought these fearless, not-too-bright, testosterone-filled birds into cities and suburbs, which often provide a wonderful habitat for turkeys on the prowl.
Wild turkeys are following in the footsteps of deer — an iconic American species that was nearly wiped out, only to come back in large numbers and thrive in predator-free suburbs.
The bountiful turkey population is creating awkward interactions with people who have little experience with wildlife.
In Wenham, Mass., a man returned from Easter service and found a wild turkey had smashed his living room's picture window.
"The turkey was patiently sitting on the couch like he was watching TV," says Wenham Police Officer William Foley. "But he got angry when he saw us."
The owner was afraid to come to the front door when police knocked. He didn't want to cross paths with the turkey. Animal control officers wrestled the turkey outside, and the bird was returned to the woods unharmed.
Turkey-human confrontations are sometimes comical. New Jersey Turnpike drivers were befuddled by wild turkeys hanging out at tollbooths. In Oshkosh, Wis., police used a lampshade to shoo a turkey from a garage. In Oxford, Mass.,a turkey crossed the road to eat at McDonald's.
Back from the brink
Wild turkeys were driven to near-extinction a century ago by hunting and habitat loss. By 1900, only 30,000 wild turkeys survived, mostly in swamps and mountains, says wildlife biologist Scott Vance of the National Wild Turkey Federation. Wild turkeys were wiped out in 17 of 36 states.
Attempts to transplant farm-raised turkeys — the Thanksgiving dinner kind — into the wild failed. The birds couldn't hack it.
The invention of a netting gun that captured wild turkeys alive changed everything. In the 1970s, wildlife officials began relocating wild turkeys. The birds thrived in reforested areas. Today, 7 million wild turkeys live in 49 states. Alaska is the only turkey-free state.
Hunters kill about 1 million turkeys a year. Turkey hunting is the only type of hunting growing in popularity, Vance says. One reason: hunters have an excellent chance of success because there are so many birds. Feeding wild turkeys is the biggest cause of turkey trouble, he says.
So many wild turkeys were roaming the Minneapolis suburb of Shoreview that some parents were afraid for their children's safety. One resident fed buckets of corns to the birds.
"We had complaints about property damage, traffic safety issues," says Assistant City Manager Tom Simonson. The City Council hired a company to kill 75 of the city's estimated 100 wild turkeys. Only five were caught — three went to the local food pantry; two got tracking devices.
Vance says humans have little to fear from wild turkeys. The birds have spurs on their feet, wings sharpened like razors from dragging on the ground and a willingness to fight. But the typical turkey is 20 to 25 pounds.
"You're more likely to be injured running away from the bird," Vance says.
Mostly, male birds interact with humans. Mating season lasts from February through May, depending on an area's climate. When mating season ends, male turkeys regroup in bachelor packs, hanging with their posse until the next mating season. They don't help around the nest or nurture their young.
A smaller hazard
The small size of wild turkeys makes them less of a road hazard than 200-pound deer. However, last month, two people were killed near Omaha when their van swerved to avoid one. Vance says those are the only deaths he knows related to wild turkeys.
Truck driver J.C. Caldwell narrowly escaped. He was driving at 55 mph on a rural road in Washington County, Tenn., March 23 when a large turkey struck his windshield.
"His face was up against the windshield, his eyes looking straight at me," Caldwell says.
Caldwell has confronted nearly every hazard possible during 29 years on the road, once hitting two deer on the same trip. This was his first turkey. When he tells other truckers, "they think I'm on drugs, that I'm blowing smoke."
Even Sheriff's Deputy Eric Stanton, who handled the case, was surprised. "I've seen car versus bear, car versus deer, car versus cat, but this is the first time I've seen car versus turkey," he says.
sábado, 24 de abril de 2010
Fwd: MNN Daily Briefing: Back (Yard) to Nature
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BACK (YARD) TO NATURE: As spring continues springing, homeowners across the United States are enjoying watching a variety of wildlife bustle around their back yards again, from robins and rabbits to hummingbirds and herons. But for a select 128,000 U.S. back yards, the local wildlife isn't just nervously stopping in for a few bites of birdseed or leaves - it actually lives there, too. These homes are part of a program by the National Wildlife Federation that turns back yards into "Certified Wildlife Habitats," which must meet five basic needs of native wildlife to be certified: providing food, water, cover, a place to raise their young, and freedom from chemical treatments such as pesticides. While the program has been around for 37 years, its popularity has been surging in recent years, with enrollment growing by 400 percent since 2003. Doug Inkley, a senior NWF scientist, says backyard habitats are more important than ever due to encroaching development and shrinking natural habitats. "Many [species] have been in decline," he tells USA Today. "Providing a place for them is extremely educational, it provides good habitat, and it can be a safe endeavor." It's not necessarily always safe, however - if the habitat is inviting enough, a small gathering for local fauna could escalate into a neighborhood block party. "You should understand that you're not only going to attract songbirds and squirrels," says Clemson University wildlife ecologist Greg Yarrow, "but some wildlife that you may not be interested in, like a bear or raccoon or skunk." (Sources: 
OIL ON TROUBLED WATERS: As hopes fade for finding 11 offshore workers who disappeared in an oil-rig explosion Tuesday night, oil giant BP is scrambling to avert an environmental disaster after the damaged rig sank into the Gulf of Mexico Thursday. A one-by-five-mile oil slick quickly covered the area, and BP's vice president for Gulf of Mexico exploration said in a news conference that it "certainly has the potential to be a major spill." While 115 of the rig's workers survived Tuesday's explosion, 11 remain unaccounted for, spurring a search-and-rescue effort by the U.S. Coast Guard that entered its third day Friday morning. Coast Guard helicopters, planes and patrol boats have been scouring the rig's vicinity to no avail, and while the search continues, many survivors have said the 11 missing may have been near the site of the explosion when it occurred. "Based upon reports from crew members we met as they came in last night, at the time of the incident, they believe [the missing workers] may have been aboard the rig and not able to evacuate," says an official with Transocean Ltd., which leased the rig from BP. In addition to the missing workers and the surface oil slick, the sea-floor oil well itself is also a big concern, since there's no way to know yet whether oil is still spilling out of it. Plus, the sunken rig also contains 700,000 gallons of diesel fuel, and while there's no sign any of that has begun leaking out, Coast Guard Rear Adm. Mary Landry points out that "we don't know what's going on below the surface of the water." (Sources: 
WHALE WARS: The International Whaling Commission proposed a controversial compromise on Thursday, offering to legalize commercial whaling after a 25-year ban in exchange for a cutback in the number of whales killed each year. Whaling was outlawed worldwide in 1986 by an international treaty, but three countries - Japan, Norway and Iceland - took that more as a suggestion than a rule. The whale-hungry trio has been killing about 1,700 whales annually in recent years, and since they're flaunting the law anyway, the United States and other anti-whaling nations have been trying to strike a deal to allow some commercial whaling in hopes of bringing down the overall death count. Under the new proposal, gradually shrinking limits would be attached to certain whale species - 400 Antarctic minke whales could initially be killed each year, for example, while that number would drop to 200 over the next decade. "Some whaling will be the price to pay for the reduction in the number of whales killed," IWC Chairman Cristian Maquieira tells the Washington Post. "I don't think anybody will be happy with the numbers, but what I'm trying to achieve is a situation where everybody is willing to sit down at the table because they see something there that otherwise they would be unable to obtain." Critics argue the proposal amounts to a police force ceding defeat to criminals: "Saying you are opposed to commercial whaling, but supporting quotas to kill whales is disingenuous and merely political posturing towards Japan," says Greenpeace oceans campaigner Phil Kline. " It is also a less than auspicious way to mark the 40th anniversary of 
miércoles, 21 de abril de 2010
Obesidad y Alzheimer
Gene makes people fat, raises Alzheimer's risk
Julie Steenhuysen
CHICAGO
Mon Apr 19, 2010 4:45pm EDT
(Reuters) - A variant of an obesity gene carried by more than a third of the U.S. population also reduces brain volume, raising carriers' risk of Alzheimer's disease, U.S. researchers said on Monday.
Health
People with a specific variant of the fat mass and obesity gene, or FTO gene, have brain deficits that could make them more vulnerable to the mind-robbing disease.
"The basic result is that this very prevalent gene not only adds an inch to your waistline, but makes your brain look 16 years older," said Paul Thompson, a professor of neurology at the University of California Los Angeles, who worked on the study published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
Brains generally shrink with age.
The study compared brain scans of more than 200 people and found consistently less tissue in the brains of people who carry the "bad" version of the FTO gene compared to non-carriers.
On average, people with the obesity variant of the FTO gene had 8 percent less tissue in their frontal lobes -- sometimes referred to as the brain's "command center." They also had 12 percent less tissue in their occipital lobes, which is the part of the brain that processes vision and other perceptions.
Thompson said reduced brain volume raises a person's risk for Alzheimer's disease by reducing the amount of brain reserve a person has to compensate if the brain plaques linked to Alzheimer's form. Stroke can also reduce brain tissue, depleting the brain's reserve.
DIET AND EXERCISE
The added brain risk means it is more important for people who carry the FTO gene to eat a low-fat diet and exercise regularly, he said.
A 2008 study of Amish people who had the FTO risk gene but were physically active found they weighed about the same as non-carriers, suggesting that physical activity can overcome a genetic predisposition to obesity.
People with two copies of the FTO gene variant on average weigh nearly 7 pounds (3 kg) more and are about 70 percent more likely to be obese than those who do not have the gene.
"In all the maelstrom of activities you do, exercise and a low-fat diet are genuinely saving your brain from both stroke and Alzheimer's," Thompson said.
For the study, Thompson's team compared magnetic resonance images taken of the brains of 206 healthy people between age 55 and 90 at 58 centers. The centers were taking part in the five-year Alzheimer's Disease Neuroimaging Initiative, which is examining the factors that help aging brains resist disease.
Because so many people carry the obesity version of the FTO gene, Thompson said the findings may drive research into new drug compounds to alter the effects on the brain.
Short of that, he said the findings should lead carriers to eat less and exercise more.
There is no cure for Alzheimer's disease, the most common form of dementia affecting 26 million people globally.
Current treatments help with some symptoms, but cannot reverse the course of the disease, leading many scientific teams to look for ways to prevent it.
Los alimentos "gluten-free" no ayudan a personas con autismo
Gluten-free diets show no benefits for autism: Review
By Stephen Daniells, 20-Apr-2010
Related topics: Science & Nutrition, Cereals and bakery preparations, Dairy-based ingredients, Proteins, non-dairy
Consuming a gluten-free or a casein-free diet may not offer any benefits for people suffering from autism or its related disorders, says a new review of the science to date.
Furthermore, adhering to the dietary patterns may put people at risk of decreased bone health, reported a team of US scientists in Research in Autism Spectrum Disorders.
Gluten-free foods have rapidly increased in popularity over the past few years – partly as a result of better diagnosis of celiac disease, an autoimmune disorder triggered by exposure to gluten, the protein in wheat, barley, rye and spelt. However, there has also been a mass movement toward gluten-free products by those who have self-diagnosed wheat or gluten intolerance or who believe gluten-free to be a healthier way of eating.
Since it was valued at a modest $580m in 2004, the global market has grown at an average annual rate of 29 per cent and last year was worth $1.56bn, according to Packaged Facts. It could be worth as much as $2.6bn by 2012.
There have also been reports that gluten-free diets for conditions such as autism and multiple sclerosis. The link to autism and its related disorders centres on a hypothesis called the Opioid-Excess Theory whereby people with autism have reduced enzymatic activity, and an increased gastrointestinal permeability. On consumption of proteins like casein from dairy and gluten from cereals this results in toxic by-products of incomplete digestion. These proteins then enter the blood system, cross the blood-brain barrier and interfere with opioid neuro-receptors.
Avoiding such proteins, says the theory, would produce improvements in brain function, therefore. However, the new systematic review challenges such statements.
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Researchers led by Austin Mulloy from the University of Texas surveyed the data and identified 15 articles. The overall evidence in support of the Opioid-Excess Theory is "limited and weak", write the researchers.
So if the theory is weak, what could explain a link between diet and behaviour? Mulloy and his co-workers note that food allergy may be behind the effects. "Should a child with ASD experience acute behavioural changes, seemingly associated with changes in diet, practitioners should consider testing the child for allergies and food intolerances, and subsequently eliminate identified allergens and irritants from their environment," they wrote.
"Should future research support the therapeutic use of gluten-free/casein-free diets, over and above benefits derived from allergen and irritant avoidance, it would seem reasonable to undertake a controlled trial to determine if a gluten-free/casein-free diet had any additional therapeutic benefit for individual children with autism spectrum disorders," they concluded.
The other researchers were affiliated with the University of California, Santa Barbara (US), Victoria University of Wellington (New Zealand), the University of Italy in Bari, and Texas A&M University.
Source: Research in Autism Spectrum Disorders
Volume 4, Issue 3, Pages 328-339
"Gluten-free and casein-free diets in the treatment of autism spectrum disorders: A systematic review"
Authors: A. Mulloy, R. Lang, M. O'Reilly, J. Sigafoos, G. Lancioni, M. Rispoli
Dia de la tierra
Once you decide to start saving kitchen scraps for composting, you are presented with a new quandary: what do do with all of those scraps. Unless you don't mind running out the the compost pile every time you peel a banana or make a cup of tea, you'll need to find a way to store those scraps until you add them to your compost. Here are a few ideas.
1. Compost Crock
If you need to store your kitchen scraps on a countertop, the aesthetics of your container are important. Compost crocks may be the perfect solution for you. They are generally made of stainless steel or ceramic, and are unobtrusive on a countertop or island. More importantly, crocks usually come equipped with charcoal filters to prevent the crock's contents from smelling up your kitchen. Crocks are not necessarily cheap; most models cost between twenty and sixty dollars.
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2. Compost Pail or Bucket
Compost pails are a good solution for those gardeners who have an area in a cabinet or pantry in which to store their kitchen scraps. Pails are a bit larger than crocks, and are usually made of steel or plastic. The plastic options are, obviously, less expensive than the metal ones. Some of the metal pails incorporate filters similar to those used by compost crocks. The plastic ones prevent odors from pervading your home via air-tight lids. Prices for pails run between ten dollars and fifty dollars.
3. Coffee Cans
If you don't produce a ton of kitchen waste during the day, a simple plastic or steel coffee can will work for you just fine, and it's free! Be sure to save the lid, and you have a very handy kitchen scrap containment system. Coffee cans can be stored in a cabinet or in the refrigerator. Storing the can in the fridge will help keep odors under control, especially if you make a point of emptying and rinsing the can every day.
4. Reused Plastic Bucket from Detergent or Paint
If you buy laundry detergent in large bulk-sized buckets or have a five-gallon bucket left over from your last painting project, you have a perfect receptacle for your kitchen scraps. Simply wash the containers out, save the lids, and start adding your kitchen scraps. Because these containers are so large, you may be able to go a couple of days before you have to empty it into the compost. The only problem with this is that odors can build up in the bucket. If you have some Bokashi mix on hand, you can sprinkle some of that in every time you add scraps to control odor.
5. Plastic Bags
Plastic bags, whether shopping bags with handles or zipper-type bags, are everywhere. If we can find ways to reuse them around the house, that would be a very good thing. You can store kitchen scraps in plastic bags in your refrigerator and then empty them out into your compost pile or worm bin at the end of the day. Alternately, if you are storing up kitchen waste to start a compost pile in the spring, you can freeze it in a plastic bag and empty the contents when you are ready to build your pile. The nice thing about this is that not only are there no odors, but the kitchen waste breaks down faster in the compost pile after having gone through the freeze/thaw process.
The foods we buy and consume have an impact on our economy as well as our environment and there is a growing concern about how the way we live affects our global environment. Two words that are growing in popularity are green and sustainability. They both refer to the idea that products can be high quality and good for the environment, or at least not harmful.
The cost of putting food on our tables has gone down over the past few decades, mostly due to advances in agricultural techniques that allow farms to produce massive amounts of crops and animals in less time or in smaller spaces. But there are questions about how this food production is affecting our planet. Fisheries are being over-fished, rain-forests are being destroyed to make way for food production, and fertilizer and pesticide use is increasing as farmland erosion occurs worldwide. Large-scale farming also relies on massive amounts of fossil fuels and water. Plus even more fuel is used to transport foods to the market.
Some forms of agriculture are more sustainable. They pollute less, may be better for the environment and include more humane farming practices for food animals. You can support sustainable agriculture by following a few green tips for your diet. Here are some ways:
Support locally grown foods. Food grown close to home requires less fuel and other resources to get to your grocery store. Eating local is also a good way to support your local economy because you buy products produced by farmers who live in your area. You can also join a Community Supported Agriculture group in your area to make supporting nearby growers easy.
Eat less beef. Meat products require more resources to produce because the animals need to be fed until they are large enough for slaughter. It takes eight pounds of grain to produce one pound of beef. From this perspective, chicken is a more sustainable choice because it takes about two pounds of grain to produce one pound of chicken. Fish and seafood require even less - about a pound in a half to produce a pound of farm raised fish.
Choose fish carefully. When you buy fish, you can choose either wild-caught fish or farm-raised fish. The most sustainable choices include farm-raised plant-eating species such as catfish, tilapia, and trout, which are grown in farm ponds that take up relatively small amounts of space and are quite productive. Wild-caught salmon and pollack from the Pacific ocean are also fairly sustainable, but farm-raised salmon and other carnivorous species such as tuna and sea bass are not as sustainable when compared to their plant-eating counterparts. Also avoid predator species such as swordfish, marlin, bluefin and albacore tuna.
Go organic. Plants that have been raised organically have not been exposed to artificial fertilizers or pesticides. Organically produced animal products such as milk, milk, eggs, poultry and seafood are produced from animals that have not been raised with growth hormones or given antibiotics. Organic foods are becoming more common in most grocery stores, just be sure to look for the "100% Organic" label on the product.
Read labels carefully. Some labels, such as the 100% organic labels are regulated, but words like natural and healthy aren't regulated to mean anything specific. Other labels have low standards, for example free range chickens only need to be outside for five minutes each day. They can spend the rest of the day confined in small cages and still be considered to be free range. When you read the claims on food packaging labels, look for some indication of a certification from an organization - they're more likely to be sustainable.
Grow your own foods. Depending on the time you have and the amount of land you own, you can grow some of your own food in a vegetable garden or possibly raise a few chickens for poultry and eggs. But even if you don't have much space, you can still grow a few greens or tomatoes in a small container garden on your deck or if space is even tighter you can have a little herb garden in your kitchen.
Buy shade-grown, fair-trade products. Many of the regions where coffee and cocoa for chocolate are grown are suffering from loss of biodiversity as the forests are destroyed to produce cropland. Shade-grown, fair-trade products may be better for the environment and buying them helps to support small farm families who grow them.
Reuse grocery bags and containers. Many stores offer inexpensive but durable grocery bags that you can reuse every time you shop. Some stores offer incentives such as giving you a few cents off your order when you bring a bag back in. Reusing grocery bags cuts down on the number of plastic or paper bags that need to produced, and since most of them end up in the garbage, reusing garbage bags cuts back on litter and landfill use.
Filter your own water. Those plastic bottles of water may be convenient but they take a lot of resources to produce. And while some bottles are recycled, most end up in the trash. You'll save money and help the environment by filtering your own tap water (Compare Prices) and reusing your own water bottles.
Sources:
Consumer Reports. Eco-labels. Accessed March 23, 2010. http://www.greenerchoices.org/eco-labels/eco-home.cfm
Cunningham William. Principles of Environmental Science, 5th Edition. McGraw-Hill.
The cost of putting food on our tables has gone down over the past few decades, mostly due to advances in agricultural techniques that allow farms to produce massive amounts of crops and animals in less time or in smaller spaces. But there are questions about how this food production is affecting our planet. Fisheries are being over-fished, rain-forests are being destroyed to make way for food production, and fertilizer and pesticide use is increasing as farmland erosion occurs worldwide. Large-scale farming also relies on massive amounts of fossil fuels and water. Plus even more fuel is used to transport foods to the market.
Some forms of agriculture are more sustainable. They pollute less, may be better for the environment and include more humane farming practices for food animals. You can support sustainable agriculture by following a few green tips for your diet. Here are some ways:
Support locally grown foods. Food grown close to home requires less fuel and other resources to get to your grocery store. Eating local is also a good way to support your local economy because you buy products produced by farmers who live in your area. You can also join a Community Supported Agriculture group in your area to make supporting nearby growers easy.
Eat less beef. Meat products require more resources to produce because the animals need to be fed until they are large enough for slaughter. It takes eight pounds of grain to produce one pound of beef. From this perspective, chicken is a more sustainable choice because it takes about two pounds of grain to produce one pound of chicken. Fish and seafood require even less - about a pound in a half to produce a pound of farm raised fish.
Choose fish carefully. When you buy fish, you can choose either wild-caught fish or farm-raised fish. The most sustainable choices include farm-raised plant-eating species such as catfish, tilapia, and trout, which are grown in farm ponds that take up relatively small amounts of space and are quite productive. Wild-caught salmon and pollack from the Pacific ocean are also fairly sustainable, but farm-raised salmon and other carnivorous species such as tuna and sea bass are not as sustainable when compared to their plant-eating counterparts. Also avoid predator species such as swordfish, marlin, bluefin and albacore tuna.
Go organic. Plants that have been raised organically have not been exposed to artificial fertilizers or pesticides. Organically produced animal products such as milk, milk, eggs, poultry and seafood are produced from animals that have not been raised with growth hormones or given antibiotics. Organic foods are becoming more common in most grocery stores, just be sure to look for the "100% Organic" label on the product.
Read labels carefully. Some labels, such as the 100% organic labels are regulated, but words like natural and healthy aren't regulated to mean anything specific. Other labels have low standards, for example free range chickens only need to be outside for five minutes each day. They can spend the rest of the day confined in small cages and still be considered to be free range. When you read the claims on food packaging labels, look for some indication of a certification from an organization - they're more likely to be sustainable.
Grow your own foods. Depending on the time you have and the amount of land you own, you can grow some of your own food in a vegetable garden or possibly raise a few chickens for poultry and eggs. But even if you don't have much space, you can still grow a few greens or tomatoes in a small container garden on your deck or if space is even tighter you can have a little herb garden in your kitchen.
Buy shade-grown, fair-trade products. Many of the regions where coffee and cocoa for chocolate are grown are suffering from loss of biodiversity as the forests are destroyed to produce cropland. Shade-grown, fair-trade products may be better for the environment and buying them helps to support small farm families who grow them.
Reuse grocery bags and containers. Many stores offer inexpensive but durable grocery bags that you can reuse every time you shop. Some stores offer incentives such as giving you a few cents off your order when you bring a bag back in. Reusing grocery bags cuts down on the number of plastic or paper bags that need to produced, and since most of them end up in the garbage, reusing garbage bags cuts back on litter and landfill use.
Filter your own water. Those plastic bottles of water may be convenient but they take a lot of resources to produce. And while some bottles are recycled, most end up in the trash. You'll save money and help the environment by filtering your own tap water (Compare Prices) and reusing your own water bottles.
Sources:
Consumer Reports. Eco-labels. Accessed March 23, 2010. http://www.greenerchoices.org/eco-labels/eco-home.cfm
Cunningham William. Principles of Environmental Science, 5th Edition. McGraw-Hill.
Eating locally has many benefits. But how can you get started? Here are 10 ways to get started buying and eating locally.
1. Learn What's In Season
Knowing what's in season in your region will help you know what to expect at farmers markets and help you know which items at other markets and stores might be from local or regional sources (and which ones most definitely are not!).
Regional Seasonality Guides
Produce Seasons
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2. Shop at Farmers Markets
Shopping at farmers markets that feature locally grown products is a fun, easy way to increase the amount of local foods you purchase and eat. Not all farmers markets have the same guidelines, so check to see if stands are required to sell products grown or produced on local or regional farms. Be very suspicious of any market that features bananas--unless you're in Hawaii or Florida!
Farmers Market Tips
Find a Local Farmers Market
3. Join Community Supported Agriculture
Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) connects participants to a specific farm (or, sometimes, group of farms). You buy a share in a farm and, in return, you get a share of the harvest. You get the freshest, best produce the farm has to offer; the farm has a set of guaranteed sales and money up-front for seasonal expenses.
What Is CSA?
Things to Consider When Choosing a CSA
Sources for Finding a Local CSA
4. Shop at Stores That Label Food Origins
If you have a choice of markets, chose one that notes where it sources its products. In particular, look for signs marking the source of seafood, meat, poultry, and produce. Co-ops and health food stores are more likely to clearly denote the origins of the foods they carry, but conventional grocery stores are increasingly labeling their produce sections and meat and seafood counters.
No signs at your local market? Speak to the manager or section managers. Express your interest in locally grown and produced foods. Ask that any locally or regionally grown items at the store be so noted. You'll be surprised at how much good will rises up to meet genuine interest.
5. Shop the Perimeter of Grocery Stores
The aisles around the perimeter of grocery stores contain more ingredients than processed foods. Shop these perimeters for fresh produce, meats, and dairy--precisely those items that you can ask about their source and hopefully find some from near-by sources. Pay particular attention to the produce aisle: if you know your seasons, you may be able to find some locally or regionally grown items.
6. Get Ultra-Local: Plant a Garden
Growing your own food is the ultimate way to eat local. From a simple herb garden to prolific raised beds designed to feed a family, there are lots of ways to grow your own food.
Container Vegetable Gardens
Gorwing Heirloom Vegetables
Growing Kitchen Herbs
Miniatures and Dwarf Fruit Trees
7. Visit U-Picks & Farm Stands
For most city-dwellers, farm stands aren't an everyday food gathering solution. But when the opportunity presents itself, u-picks (where you go to a farm and pick your own produce) are a great source for large quantities of super-fresh produce.
Sources for Finding U-Picks & Farm Stands
8. Choose Restaurants That Source Locally
Frequent restaurants that buy from local and regional farms, growers, and purveyors and continue your support of local farmers and producers even when you eat out.
9. Frequent Locally-Owned Food Producers
Continue your support of a local food system by buying from artisans and locally-owned food producers such as bakeries, butchers, and coffee roasters for foods you don't cook at home or which aren't grown locally.
10. Buy Family Farmed or Fair Trade Products When Local Is Unavailable
Don't live near dairy cows? Buy milk from dairies that buy from family-owned farms. Live in the contiguous 48 states of the U.S. but find yourself unwilling to give up coffee? Buy coffee grown in sustainable ways by people who pay workers fairly.
Eating local foods is certainly about eating food grown closer to home, but it is also about being more aware of your food and how it gets to you.
1. Learn What's In Season
Knowing what's in season in your region will help you know what to expect at farmers markets and help you know which items at other markets and stores might be from local or regional sources (and which ones most definitely are not!).
Regional Seasonality Guides
Produce Seasons
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2. Shop at Farmers Markets
Shopping at farmers markets that feature locally grown products is a fun, easy way to increase the amount of local foods you purchase and eat. Not all farmers markets have the same guidelines, so check to see if stands are required to sell products grown or produced on local or regional farms. Be very suspicious of any market that features bananas--unless you're in Hawaii or Florida!
Farmers Market Tips
Find a Local Farmers Market
3. Join Community Supported Agriculture
Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) connects participants to a specific farm (or, sometimes, group of farms). You buy a share in a farm and, in return, you get a share of the harvest. You get the freshest, best produce the farm has to offer; the farm has a set of guaranteed sales and money up-front for seasonal expenses.
What Is CSA?
Things to Consider When Choosing a CSA
Sources for Finding a Local CSA
4. Shop at Stores That Label Food Origins
If you have a choice of markets, chose one that notes where it sources its products. In particular, look for signs marking the source of seafood, meat, poultry, and produce. Co-ops and health food stores are more likely to clearly denote the origins of the foods they carry, but conventional grocery stores are increasingly labeling their produce sections and meat and seafood counters.
No signs at your local market? Speak to the manager or section managers. Express your interest in locally grown and produced foods. Ask that any locally or regionally grown items at the store be so noted. You'll be surprised at how much good will rises up to meet genuine interest.
5. Shop the Perimeter of Grocery Stores
The aisles around the perimeter of grocery stores contain more ingredients than processed foods. Shop these perimeters for fresh produce, meats, and dairy--precisely those items that you can ask about their source and hopefully find some from near-by sources. Pay particular attention to the produce aisle: if you know your seasons, you may be able to find some locally or regionally grown items.
6. Get Ultra-Local: Plant a Garden
Growing your own food is the ultimate way to eat local. From a simple herb garden to prolific raised beds designed to feed a family, there are lots of ways to grow your own food.
Container Vegetable Gardens
Gorwing Heirloom Vegetables
Growing Kitchen Herbs
Miniatures and Dwarf Fruit Trees
7. Visit U-Picks & Farm Stands
For most city-dwellers, farm stands aren't an everyday food gathering solution. But when the opportunity presents itself, u-picks (where you go to a farm and pick your own produce) are a great source for large quantities of super-fresh produce.
Sources for Finding U-Picks & Farm Stands
8. Choose Restaurants That Source Locally
Frequent restaurants that buy from local and regional farms, growers, and purveyors and continue your support of local farmers and producers even when you eat out.
9. Frequent Locally-Owned Food Producers
Continue your support of a local food system by buying from artisans and locally-owned food producers such as bakeries, butchers, and coffee roasters for foods you don't cook at home or which aren't grown locally.
10. Buy Family Farmed or Fair Trade Products When Local Is Unavailable
Don't live near dairy cows? Buy milk from dairies that buy from family-owned farms. Live in the contiguous 48 states of the U.S. but find yourself unwilling to give up coffee? Buy coffee grown in sustainable ways by people who pay workers fairly.
Eating local foods is certainly about eating food grown closer to home, but it is also about being more aware of your food and how it gets to you.
Eating local foods is better for you, for the environment, and for your taste buds. Here are the top eight big, umbrella-style reasons you should eat more local foods.
1. Local Foods Are Fresher (and Taste Better)
Local food is fresher and tastes better than food that been trucked or flown in from thousands of miles away. Think you can't taste the difference between lettuce picked yesterday and lettuce picked last week, factory-washed, and sealed in plastic? You can.
And fresh food? It lasts longer too.
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Food Processors Directory
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www.eejudge.com
2. Local Foods Are Seasonal (and Taste Better)
It must be said: Deprivation leads to greater appreciation. When does a cozy room feel best? When you've come in from out of the freezing cold. Fresh corn in season tastes best when you haven't eaten any in 9 or 10 months--long enough for its taste to be a slightly blurred memory that is suddenly awakened with that first bite of the season. Eating locally means eating seasonally, with all the deprivation and resulting pleasure that accompanies it.
3. Local Foods Usually Have Less Environmental Impact
Those thousands of miles some food is shipped? That leads to a big carbon footprint for a little bunch of herbs. Look for farmers who follow organic and sustainable growing practices and energy use to minimize your food's environmental impact.
4. Local Foods Preserve Green Space & Farmland
The environmental question of where you food comes from is bigger than its "carbon footprint." By buying foods grown and raised closer to where you live, you help maintain farmland and green space in your area.
5. Local Foods Promote Food Safety
The fewer steps there are between your food's source and your table the less chance there is of contamination. Also, when you know where your food comes from and who grows it, you know a lot more about that food. During the e. coli outbreak in spinach in 2006 I knew the spinach in my refrigerator was safe because I knew it was grown in Yolo County by a farmer I knew, and, as importantly, that it didn't come from Salinas County where the outbreak was. (The knowledge would have worked in reverse too: if the outbreak had been in Yolo County instead, I would have known to throw that bunch of greens and scrub down the fridge!)
6. Local Foods Support Your Local Economy
Money spent with local farmers, growers, and artisans and locally-owned purveyors and restaurants all stays close to home, working to build your local economy instead of being handed over to a corporation in another city, state, or country. Since the food moves through fewer hands, more of the money you spend tends to get to the people growing it.
To make the biggest local economic impact with your food budget, seek out producers who pay their workers a fair wage and practice social justice in their business.
7. Local Foods Promote Variety
Local foods create greater variety of foods available. Farmers who run community-supported agriculture programs (CSAs), sell at farmers' markets, and provide local restaurants have the demand and the support for raising more types of produce and livestock. Think Brandywines, Early Girls, and Lemon Boys instead of "tomatoes."
8. Local Foods Create Community
Knowing where your food is from connects you to the people who raise and grow it. Instead of having a single relationship--to a big supermarket--you develop smaller connections to more food sources: vendors at the farmers' market, the local cheese shop, your favorite butcher, the co-op that sells local eggs, a local café that roasts coffee.
Eating locally? It connects you to a larger world.
1. Local Foods Are Fresher (and Taste Better)
Local food is fresher and tastes better than food that been trucked or flown in from thousands of miles away. Think you can't taste the difference between lettuce picked yesterday and lettuce picked last week, factory-washed, and sealed in plastic? You can.
And fresh food? It lasts longer too.
Sponsored Links
HSBC Offshore Account
A Range Of Offshore & Expat Banking Services. Apply Now!
Offshore.HSBC.com
Create Magic and Miracles
Set Goals, Change Your Life Act Now 25% off CD Set
dejavupublishing.com
Food Processors Directory
Find companies and personnel in the Food processing industry
www.eejudge.com
2. Local Foods Are Seasonal (and Taste Better)
It must be said: Deprivation leads to greater appreciation. When does a cozy room feel best? When you've come in from out of the freezing cold. Fresh corn in season tastes best when you haven't eaten any in 9 or 10 months--long enough for its taste to be a slightly blurred memory that is suddenly awakened with that first bite of the season. Eating locally means eating seasonally, with all the deprivation and resulting pleasure that accompanies it.
3. Local Foods Usually Have Less Environmental Impact
Those thousands of miles some food is shipped? That leads to a big carbon footprint for a little bunch of herbs. Look for farmers who follow organic and sustainable growing practices and energy use to minimize your food's environmental impact.
4. Local Foods Preserve Green Space & Farmland
The environmental question of where you food comes from is bigger than its "carbon footprint." By buying foods grown and raised closer to where you live, you help maintain farmland and green space in your area.
5. Local Foods Promote Food Safety
The fewer steps there are between your food's source and your table the less chance there is of contamination. Also, when you know where your food comes from and who grows it, you know a lot more about that food. During the e. coli outbreak in spinach in 2006 I knew the spinach in my refrigerator was safe because I knew it was grown in Yolo County by a farmer I knew, and, as importantly, that it didn't come from Salinas County where the outbreak was. (The knowledge would have worked in reverse too: if the outbreak had been in Yolo County instead, I would have known to throw that bunch of greens and scrub down the fridge!)
6. Local Foods Support Your Local Economy
Money spent with local farmers, growers, and artisans and locally-owned purveyors and restaurants all stays close to home, working to build your local economy instead of being handed over to a corporation in another city, state, or country. Since the food moves through fewer hands, more of the money you spend tends to get to the people growing it.
To make the biggest local economic impact with your food budget, seek out producers who pay their workers a fair wage and practice social justice in their business.
7. Local Foods Promote Variety
Local foods create greater variety of foods available. Farmers who run community-supported agriculture programs (CSAs), sell at farmers' markets, and provide local restaurants have the demand and the support for raising more types of produce and livestock. Think Brandywines, Early Girls, and Lemon Boys instead of "tomatoes."
8. Local Foods Create Community
Knowing where your food is from connects you to the people who raise and grow it. Instead of having a single relationship--to a big supermarket--you develop smaller connections to more food sources: vendors at the farmers' market, the local cheese shop, your favorite butcher, the co-op that sells local eggs, a local café that roasts coffee.
Eating locally? It connects you to a larger world.
martes, 20 de abril de 2010
Ultimo momento sobre la suspension de vuelos en Europa
Britain Opens Its Airspace as Travel Crisis Begins to Ebb
Yoshikazu Tsuno/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images
An airline staff member calling passengers at the check-in counters for Swiss International Air Lines at Narita International Airport near Tokyo on Tuesday.
By ALAN COWELL and NICOLA CLARK
Published: April 20, 2010
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LONDON — After six days of mostly closed skies, Britain abruptly lifted a ban on flights late on Tuesday as thousands of stranded passengers began to make their their way home after Europe's worst peacetime transportation crisis.
Multimedia
Interactive Feature
Tracking the Cancellations
Related
New Ash Cloud Adds to Uncertainty of Air Travel (April 21, 2010)
Bucks Blog: Travel Insurance and the Volcano (April 20, 2010)
A Light at the End of the Runway (April 21, 2010)
Airlines Urge State Aid After Industry Chaos (April 21, 2010)
Previous Airline Brushes with Ash Disaster (April 20, 2010)
Times Topic: Iceland Volcano Eruption of 2010 (Eyjafjallajokull Volcano)
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Until 10 p.m., most of Britain's airports, including London's Heathrow, had remained closed, while continental European air space gradually re-opened Tuesday after the days of restrictions caused by a plume of volcanic ash drifting south and east from an erupting volcano in Iceland.
Britain had seemed the last hold-out, with aviation authorities citing an unexpected new cloud of ash closing on its air space. For much of the evening, news broadcasts in London focused on the chaos for an estimated 150,000 marooned Britons seeking a way home through ports in Spain and along the English Channel coast.
Then, in late evening, the whine of jet engines was heard for the first time in almost a week as transatlantic flights began to land at Heathrow. The Civil Aviation Authority said the "major barrier to resuming flights had been understanding tolerance levels of aircraft to ash," suggesting that authorities had been especially cautious in assessing the threat presented by the ash.
The ash can clog jet engines, forcing planes to stall in mid-flight with potentially catastrophic consequences.
The Transport Secretary, Lord Adonis, said safety had been the "paramount concern" but after talking to airplane manufacturers, airlines and scientific specialists, the authorities had reached a better understanding of "how different concentrations of ash affect aircraft engines."
As a result, he said, aviation authorities had "established a wider area in which it is safe to fly." Lord Adonis said he expected all British airports to reopen and remain open.
The British move came after the broader European crisis began to unwind with the gradual reopening of flights in some of Europe's busiest flight-paths in France and Germany.
By the time British airports started reopening, the chaos had lasted twice as long as the three-day closing of American airspace after the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001.
Eurocontrol, the Brussels-based agency that coordinates air-traffic management across the region, said that by the end of the day Tuesday, 95,000 flights will have been canceled as a result of the ash cloud.
Initially, the reopening of airspace under a plan agreed Monday by European ministers was cautious and unpredictable, its piecemeal nature drawing strong criticism from European airlines, which began focusing on their own fate amid signs that getting financial compensation from the government could prove more complicated than getting their planes back in the air.
Some analysts said the muted political response by European Union transport ministers, who decided on Monday to table the questions of state aid until after the ash dissipates and normal travel conditions are restored, suggests that European airlines should not expect the kind of support American airlines got" from Washington following the 9/11 shutdown.
"The comparison between this situation and 9/11 really ends at the visual level of seeing all that smoke," said David J. Bentley, European associate for the Center for Asia Pacific Aviation, a research institute based in Sydney.
"This also has not affected the whole of Europe, like 9/11 did for the U.S.," Mr. Bentley said, "so I'm sure that some European countries will want to break ranks over any coordinated response."
The cancellations have cost the United States economy some $650 million, the United States Travel Association reported on Tuesday, as businesses lost out on an estimated $450,000 spent by every flight of international travelers arriving in the United States.
The closings also caused major financial strains for Asian airlines. Andrew Herdman, director general of the Association of Asia Pacific Airlines in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, said in a statement on Tuesday that flights to and from Europe accounted for about 15 percent of total passenger revenues for the region's main carriers, worth some $40 million a day.
Eurocontrol said it expected around 14,000 flights on Tuesday, half of the 28,000 that are normally scheduled. The agency said that roughly 75 percent of the airspace over Europe was open and that all European airspace was open to air traffic above elevations of 20,000 feet, which would enable intercontinental overflight traffic to resume.
Multimedia
Interactive Feature
Tracking the Cancellations
Related
New Ash Cloud Adds to Uncertainty of Air Travel (April 21, 2010)
Bucks Blog: Travel Insurance and the Volcano (April 20, 2010)
A Light at the End of the Runway (April 21, 2010)
Airlines Urge State Aid After Industry Chaos (April 21, 2010)
Previous Airline Brushes with Ash Disaster (April 20, 2010)
Times Topic: Iceland Volcano Eruption of 2010 (Eyjafjallajokull Volcano)
Readers' Comments
Share your thoughts.
Post a Comment »
Read All Comments (153) »
Earlier, Lufthansa, the German airline, said it would operate all scheduled intercontinental flights to and from Germany on Tuesday as well as "some" intra-European and domestic flights. The carrier said it expected to be able to add more European services later in the day.
.
Air France said it expected to fly a limited number of domestic and European flights from Paris on Tuesday, while all long-haul flights would operate normally.
It also said it expected to operate all long-haul flights on Wednesday and nearly all of its European flights, with the exception of those to and from northern and northeastern Europe, where airspaces remained closed. Roughly half of all domestic flights would proceed as scheduled, Air France said.
In disparate ways, European governments sought to ease the inconvenience — and mounting cost — for passengers stranded in far-flung destinations.
The French Consulate in Hong Kong urged French residents to open up their private homes to stranded compatriots. With an estimated 150,000 citizens stranded abroad, Britain's Royal Navy sent a warship to Santander on the north coast of Spain to pick up troops returning from Afghanistan along with a handful of civilians, and planned to deploy two more vessels in the English Channel.
Several airports in Southern Europe — notably Madrid, Athens and Rome — had served as impromptu hubs for the rest of the Continent on Tuesday. The Italian civil aviation authority said that all of its airspace was now open, news agencies reported. Northern Italian airports had been closed since Friday.
The Australian carrier Qantas said Tuesday that it was canceling all its flights between Asia and Europe through Thursday, while Japan Airlines said it would start operating its regular round-trip flights between Tokyo and Rome, plus an extra flight to help stranded Europeans return home.
Multimedia
Interactive Feature
Tracking the Cancellations
Related
New Ash Cloud Adds to Uncertainty of Air Travel (April 21, 2010)
Bucks Blog: Travel Insurance and the Volcano (April 20, 2010)
A Light at the End of the Runway (April 21, 2010)
Airlines Urge State Aid After Industry Chaos (April 21, 2010)
Previous Airline Brushes with Ash Disaster (April 20, 2010)
Times Topic: Iceland Volcano Eruption of 2010 (Eyjafjallajokull Volcano)
Readers' Comments
Share your thoughts.
Post a Comment »
Read All Comments (153) »
Earlier, Lufthansa, the German airline, said it would operate all scheduled intercontinental flights to and from Germany on Tuesday as well as "some" intra-European and domestic flights. The carrier said it expected to be able to add more European services later in the day.
.
Air France said it expected to fly a limited number of domestic and European flights from Paris on Tuesday, while all long-haul flights would operate normally.
It also said it expected to operate all long-haul flights on Wednesday and nearly all of its European flights, with the exception of those to and from northern and northeastern Europe, where airspaces remained closed. Roughly half of all domestic flights would proceed as scheduled, Air France said.
In disparate ways, European governments sought to ease the inconvenience — and mounting cost — for passengers stranded in far-flung destinations.
The French Consulate in Hong Kong urged French residents to open up their private homes to stranded compatriots. With an estimated 150,000 citizens stranded abroad, Britain's Royal Navy sent a warship to Santander on the north coast of Spain to pick up troops returning from Afghanistan along with a handful of civilians, and planned to deploy two more vessels in the English Channel.
Several airports in Southern Europe — notably Madrid, Athens and Rome — had served as impromptu hubs for the rest of the Continent on Tuesday. The Italian civil aviation authority said that all of its airspace was now open, news agencies reported. Northern Italian airports had been closed since Friday.
The Australian carrier Qantas said Tuesday that it was canceling all its flights between Asia and Europe through Thursday, while Japan Airlines said it would start operating its regular round-trip flights between Tokyo and Rome, plus an extra flight to help stranded Europeans return home.
Did Global Warming Cause Iceland Volcano to Erupt?
Tuesday April 20, 2010
You can blame climate change for a lot, but not for spoiling your European vacation.
Global warming probably did not cause the volcanic eruption beneath Iceland's Eyjafjallajokull glacier, which has disrupted global aviation and grounded travelers on multiple continents over the past few days--but many scientists believe global warming will trigger future volcanic eruptions in Iceland and throughout the polar regions.
Ice is heavy and exerts enormous pressure on whatever lies beneath it. Under glaciers and other thick ice formations, the pressure is often enough to limit geologic movement, or even to restrict the formation of magma by leaving too little room for superheated rock to expand and turn to liquid. When glacial ice melts, the pressure underneath is reduced, allowing the surface of the Earth to push free of its constraints, a release of energy that sometimes causes earthquakes, tsunamis or volcanic eruptions.
The Icelandic volcano that is currently spewing ash into the atmosphere is located under a small and lightweight ice cap, as ice caps go, so scientists are pretty certain than melting ice did not trigger the eruption.
Size also matters in the question of whether ash from the volcano in Iceland will be enough to slow global warming by creating a kind of reflector shield in the stratosphere to block some of the sun's rays and prevent them from reaching the Earth's surface. Again, the relatively small size of the volcano and the eruption leads scientists to believe that the world will go on warming with no cooling effect from Iceland's geology.
The poet Robert Frost wrote, "Some say the world will end in fire/some say in ice," and then went on to offer his own views on the subject. From what scientists are starting to learn about the relationship between climate change, glacial ice and volcanoes, we may get plenty of both before we're through.
Tuesday April 20, 2010
You can blame climate change for a lot, but not for spoiling your European vacation.
Global warming probably did not cause the volcanic eruption beneath Iceland's Eyjafjallajokull glacier, which has disrupted global aviation and grounded travelers on multiple continents over the past few days--but many scientists believe global warming will trigger future volcanic eruptions in Iceland and throughout the polar regions.
Ice is heavy and exerts enormous pressure on whatever lies beneath it. Under glaciers and other thick ice formations, the pressure is often enough to limit geologic movement, or even to restrict the formation of magma by leaving too little room for superheated rock to expand and turn to liquid. When glacial ice melts, the pressure underneath is reduced, allowing the surface of the Earth to push free of its constraints, a release of energy that sometimes causes earthquakes, tsunamis or volcanic eruptions.
The Icelandic volcano that is currently spewing ash into the atmosphere is located under a small and lightweight ice cap, as ice caps go, so scientists are pretty certain than melting ice did not trigger the eruption.
Size also matters in the question of whether ash from the volcano in Iceland will be enough to slow global warming by creating a kind of reflector shield in the stratosphere to block some of the sun's rays and prevent them from reaching the Earth's surface. Again, the relatively small size of the volcano and the eruption leads scientists to believe that the world will go on warming with no cooling effect from Iceland's geology.
The poet Robert Frost wrote, "Some say the world will end in fire/some say in ice," and then went on to offer his own views on the subject. From what scientists are starting to learn about the relationship between climate change, glacial ice and volcanoes, we may get plenty of both before we're through.
Ash cloud halts certain food imports
By Lorraine Heller, 20-Apr-2010
Related topics: Financial & Industry
The grounding of airplanes throughout much of Europe has put the brakes on imports of some fruit and vegetable products, although trade groups and supermarkets are downplaying the impact of the Icelandic volcano on food stocks.
The UK's Freight Transport Association yesterday warned of a "detrimental effect on businesses and consumers", particularly for the import of fresh goods and products with a short shelf life.
"With imports of some fruit and vegetables grounded, certain fresh produce, such as exotic fruits and fresh flowers, are starting to become noticeable by their absence from our supermarket shelves," said Christopher Snelling, FTA's head of Global Supply Chain Policy. The backlog of air freight waiting to come into the UK is creating an "unprecedented logistical challenge", he said.
Low reliance on air freight
But statistics from the country's Fresh Produce Consortium, a trade group for the fresh produce industry, said the percentage of fruit and vegetables imported by air freight remains minimal – only 1.5 percent by volume of all fresh fruit and vegetables entering the country.
"Whilst we won't run out of fresh produce on the shelves, if this continues it will impact exotic products, and it is already having an impact on individual companies that specialise in these particular products," the group told FoodNavigator.com.
Statistics from the UK's Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) place total UK imports of fresh produce in 2008 at 5,268,000 tonnes – over 60 per cent of all fresh product consumed in the country. Examples of products most likely to be affected by the grounding of flights include green beans, mango, baby sweetcorn, figs, papaya, coconut and sugar snap peas.
Supermarkets are downplaying the risk of major shortages. Tesco says fewer than 1 per cent of its products are air freighted, while Sainsbury's also says it has a "low" reliance on imported goods, most of which are transported via road or sea. Asda agrees it is "not worried yet" but warns this may become "more of an issue" if the situation continues for over a week.
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LECITHIN SHORT COURSE GHENT 10-11 JUNE 2010
Create the best emulsion with phospholipids: ILPS and Ghent University experts improve your skills on vegetable lecithin functions in structured emulsions and liposomes. Focus on nutritional properties of egg and marine phospholipids. Join the course ... Click here
Flight restrictions eased
Airspace in more than 20 European countries has been closed, or partially closed, since Iceland's Eyjafjallajoekull volcano began erupting last Wednesday, launching a massive ash cloud 11km into the atmosphere.
The UK's air navigation services provider, Nats, this morning advised that some restrictions on the airspace below 20,000ft could be lifted, but at the time of publication the majority of flights from the UK remained cancelled.
According to figures from the Freight Transport Association, air freight accounts for only 0.5 per cent of the UK's international goods movements by weight, but 25 per cent by value. However, the majority of this is made up of higher-value goods such as pharmaceuticals and luxury products.
"The overall tonnage (of air-freighted food) is small, and it is mainly high-end specialty products that won't be missed on the shelves," said Alan Braithwaite, chairman of LCP Consulting, a supply chain logistics consultancy.
"But every retailer and supplier will be putting in place their own particular strategy to get products to the shelves, and as alternative logistics are found capacity will get squeezed. It's not an earth-shattering impact on the industry, but it's clearly big for the companies involved," he told FoodNavigator.com.
By Lorraine Heller, 20-Apr-2010
Related topics: Financial & Industry
The grounding of airplanes throughout much of Europe has put the brakes on imports of some fruit and vegetable products, although trade groups and supermarkets are downplaying the impact of the Icelandic volcano on food stocks.
The UK's Freight Transport Association yesterday warned of a "detrimental effect on businesses and consumers", particularly for the import of fresh goods and products with a short shelf life.
"With imports of some fruit and vegetables grounded, certain fresh produce, such as exotic fruits and fresh flowers, are starting to become noticeable by their absence from our supermarket shelves," said Christopher Snelling, FTA's head of Global Supply Chain Policy. The backlog of air freight waiting to come into the UK is creating an "unprecedented logistical challenge", he said.
Low reliance on air freight
But statistics from the country's Fresh Produce Consortium, a trade group for the fresh produce industry, said the percentage of fruit and vegetables imported by air freight remains minimal – only 1.5 percent by volume of all fresh fruit and vegetables entering the country.
"Whilst we won't run out of fresh produce on the shelves, if this continues it will impact exotic products, and it is already having an impact on individual companies that specialise in these particular products," the group told FoodNavigator.com.
Statistics from the UK's Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) place total UK imports of fresh produce in 2008 at 5,268,000 tonnes – over 60 per cent of all fresh product consumed in the country. Examples of products most likely to be affected by the grounding of flights include green beans, mango, baby sweetcorn, figs, papaya, coconut and sugar snap peas.
Supermarkets are downplaying the risk of major shortages. Tesco says fewer than 1 per cent of its products are air freighted, while Sainsbury's also says it has a "low" reliance on imported goods, most of which are transported via road or sea. Asda agrees it is "not worried yet" but warns this may become "more of an issue" if the situation continues for over a week.
SPONSORED LINK
LECITHIN SHORT COURSE GHENT 10-11 JUNE 2010
Create the best emulsion with phospholipids: ILPS and Ghent University experts improve your skills on vegetable lecithin functions in structured emulsions and liposomes. Focus on nutritional properties of egg and marine phospholipids. Join the course ... Click here
Flight restrictions eased
Airspace in more than 20 European countries has been closed, or partially closed, since Iceland's Eyjafjallajoekull volcano began erupting last Wednesday, launching a massive ash cloud 11km into the atmosphere.
The UK's air navigation services provider, Nats, this morning advised that some restrictions on the airspace below 20,000ft could be lifted, but at the time of publication the majority of flights from the UK remained cancelled.
According to figures from the Freight Transport Association, air freight accounts for only 0.5 per cent of the UK's international goods movements by weight, but 25 per cent by value. However, the majority of this is made up of higher-value goods such as pharmaceuticals and luxury products.
"The overall tonnage (of air-freighted food) is small, and it is mainly high-end specialty products that won't be missed on the shelves," said Alan Braithwaite, chairman of LCP Consulting, a supply chain logistics consultancy.
"But every retailer and supplier will be putting in place their own particular strategy to get products to the shelves, and as alternative logistics are found capacity will get squeezed. It's not an earth-shattering impact on the industry, but it's clearly big for the companies involved," he told FoodNavigator.com.
European airlines ask for aid as volcano losses pass $1B
Updated 22h 12m ago | Comments 69 | Recommend 3 E-mail | Save | Print |
Enlarge By Khalil Senosi, AP
Workers for Van de Berg Flowers in Kenya stack boxes of flowers waiting to ship in the storeroom Monday.
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By Charisse Jones and Dan Reed, USA TODAY
NEW YORK — The economic fallout from a volcanic eruption that froze travel across Europe continued to mount Monday, prompting some European airlines to ask for government financial help as losses to their industry surged past $1 billion.
The head of British Airways likened the need for help to the days after the terror attacks of Sept. 11, 2001.
"This is an unprecedented situation that is having a huge impact on customers and airlines alike," Willie Walsh, the chief executive of British Airways, said in a statement. "Compensation was paid after the closure of U.S. airspace following the terrorist events of 9/11, and clearly the impact of the current situation is more considerable."
The global airline industry, just beginning to climb back from a decade of financial losses, has lost at least $200 million a day since the volcanic ash cloud from Iceland forced cancellation of more than 80,000 flights in 23 European countries. European airline stock prices fell in the wake of the crisis.
U.S. airlines, which have probably suffered a revenue hit approaching $250 million, have so far not made a similar request for government aid. And only U.S. airlines with international routes have seen their stocks affected.
A threat to European economies
U.S. carriers normally average about $55 million a day in revenue from trans-Atlantic operations, says David Castelveter of the Air Transport Association in Washington.
Only a handful of flights, mostly to and from southern European cities, operated the last five days. However, the massive cancellations occurred during a light travel period between Europe and North America, after spring break in the U.S. and before the peak summer travel season.
Not only airlines, business travelers and tourists have been affected. The travel disruptions threaten to slow the fledgling recovery of Europe's recession-battered economies. And the inability to transport some goods by plane has had a ripple effect.
"Europe's forecasted economic growth of 1.2% for 2010 was already the lowest of the developed world and could dip to 1.1% or lower because of a loss of travel," says John Lonski, chief economist for Moody's Capital Markets.
Roughly 700,000 travelers a day go to Europe, the United Nations' World Tourism Organization estimates.
The extent of the fallout depends on how long the disruption lasts.
"The overall economic impact on the United Kingdom and other European countries of the flight ban should be limited, but this will be of little comfort to those industries that are affected and to the people that are stranded or unable to travel," economists with IHS Global Insight said Monday in assessing the situation. "Obviously, the longer the problem goes on, the greater the potential hit to the economy."
Goods stack up as they wait to ship
Flower growers in Kenya worried their buds destined for Europe could rot before the airways reopened. "There's going to be a lot of people going into restaurants in the next few days wanting to order a piece of Atlantic salmon and it won't be there," says Brandon Fried, head of the Air Forwarders Association in Washington, which represents 330 companies involved in air freight.
"I'm most concerned about the medical shipments — either medicines or biologicals that need to be transported rather quickly," Fried says.
Copyright 2007 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
Updated 22h 12m ago | Comments 69 | Recommend 3 E-mail | Save | Print |
Enlarge By Khalil Senosi, AP
Workers for Van de Berg Flowers in Kenya stack boxes of flowers waiting to ship in the storeroom Monday.
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By Charisse Jones and Dan Reed, USA TODAY
NEW YORK — The economic fallout from a volcanic eruption that froze travel across Europe continued to mount Monday, prompting some European airlines to ask for government financial help as losses to their industry surged past $1 billion.
The head of British Airways likened the need for help to the days after the terror attacks of Sept. 11, 2001.
"This is an unprecedented situation that is having a huge impact on customers and airlines alike," Willie Walsh, the chief executive of British Airways, said in a statement. "Compensation was paid after the closure of U.S. airspace following the terrorist events of 9/11, and clearly the impact of the current situation is more considerable."
The global airline industry, just beginning to climb back from a decade of financial losses, has lost at least $200 million a day since the volcanic ash cloud from Iceland forced cancellation of more than 80,000 flights in 23 European countries. European airline stock prices fell in the wake of the crisis.
U.S. airlines, which have probably suffered a revenue hit approaching $250 million, have so far not made a similar request for government aid. And only U.S. airlines with international routes have seen their stocks affected.
A threat to European economies
U.S. carriers normally average about $55 million a day in revenue from trans-Atlantic operations, says David Castelveter of the Air Transport Association in Washington.
Only a handful of flights, mostly to and from southern European cities, operated the last five days. However, the massive cancellations occurred during a light travel period between Europe and North America, after spring break in the U.S. and before the peak summer travel season.
Not only airlines, business travelers and tourists have been affected. The travel disruptions threaten to slow the fledgling recovery of Europe's recession-battered economies. And the inability to transport some goods by plane has had a ripple effect.
"Europe's forecasted economic growth of 1.2% for 2010 was already the lowest of the developed world and could dip to 1.1% or lower because of a loss of travel," says John Lonski, chief economist for Moody's Capital Markets.
Roughly 700,000 travelers a day go to Europe, the United Nations' World Tourism Organization estimates.
The extent of the fallout depends on how long the disruption lasts.
"The overall economic impact on the United Kingdom and other European countries of the flight ban should be limited, but this will be of little comfort to those industries that are affected and to the people that are stranded or unable to travel," economists with IHS Global Insight said Monday in assessing the situation. "Obviously, the longer the problem goes on, the greater the potential hit to the economy."
Goods stack up as they wait to ship
Flower growers in Kenya worried their buds destined for Europe could rot before the airways reopened. "There's going to be a lot of people going into restaurants in the next few days wanting to order a piece of Atlantic salmon and it won't be there," says Brandon Fried, head of the Air Forwarders Association in Washington, which represents 330 companies involved in air freight.
"I'm most concerned about the medical shipments — either medicines or biologicals that need to be transported rather quickly," Fried says.
Copyright 2007 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
Flights resume in Europe but travel chaos isn't over
Updated 2h 11m ago | Comments 34 | Recommend 3 E-mail | Save | Print |
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Passengers wait to check in at Paris-Orly Airport on Monday.
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LONDON (AP) — Europe's busiest airport reopened Tuesday as air traffic across the continent lurched back to life. But the gridlock created by Iceland's volcanic ash plume was far from over: Officials said it would be weeks before all stranded travelers can be brought home.
Passengers wept with relief as flights took off from Paris' Charles de Gaulle Airport, Amsterdam and elsewhere. A jetliner from Vancouver, British Columbia, was the first to land at London's Heathrow airport, the continent's busiest, since the volcano erupted last week.
British Airways said it hoped 24 other flights from the United States, Africa and Asia would land at Heathrow later in the day.
Travelers cheered as the first flights took off.
Jenny Lynn Cohen, waiting at Charles de Gaulle to travel to San Francisco, had a boarding pass but could hardly believe she was going to fly.
"I am a little afraid — I am hopeful that the plane will take off, and that it won't meet with any volcanic ash," she said.
ASH CLOUD THINS: Eruption loses fizz, reverts to lava
CREATIVE TRAVEL: Volcano-stranded fliers seek new ways home
IMPACT: Troubles from ash cloud spread beyond Europe
MAP: Ash cloud disrupts air traffic
The Eurocontrol air traffic agency said it expected just under half of the 27,500 flights over Europe to go ahead Tuesday, a marked improvement over the last few days. The agency predicted close to normal takeoffs by Friday.
It was the first day since the April 14 eruption of Iceland's Eyjafjallajokull (ay-yah-FYAH-lah-yer-kuhl) volcano — dormant for nearly 200 years — that travelers were given a reason for hope.
"The situation today is much improved," said Brian Flynn, deputy head of operations at the Brussels-based agency.
Conditions changed fast. Airspace in Germany remained officially closed, but about 800 flights were allowed at low altitude.
Rita and Peter Meyer said they had to share a hotel room with two strangers in Singapore while waiting to find a way home to Germany. News that they could fly to Frankfurt airport came as they slept.
"Just after midnight — after an hour's sleep — the phone rang (and they said), 'Everyone downstairs, get in taxis to the airport,"' Rita Meyer said.
But with more than 95,000 flights canceled in the last week alone, airlines faced the enormous task of working through the backlog to get passengers where they want to go — a challenge that could take days or even weeks.
Passengers with current tickets were being given priority; those who had been stranded for days were told to either buy a new ticket or take their chances using the old one — a wait that could be days or weeks for the next available seat.
"Once your flight's canceled, you go to the back of the queue," said Laurie Price, director of aviation strategy at consultant Mott Macdonald, who was stranded in Halifax, Canada. "It seems intrinsically unfair."
The volcano that prompted the turmoil continued to rumble. Tremors could be heard and felt as far as 15 miles (25 kilometers) from the crater.
"It's like a shaking in the belly. People in the area are disturbed by this," said Kristin Vogfjord, a geologist at the Icelandic Met Office.
PHOTOS: Travel woes across Europe
TODAY IN THE SKY: Stranded travelers turn to social media
CRUISE LOG: Cruise lines in Europe scramble to get passengers to, from ships
HOTEL CHECK-IN: Hotels hike rates as volcanic ash strands travelers
SCIENCE: Eruption could last months
Scientists were worried that the eruption could trigger an even larger eruption at the nearby Katla volcano, which sits on the massive Myrdalsjokull icecap. Its last major eruption was in 1918.
"The activity of one volcano sometimes triggers the next one, and Katla has been active together with Eyjafjallajokull in the past," said Pall Einarsson, professor of geophysics at the Institute of Earth Sciences at the University of Iceland.
Volcano experts say that should such an eruption occur, air travelers might expect more disruptions, depending on prevailing winds. Of Iceland's eight volcanic eruptions in the last 40 years, only the recent one at Eyjafjallajokull was followed by winds blowing southeast toward northern Europe.
While seismic activity at the volcano had increased, the ash plume appeared to be shrinking — though it wasn't moving very fast.
Sarah Holland of Britain's Meteorological office said the plume was being held over Britain by a high pressure system that showed no signs of changing.
"The weather patterns are very static at the moment. It's unusual to have that for such a long period of time," she said. "Unfortunately, it looks like it's going to stay that way for the next couple of days, bringing the ash over the U.K."
Early on Tuesday, a Eurocontrol volcanic ash map listed the airspace between Iceland and Britain and Ireland as a no-fly zone, along with much of the Baltic Sea and surrounding area.
Still, planes were allowed to fly above 20,000 feet in Britain, ahead of the reopening of airspace nationwide Tuesday evening.
Dozens of flights departed and arrived at Amsterdam's Schiphol Airport as the government announced that flights could be carried out in darkness using instruments. Airports in Switzerland, central Europe and Scandinavia also reopened, and some flights took off from Asia headed for southern Europe, where air travel was not affected. Spain piled on extra buses, trains and ferries to handle an expected rush of passengers.
Polish aviation authorities said they planned to reopen the country's airspace Wednesday morning.
Even the U.S. Air Force was grounded. Capt. Alysia Harvey, the spokeswoman for the U.S. Air Force's 48th Fighter Wing at Lakenheath, said all sorties had been canceled there since last Thursday. Lakenheath is the largest U.S. air base in England, and the only one in Europe that has an F-15 fighter wing.
"Flying was canceled because it's difficult to predict exactly where the cloud is going to be or the effect it will have on aircraft engines," she said.
Meanwhile, tens of thousands of Britons sought a way home.
Britain's Foreign Office acknowledged the enormity of the problem, informing Britons abroad that it may take a "matter of weeks before everyone can be repatriated."
Tom and Natalie Smith and their children Ben and Joanne, from Bristol, England, found themselves stranded after spending a week on the Costa Brava in Spain.
"We should have returned to work this morning," Tom Smith said. "Natalie is a diabetic and so that is also a concern as she may run out of medication depending on how long it takes to get back."
The government advised Britons to remain in close contact with their airline. Those in Europe were told to make their way to the French port of Calais, other Channel ports or a northern European port.
Thousands converged on the coast from across Europe by car, train and bus, evoking memories for some of the evacuation of the British army from Nazi-occupied France through the port of Dunkirk in 1940.
"You could say it is a bit of Dunkirk spirit," said Stanley Johnson, father of London mayor Boris Johnson, who was among some 800 soldiers and civilians picked up in Spain by a Royal Navy warship, HMS Albion.
The aviation industry — facing losses of more than $1 billion — has sharply criticized European governments' handling of the disruption that grounded thousands of flights on the continent.
Some carriers were using bigger planes and more flights, while others were hiring buses to help get customers to their destinations.
British Airways, which canceled about 500 flights a day in the past five days, said it was trying to clear its backlog. It said travelers could either rebook online or claim a full refund; it also urged travelers with reservations this week to consider canceling their trips so that it could maximize space to fly stranded people home.
Copyright 2010 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
Updated 2h 11m ago | Comments 34 | Recommend 3 E-mail | Save | Print |
Enlarge By Pascal Le Segretain, Getty Images
Passengers wait to check in at Paris-Orly Airport on Monday.
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LONDON (AP) — Europe's busiest airport reopened Tuesday as air traffic across the continent lurched back to life. But the gridlock created by Iceland's volcanic ash plume was far from over: Officials said it would be weeks before all stranded travelers can be brought home.
Passengers wept with relief as flights took off from Paris' Charles de Gaulle Airport, Amsterdam and elsewhere. A jetliner from Vancouver, British Columbia, was the first to land at London's Heathrow airport, the continent's busiest, since the volcano erupted last week.
British Airways said it hoped 24 other flights from the United States, Africa and Asia would land at Heathrow later in the day.
Travelers cheered as the first flights took off.
Jenny Lynn Cohen, waiting at Charles de Gaulle to travel to San Francisco, had a boarding pass but could hardly believe she was going to fly.
"I am a little afraid — I am hopeful that the plane will take off, and that it won't meet with any volcanic ash," she said.
ASH CLOUD THINS: Eruption loses fizz, reverts to lava
CREATIVE TRAVEL: Volcano-stranded fliers seek new ways home
IMPACT: Troubles from ash cloud spread beyond Europe
MAP: Ash cloud disrupts air traffic
The Eurocontrol air traffic agency said it expected just under half of the 27,500 flights over Europe to go ahead Tuesday, a marked improvement over the last few days. The agency predicted close to normal takeoffs by Friday.
It was the first day since the April 14 eruption of Iceland's Eyjafjallajokull (ay-yah-FYAH-lah-yer-kuhl) volcano — dormant for nearly 200 years — that travelers were given a reason for hope.
"The situation today is much improved," said Brian Flynn, deputy head of operations at the Brussels-based agency.
Conditions changed fast. Airspace in Germany remained officially closed, but about 800 flights were allowed at low altitude.
Rita and Peter Meyer said they had to share a hotel room with two strangers in Singapore while waiting to find a way home to Germany. News that they could fly to Frankfurt airport came as they slept.
"Just after midnight — after an hour's sleep — the phone rang (and they said), 'Everyone downstairs, get in taxis to the airport,"' Rita Meyer said.
But with more than 95,000 flights canceled in the last week alone, airlines faced the enormous task of working through the backlog to get passengers where they want to go — a challenge that could take days or even weeks.
Passengers with current tickets were being given priority; those who had been stranded for days were told to either buy a new ticket or take their chances using the old one — a wait that could be days or weeks for the next available seat.
"Once your flight's canceled, you go to the back of the queue," said Laurie Price, director of aviation strategy at consultant Mott Macdonald, who was stranded in Halifax, Canada. "It seems intrinsically unfair."
The volcano that prompted the turmoil continued to rumble. Tremors could be heard and felt as far as 15 miles (25 kilometers) from the crater.
"It's like a shaking in the belly. People in the area are disturbed by this," said Kristin Vogfjord, a geologist at the Icelandic Met Office.
PHOTOS: Travel woes across Europe
TODAY IN THE SKY: Stranded travelers turn to social media
CRUISE LOG: Cruise lines in Europe scramble to get passengers to, from ships
HOTEL CHECK-IN: Hotels hike rates as volcanic ash strands travelers
SCIENCE: Eruption could last months
Scientists were worried that the eruption could trigger an even larger eruption at the nearby Katla volcano, which sits on the massive Myrdalsjokull icecap. Its last major eruption was in 1918.
"The activity of one volcano sometimes triggers the next one, and Katla has been active together with Eyjafjallajokull in the past," said Pall Einarsson, professor of geophysics at the Institute of Earth Sciences at the University of Iceland.
Volcano experts say that should such an eruption occur, air travelers might expect more disruptions, depending on prevailing winds. Of Iceland's eight volcanic eruptions in the last 40 years, only the recent one at Eyjafjallajokull was followed by winds blowing southeast toward northern Europe.
While seismic activity at the volcano had increased, the ash plume appeared to be shrinking — though it wasn't moving very fast.
Sarah Holland of Britain's Meteorological office said the plume was being held over Britain by a high pressure system that showed no signs of changing.
"The weather patterns are very static at the moment. It's unusual to have that for such a long period of time," she said. "Unfortunately, it looks like it's going to stay that way for the next couple of days, bringing the ash over the U.K."
Early on Tuesday, a Eurocontrol volcanic ash map listed the airspace between Iceland and Britain and Ireland as a no-fly zone, along with much of the Baltic Sea and surrounding area.
Still, planes were allowed to fly above 20,000 feet in Britain, ahead of the reopening of airspace nationwide Tuesday evening.
Dozens of flights departed and arrived at Amsterdam's Schiphol Airport as the government announced that flights could be carried out in darkness using instruments. Airports in Switzerland, central Europe and Scandinavia also reopened, and some flights took off from Asia headed for southern Europe, where air travel was not affected. Spain piled on extra buses, trains and ferries to handle an expected rush of passengers.
Polish aviation authorities said they planned to reopen the country's airspace Wednesday morning.
Even the U.S. Air Force was grounded. Capt. Alysia Harvey, the spokeswoman for the U.S. Air Force's 48th Fighter Wing at Lakenheath, said all sorties had been canceled there since last Thursday. Lakenheath is the largest U.S. air base in England, and the only one in Europe that has an F-15 fighter wing.
"Flying was canceled because it's difficult to predict exactly where the cloud is going to be or the effect it will have on aircraft engines," she said.
Meanwhile, tens of thousands of Britons sought a way home.
Britain's Foreign Office acknowledged the enormity of the problem, informing Britons abroad that it may take a "matter of weeks before everyone can be repatriated."
Tom and Natalie Smith and their children Ben and Joanne, from Bristol, England, found themselves stranded after spending a week on the Costa Brava in Spain.
"We should have returned to work this morning," Tom Smith said. "Natalie is a diabetic and so that is also a concern as she may run out of medication depending on how long it takes to get back."
The government advised Britons to remain in close contact with their airline. Those in Europe were told to make their way to the French port of Calais, other Channel ports or a northern European port.
Thousands converged on the coast from across Europe by car, train and bus, evoking memories for some of the evacuation of the British army from Nazi-occupied France through the port of Dunkirk in 1940.
"You could say it is a bit of Dunkirk spirit," said Stanley Johnson, father of London mayor Boris Johnson, who was among some 800 soldiers and civilians picked up in Spain by a Royal Navy warship, HMS Albion.
The aviation industry — facing losses of more than $1 billion — has sharply criticized European governments' handling of the disruption that grounded thousands of flights on the continent.
Some carriers were using bigger planes and more flights, while others were hiring buses to help get customers to their destinations.
British Airways, which canceled about 500 flights a day in the past five days, said it was trying to clear its backlog. It said travelers could either rebook online or claim a full refund; it also urged travelers with reservations this week to consider canceling their trips so that it could maximize space to fly stranded people home.
Copyright 2010 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
The Cost of Europe's Volcanic-Ash Travel Crisis
By Adam Smith / London Tuesday, Apr. 20, 2010
A covered turbine is seen on a Swiss International Airlines plane on a tarmac in Zurich
Christian Hartmann / Reuters
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Updated: 10:15 a.m. E.T., April 20, 2010
After five days of empty airports and silent skies, European Union transport ministers held an emergency meeting (via video conference) on Monday, announcing that they would ease travel restrictions starting Tuesday morning. The initial cloud of volcanic ash that brought Europe's airlines to a standstill seems to be finally dissipating — and now its financial impact is becoming clearer. TUI Travel, Europe's biggest tour operator, said in a statement that fallout from Iceland's Eyjafjallajokull volcano has so far cost the firm $30 million. With about 100,000 of its customers still marooned overseas, the company added, that bill is rising by $9 million a day. European airports, many deserted since dust spewed out by the volcano turned the region into a no-fly zone last week, are down $183 million as a result of the eruption, industry group ACI Europe said on Sunday. The world's airlines, meanwhile, are together estimated to have lost more than that each day.
Barely clear of the turbulence wreaked by the global financial crisis, it's a rotten time to be in the travel business. "Airlines are still weak," Howard Wheeldon, senior strategist at brokers BGC Partners in London wrote in a note to clients on Monday. "This will have made them a lot weaker." But judging the eruption's impact on the European economy — itself knocked off course by the recent financial storm — is far trickier. "As each day goes, the situation will impact more on the wider business community and economy," Wheeldon wrote. Second-quarter growth from Europe to Asia, he said, could feel the effects "within days."
(See TIME's special report on the Icelandic volcano and resulting travel snafu.)
Plans by the U.K., Germany and others to begin reopening airspace on Tuesday have offered at least some, albeit temporary, relief. But the situation is far from over. A new ash cloud spreading south from the erupting volcano on Tuesday raised new concerns over the restoration of schedules. "This demonstrates the dynamic and rapidly changing conditions in which we are working," the National Air Traffic Services said in a statement. Scottish airspace is open, with the first international flight from Glasgow due to head for Reykjavik, Iceland, at noon BST (7 a.m. E.T.). Most of Scotland's airspace will remain available from 1300 to 1900 BST (0800-1400 E.T.), but there will be no flights from Glasgow after 1300 BST (0800 E.T.). No airports south of Newcastle — including all London airports — will open before 0100 BST (2000 E.T.) on Wednesday. Across Europe, the news was better with airports in central Europe and Scandinavia reopening, and most of southern Europe remaining clear. Eurocontrol, an air-traffic agency in Brussels, said it expects 55%-60% of flights over Europe to go ahead on Tuesday. And the first transatlantic commercial flight since April 15 left Paris' Charles de Gaulle Airport for JFK in New York City. "We were in the hotel having breakfast, and we heard an aircraft take off. Everybody got up and applauded," says Bob Basso, 81, of San Diego, who has been in a hotel near Charles de Gaulle since his flight on April 16 was canceled.
(Comment on this story.)
But while planes start to take off, Europe's economy won't avoid more turbulence. Trade in the region, for one thing, will have been stymied by the ash. More of the world's commerce may be carried by road, rail or sea than by air — in Britain, airfreight accounts for just 1% of the country's total trade volume — but "disruption is potentially a problem," says Jonathan Loynes, chief European economist at consultancy Capital Economics in London. Food and flower traders have plenty to fear: flight restrictions "may well impact southern Spain, which exports a large chunk of produce to northern Europe" at this time of year, says Peter Dixon, an economist at Commerzbank in London. (Kenyan growers — who were responsible for about one-third of Europe's imported flowers before their crops were grounded by the volcano — have been losing about $2 million a day.) European firms in the electronics and pharmaceutical industries, both of which rely heavily on "just in time" airfreight, have also had to seek out new supply routes.
(See pictures of the eerie beauty of Iceland's volcano.)
With euro-zone economies expected to expand just 1% this year, according to an Ernst & Young forecast published on April 16, the Icelandic ash has proved a nuisance. But it needn't be a major setback. Deprived of fresh stock, many firms will simply lean on their existing inventories until regular supplies resume. "A four- or five-day [flight] ban won't cut off the supply of goods instantly," says Dixon. The fact that the crisis unfolded over a weekend, during which freight activity is limited, will have helped. Moreover, "the rule from these sorts of things is that their effect tends to be smaller than it seems at the time," says Loynes. "Where you do see an impact, it's often made up in the following periods." The damage to the U.K. economy wrought by heavy snow in January, for instance, was "by and large made up in February," Loynes says.
(See why volcanic ash can be a hazard for air travel.)
So while most firms will probably escape any long-term damage — many hotel, bus and boat companies taking bookings from stranded air passengers will even have enjoyed an unexpected boost — the world's airlines are braced for a much rougher ride. Already facing losses of $2.8 billion in 2010, the cancellation of more than 60,000 flights in recent days could hardly have come at a worse time. British Airways, still reeling from a costly strike by cabin crew last month, demanded on Monday that U.K. and E.U. governments pay it compensation. Giovanni Bisignani, director general of the International Air Transport Association, slammed the handling of flight restrictions as a "European mess." Having already driven more than 300 miles on Sunday from his office in Switzerland to press the French government in Paris to resume flights, Bisignani began the 600-mile road trip to Berlin on Monday to do the same with German officials. As planes once again take to the skies over Europe, the region's chauffeurs can finally take a much-needed nap.
— With reporting by Vivienne Walt / Paris
By Adam Smith / London Tuesday, Apr. 20, 2010
A covered turbine is seen on a Swiss International Airlines plane on a tarmac in Zurich
Christian Hartmann / Reuters
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Updated: 10:15 a.m. E.T., April 20, 2010
After five days of empty airports and silent skies, European Union transport ministers held an emergency meeting (via video conference) on Monday, announcing that they would ease travel restrictions starting Tuesday morning. The initial cloud of volcanic ash that brought Europe's airlines to a standstill seems to be finally dissipating — and now its financial impact is becoming clearer. TUI Travel, Europe's biggest tour operator, said in a statement that fallout from Iceland's Eyjafjallajokull volcano has so far cost the firm $30 million. With about 100,000 of its customers still marooned overseas, the company added, that bill is rising by $9 million a day. European airports, many deserted since dust spewed out by the volcano turned the region into a no-fly zone last week, are down $183 million as a result of the eruption, industry group ACI Europe said on Sunday. The world's airlines, meanwhile, are together estimated to have lost more than that each day.
Barely clear of the turbulence wreaked by the global financial crisis, it's a rotten time to be in the travel business. "Airlines are still weak," Howard Wheeldon, senior strategist at brokers BGC Partners in London wrote in a note to clients on Monday. "This will have made them a lot weaker." But judging the eruption's impact on the European economy — itself knocked off course by the recent financial storm — is far trickier. "As each day goes, the situation will impact more on the wider business community and economy," Wheeldon wrote. Second-quarter growth from Europe to Asia, he said, could feel the effects "within days."
(See TIME's special report on the Icelandic volcano and resulting travel snafu.)
Plans by the U.K., Germany and others to begin reopening airspace on Tuesday have offered at least some, albeit temporary, relief. But the situation is far from over. A new ash cloud spreading south from the erupting volcano on Tuesday raised new concerns over the restoration of schedules. "This demonstrates the dynamic and rapidly changing conditions in which we are working," the National Air Traffic Services said in a statement. Scottish airspace is open, with the first international flight from Glasgow due to head for Reykjavik, Iceland, at noon BST (7 a.m. E.T.). Most of Scotland's airspace will remain available from 1300 to 1900 BST (0800-1400 E.T.), but there will be no flights from Glasgow after 1300 BST (0800 E.T.). No airports south of Newcastle — including all London airports — will open before 0100 BST (2000 E.T.) on Wednesday. Across Europe, the news was better with airports in central Europe and Scandinavia reopening, and most of southern Europe remaining clear. Eurocontrol, an air-traffic agency in Brussels, said it expects 55%-60% of flights over Europe to go ahead on Tuesday. And the first transatlantic commercial flight since April 15 left Paris' Charles de Gaulle Airport for JFK in New York City. "We were in the hotel having breakfast, and we heard an aircraft take off. Everybody got up and applauded," says Bob Basso, 81, of San Diego, who has been in a hotel near Charles de Gaulle since his flight on April 16 was canceled.
(Comment on this story.)
But while planes start to take off, Europe's economy won't avoid more turbulence. Trade in the region, for one thing, will have been stymied by the ash. More of the world's commerce may be carried by road, rail or sea than by air — in Britain, airfreight accounts for just 1% of the country's total trade volume — but "disruption is potentially a problem," says Jonathan Loynes, chief European economist at consultancy Capital Economics in London. Food and flower traders have plenty to fear: flight restrictions "may well impact southern Spain, which exports a large chunk of produce to northern Europe" at this time of year, says Peter Dixon, an economist at Commerzbank in London. (Kenyan growers — who were responsible for about one-third of Europe's imported flowers before their crops were grounded by the volcano — have been losing about $2 million a day.) European firms in the electronics and pharmaceutical industries, both of which rely heavily on "just in time" airfreight, have also had to seek out new supply routes.
(See pictures of the eerie beauty of Iceland's volcano.)
With euro-zone economies expected to expand just 1% this year, according to an Ernst & Young forecast published on April 16, the Icelandic ash has proved a nuisance. But it needn't be a major setback. Deprived of fresh stock, many firms will simply lean on their existing inventories until regular supplies resume. "A four- or five-day [flight] ban won't cut off the supply of goods instantly," says Dixon. The fact that the crisis unfolded over a weekend, during which freight activity is limited, will have helped. Moreover, "the rule from these sorts of things is that their effect tends to be smaller than it seems at the time," says Loynes. "Where you do see an impact, it's often made up in the following periods." The damage to the U.K. economy wrought by heavy snow in January, for instance, was "by and large made up in February," Loynes says.
(See why volcanic ash can be a hazard for air travel.)
So while most firms will probably escape any long-term damage — many hotel, bus and boat companies taking bookings from stranded air passengers will even have enjoyed an unexpected boost — the world's airlines are braced for a much rougher ride. Already facing losses of $2.8 billion in 2010, the cancellation of more than 60,000 flights in recent days could hardly have come at a worse time. British Airways, still reeling from a costly strike by cabin crew last month, demanded on Monday that U.K. and E.U. governments pay it compensation. Giovanni Bisignani, director general of the International Air Transport Association, slammed the handling of flight restrictions as a "European mess." Having already driven more than 300 miles on Sunday from his office in Switzerland to press the French government in Paris to resume flights, Bisignani began the 600-mile road trip to Berlin on Monday to do the same with German officials. As planes once again take to the skies over Europe, the region's chauffeurs can finally take a much-needed nap.
— With reporting by Vivienne Walt / Paris
With Flights Grounded, Kenya's Produce Wilts
Roberto Schmidt/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images
Workers at a flower farm in Kenya began discarding aging roses awaiting export on Monday as a cloud of volcanic ash continued to disrupt air travel throughout Europe.
By JEFFREY GETTLEMAN
Published: April 19, 2010
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NAIROBI, Kenya — When Kenneth Maundu, general manager for Sunripe produce exporters, first heard about a volcano erupting in Iceland, he was excited. "I thought, 'Oh, wow, a volcano,' " he said.
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Interactive Feature
Tracking the Cancellations
Related
New Ash Cloud Appears Headed Toward Britain (April 20, 2010)
Europe to Ease Aviation Ban, Amid Criticism (April 20, 2010)
Military Scrambles Soldiers, Staff and Supplies (April 20, 2010)
Previous Airline Brushes with Ash Disaster (April 20, 2010)
Insurers See Millions in Claims by Travelers (April 20, 2010)
Stranded Travelers Turn to Videoconferencing (April 20, 2010)
Times Topic: Iceland Volcano Eruption of 2010 (Eyjafjallajokull Volcano)
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Jehad Nga for The New York Times
Vegetables for Europe's supermarkets are dumped in Nairobi. Companies do not want produce with their labels to be given away.
And then reality hit him in the face like a hurled tomato.
Because Kenya's gourmet vegetable and cut-flower industry exports mainly to Europe, and because the cloud of volcanic ash has grounded flights to much of northern Europe since Thursday, its horticultural business has been waylaid as never before.
On Monday, Mr. Maundu stared at the towering wreckage: eight-feet-tall heaps of perfectly good carrots, onions, baby sweet corn and deliciously green sugar snap peas being dumped into the back of a pickup truck.
"Cow food," he said, shaking his head. "That's about all we can do with it now."
If farmers in Africa's Great Rift Valley ever doubted that they were intricately tied into the global economy, they know now that they are. Because of a volcanic eruption more than 5,000 miles away, Kenyan horticulture, which as the top foreign exchange earner is a critical piece of the national economy, is losing $3 million a day and shedding jobs.
The pickers are not picking. The washers are not washing. Temporary workers have been told to go home because refrigerated warehouses at the airport are stuffed with ripening fruit, vegetables and flowers, and there is no room for more until planes can take away the produce. Already, millions of roses, lilies and carnations have wilted.
"Volcano, volcano, volcano," grumbled Ronald Osotsi, whose $90-a-month job scrubbing baby courgettes, which are zucchinis, and French beans is now endangered. "That's all anyone is talking about." He sat on a log outside a vegetable processing plant in Nairobi, next to other glum-faced workers eating a cheap lunch of fried bread and beans.
Election-driven riots, the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks and stunningly bad harvests have all left their mark on Kenya's agriculture industry, which is based in the Rift Valley, Kenya's breadbasket and the cradle of mankind.
But industry insiders say they have never suffered like this.
"It's a terrible nightmare," said Stephen Mbithi, the chief executive officer of the Fresh Produce Exporters Association of Kenya. He rattled off some figures: Two million pounds of fresh produce is normally shipped out of Kenya every night. Eighty-two percent of that goes to Europe, and more than a third goes solely to Britain, whose airports have been among those shut down by the volcano's eruption. Five thousand Kenyan field hands have been laid off in the past few days, and others may be jobless soon. The only way to alleviate this would be to restore the air bridge to Europe, which would necessitate the equivalent of 10 Boeing 747s of cargo space — per night.
"There is no diversionary market," Mr. Mbithi said. "Flowers and courgettes are not something the average Kenyan buys."
Thus, the trash heap of greens. At Sunripe, one of the most profitable sides of the business is prepackaging veggies for supermarkets in Europe. Most of the peppers, corn, carrots, broccoli and beans are grown in the Rift Valley, trucked to Nairobi, and then washed, chopped and shrink-wrapped. There are even some packages labeled "stir fry," which few Kenyans have ever heard about.
The vegetables are marked with the names of some of England's biggest supermarkets. (They requested not to be mentioned in this article.) But those supermarkets are very particular about their brands and do not allow Sunripe to give away excess produce with their labels on it.
So, on Monday, a man in a Sunripe lab coat and mesh hair net stood at the back of the pickup truck in the company's loading bay tearing open plastic bags of perfectly edible vegetables, each worth a couple of dollars, and shaking out the contents. Sunripe does give away unpackaged food, and two nuns from an orphanage stood nearby, waiting for some French beans.
Upstairs, Tiku Shah, whose family owns Sunripe, shouted into his cellphone. "Give us half the plane, you take half, we take half!" he said to someone.
"Arusha and Dar are also packed," he followed up, referring to two Tanzanian cities whose warehouses were full.
Before he hung up, he said, "I'm waiting for Raila to call."
Raila Odinga is Kenya's prime minister, and exporters are hoping that the Kenyan government will help defray the costs of organizing special cargo flights to ship out produce.
No one here knows when the flight chaos will end. Countless tourists are also stranded in Kenya, although many of them on spotless white-sand beaches.
By Monday afternoon, a few tons of vegetables had been flown to Spain, where airports had reopened. From there, the produce will be trucked the rest of the way to northern Europe.
"The cost is doubling," Mr. Shah said. "But we don't have a choice. If we don't have product on the shelves, our customers will look for alternatives."
Among them, he said, Guatemala was a rising threat, along with North Africa.
Roberto Schmidt/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images
Workers at a flower farm in Kenya began discarding aging roses awaiting export on Monday as a cloud of volcanic ash continued to disrupt air travel throughout Europe.
By JEFFREY GETTLEMAN
Published: April 19, 2010
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NAIROBI, Kenya — When Kenneth Maundu, general manager for Sunripe produce exporters, first heard about a volcano erupting in Iceland, he was excited. "I thought, 'Oh, wow, a volcano,' " he said.
Multimedia
Interactive Feature
Tracking the Cancellations
Related
New Ash Cloud Appears Headed Toward Britain (April 20, 2010)
Europe to Ease Aviation Ban, Amid Criticism (April 20, 2010)
Military Scrambles Soldiers, Staff and Supplies (April 20, 2010)
Previous Airline Brushes with Ash Disaster (April 20, 2010)
Insurers See Millions in Claims by Travelers (April 20, 2010)
Stranded Travelers Turn to Videoconferencing (April 20, 2010)
Times Topic: Iceland Volcano Eruption of 2010 (Eyjafjallajokull Volcano)
Enlarge This Image
Jehad Nga for The New York Times
Vegetables for Europe's supermarkets are dumped in Nairobi. Companies do not want produce with their labels to be given away.
And then reality hit him in the face like a hurled tomato.
Because Kenya's gourmet vegetable and cut-flower industry exports mainly to Europe, and because the cloud of volcanic ash has grounded flights to much of northern Europe since Thursday, its horticultural business has been waylaid as never before.
On Monday, Mr. Maundu stared at the towering wreckage: eight-feet-tall heaps of perfectly good carrots, onions, baby sweet corn and deliciously green sugar snap peas being dumped into the back of a pickup truck.
"Cow food," he said, shaking his head. "That's about all we can do with it now."
If farmers in Africa's Great Rift Valley ever doubted that they were intricately tied into the global economy, they know now that they are. Because of a volcanic eruption more than 5,000 miles away, Kenyan horticulture, which as the top foreign exchange earner is a critical piece of the national economy, is losing $3 million a day and shedding jobs.
The pickers are not picking. The washers are not washing. Temporary workers have been told to go home because refrigerated warehouses at the airport are stuffed with ripening fruit, vegetables and flowers, and there is no room for more until planes can take away the produce. Already, millions of roses, lilies and carnations have wilted.
"Volcano, volcano, volcano," grumbled Ronald Osotsi, whose $90-a-month job scrubbing baby courgettes, which are zucchinis, and French beans is now endangered. "That's all anyone is talking about." He sat on a log outside a vegetable processing plant in Nairobi, next to other glum-faced workers eating a cheap lunch of fried bread and beans.
Election-driven riots, the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks and stunningly bad harvests have all left their mark on Kenya's agriculture industry, which is based in the Rift Valley, Kenya's breadbasket and the cradle of mankind.
But industry insiders say they have never suffered like this.
"It's a terrible nightmare," said Stephen Mbithi, the chief executive officer of the Fresh Produce Exporters Association of Kenya. He rattled off some figures: Two million pounds of fresh produce is normally shipped out of Kenya every night. Eighty-two percent of that goes to Europe, and more than a third goes solely to Britain, whose airports have been among those shut down by the volcano's eruption. Five thousand Kenyan field hands have been laid off in the past few days, and others may be jobless soon. The only way to alleviate this would be to restore the air bridge to Europe, which would necessitate the equivalent of 10 Boeing 747s of cargo space — per night.
"There is no diversionary market," Mr. Mbithi said. "Flowers and courgettes are not something the average Kenyan buys."
Thus, the trash heap of greens. At Sunripe, one of the most profitable sides of the business is prepackaging veggies for supermarkets in Europe. Most of the peppers, corn, carrots, broccoli and beans are grown in the Rift Valley, trucked to Nairobi, and then washed, chopped and shrink-wrapped. There are even some packages labeled "stir fry," which few Kenyans have ever heard about.
The vegetables are marked with the names of some of England's biggest supermarkets. (They requested not to be mentioned in this article.) But those supermarkets are very particular about their brands and do not allow Sunripe to give away excess produce with their labels on it.
So, on Monday, a man in a Sunripe lab coat and mesh hair net stood at the back of the pickup truck in the company's loading bay tearing open plastic bags of perfectly edible vegetables, each worth a couple of dollars, and shaking out the contents. Sunripe does give away unpackaged food, and two nuns from an orphanage stood nearby, waiting for some French beans.
Upstairs, Tiku Shah, whose family owns Sunripe, shouted into his cellphone. "Give us half the plane, you take half, we take half!" he said to someone.
"Arusha and Dar are also packed," he followed up, referring to two Tanzanian cities whose warehouses were full.
Before he hung up, he said, "I'm waiting for Raila to call."
Raila Odinga is Kenya's prime minister, and exporters are hoping that the Kenyan government will help defray the costs of organizing special cargo flights to ship out produce.
No one here knows when the flight chaos will end. Countless tourists are also stranded in Kenya, although many of them on spotless white-sand beaches.
By Monday afternoon, a few tons of vegetables had been flown to Spain, where airports had reopened. From there, the produce will be trucked the rest of the way to northern Europe.
"The cost is doubling," Mr. Shah said. "But we don't have a choice. If we don't have product on the shelves, our customers will look for alternatives."
Among them, he said, Guatemala was a rising threat, along with North Africa.
Europe to Ease Aviation Ban, Amid Criticism
Lucas Jackson/Reuters
Ash floated out to the Atlantic Ocean from an erupting Icelandic volcano on Monday.
By STEVEN ERLANGER and NICOLA CLARK
Published: April 19, 2010
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PARIS — European transport ministers announced a plan to begin easing the ban on aviation traffic around the Continent by Tuesday, but only after a barrage of criticism that the European Union had failed a fresh test of leadership.
Multimedia
Interactive Feature
Tracking the Cancellations
Video
TimesCast | April 19, 2010
Photographs
Photographing Iceland's Fiery Volcano
Related
New Ash Cloud Appears Headed Toward Britain (April 20, 2010)
With Flights Grounded, Kenya's Produce Wilts (April 20, 2010)
Military Scrambles Soldiers, Staff and Supplies (April 20, 2010)
Insurers See Millions in Claims by Travelers (April 20, 2010)
Previous Airline Brushes with Ash Disaster (April 20, 2010)
Stranded Travelers Turn to Videoconferencing (April 20, 2010)
Times Topic: Iceland Volcano Eruption of 2010 (Eyjafjallajokull Volcano)
Enlarge This Image
Vittorio Zunino Celotto/Getty Images
Passengers waited for a train to depart to Rome at Milano Centrale train station in Milan, Italy.
Enlarge This Image
Pierre-Philippe Marcou/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images
Madrid-Barajas airport in Madrid, Spain.
Enlarge This Image
Emilio Morenatti/Associated Press
Because of the aviation gridlock, a Dutch citizen at a Barcelona, Spain, airport had been waiting three days for a flight home.
The easing could begin to unravel the gridlock that many rate as the worst peacetime air travel disruption, a nearly weeklong halt in flights that stranded tens of thousands and cost airlines hundreds of millions of dollars.
Yet even if the ash spewed across European skies by a volcano in Iceland begins to dissipate soon, the region is grappling with a new blow to its ability to act decisively during an emergency. That is a problem that has plagued it repeatedly as it has struggled to manage swine flu, the financial crisis and the problem of Greek debt.
Most noisily, the head of the International Air Transport Association said before the announcement of a partial lifting of the aviation ban on Monday that "the decision Europe has made is with no risk assessment, no consultation, no coordination, no leadership." The industry group's director general and chief executive, Giovanni Bisignani, went further, saying that the crisis is a "European embarrassment" and "a European mess."
It took five days to organize a first conference call of the European transport ministers, Mr. Bisignani said, and with 750,000 passengers stranded, "Does it make sense?"
His words struck home with many. But given that the European Union does not control European airspace, a responsibility that rests with each individual country, some suggested that Mr. Bisignani was being a little too harsh — but only a little.
Jean Quatremer, the European Union correspondent for the French newspaper Libération, said the situation seemed "inexplicable to outsiders, that the Europe Union should regulate the size of peas but not the E.U. airspace."
Under Monday's agreement, the aviation authorities would carve airspace above the Continent into three zones: one closest to the volcano that would completely restrict air traffic; another zone that would set up partial restrictions on flights; and a third zone, free of ash, where flights could resume completely.
It was unclear precisely what portions of the Continent's airspace would be reopened when the agreement takes effect on Tuesday at 8 a.m. Paris time, but the European Union's transport commissioner, Siim Kallas, called the deal "good news for Europe's stranded passengers."
Adding to the uncertainty, however, the British air traffic control agency reported late Monday that the volcano's eruptions had strengthened, and a new ash cloud was headed south and east toward Britain and might affect the re-opening of some British airports.
The no-fly zone would cover one-third of the airspace until now designated as contaminated, said Bo Redeborn, the director of network design of Eurocontrol, which coordinates regional air traffic management. The authorities said they would perform test flights and monitor air conditions every six hours.
Even before European officials made their announcement, several countries said they would be easing or lifting flight bans as the volcanic eruptions weakened, spewing less ash.
The German carrier Lufthansa said that it had received permission from Germany's civil aviation authority to fly 50 aircraft into Germany carrying about 15,000 stranded passengers from Asia, Africa, and North and South America.
The scattered approach added to concerns that the region has no effective, collective mechanism for dealing with aviation problems.
European airspace is coordinated by Eurocontrol, an intergovernmental agency, not by the European Union, and each European government controls its own airspace, in part because of military and defense requirements.
But the real question, Mr. Quatremer said, is whether the European Union is competent or not, "and at what point should the E.U. activate itself?"
Fabrice Pothier, the director of Carnegie Europe, the Brussels center for the Carnegie Endowment, said that the ash problem grew slowly and was not at the start thought to be so long-lasting.
But, he said, politicians have the duty to give their citizens the confidence that crises are being managed for the collective good.
The technicians at Eurocontrol reacted quickly, Mr. Pothier said, but not the politicians. "The problem for Europe is that we have no political early-warning system, to say we have to come together politically. Technicians are fine, but on big issues you need leaders to make ultimate decisions, and that's where we're always a bit short, a bit late."
David Henderson, of the Association of European Airlines, said that Mr. Bisignani was "perhaps too harsh," but that governments were slow to coordinate and make decisions to close airspace based on the dimensions of the ash cloud, rather than trying to measure its density. "There's no transparency, and we don't know what's governing the decisions," he said.
Other analysts pointed to a general European obsession with safety, which is called "the precautionary principle." Essentially, European governments and their constituents believe that if the safety of something is not proven, it should not be allowed.
"Europe is the victim of the precautionary principle," Mr. Pothier said, of "an uncoordinated overreaction to possible risk." That led to a huge oversupply in swine flu vaccine, for instance, and, as Mr. Quatremer noted, the European aversion to genetically modified grain.
"It's the same principle for the ash cloud," he said. "We fear everything and want maximum safety for our citizens," just like the way in the United States, he said, the society will go to extremes to protect citizens from terrorism. "No one can argue with security," he said.
For Kenneth J. Button, a professor at George Mason University's School of Public Policy and a transportation economist, the airline association's criticism is expected as it continues to push for a "Single European Sky" program, as it has done for years.
"The E.U. has no legal responsibility at all; the responsibility is with the countries," Mr. Button said. "Everyone is being extremely cautious, because no country wants to be responsible for a crash," and the government, not the airline, would be blamed for a crash.
Mr. Bisignani expressed hope that the chaos would lead to a new momentum on creating a unified air traffic control system.
"This is really a failure of Europe," he said. While Europe has been able to remove borders on the ground, he added, "We haven't been able to take away the borders in the sky."
Willie Walsh, the chief executive of British Airways, said the region's carriers had approached the European Union and their national governments seeking financial compensation for the airspace closings.
"There is a precedent for this to happen, as compensation was paid after the closure of U.S. airspace following the terrorist events of 9/11, and clearly the impact of the current situation is more considerable," Mr. Walsh said in a statement.
James Kanter, Nadim Audi and Scott Sayare contributed reporting.
Lucas Jackson/Reuters
Ash floated out to the Atlantic Ocean from an erupting Icelandic volcano on Monday.
By STEVEN ERLANGER and NICOLA CLARK
Published: April 19, 2010
comments
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Reprints
Share
PARIS — European transport ministers announced a plan to begin easing the ban on aviation traffic around the Continent by Tuesday, but only after a barrage of criticism that the European Union had failed a fresh test of leadership.
Multimedia
Interactive Feature
Tracking the Cancellations
Video
TimesCast | April 19, 2010
Photographs
Photographing Iceland's Fiery Volcano
Related
New Ash Cloud Appears Headed Toward Britain (April 20, 2010)
With Flights Grounded, Kenya's Produce Wilts (April 20, 2010)
Military Scrambles Soldiers, Staff and Supplies (April 20, 2010)
Insurers See Millions in Claims by Travelers (April 20, 2010)
Previous Airline Brushes with Ash Disaster (April 20, 2010)
Stranded Travelers Turn to Videoconferencing (April 20, 2010)
Times Topic: Iceland Volcano Eruption of 2010 (Eyjafjallajokull Volcano)
Enlarge This Image
Vittorio Zunino Celotto/Getty Images
Passengers waited for a train to depart to Rome at Milano Centrale train station in Milan, Italy.
Enlarge This Image
Pierre-Philippe Marcou/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images
Madrid-Barajas airport in Madrid, Spain.
Enlarge This Image
Emilio Morenatti/Associated Press
Because of the aviation gridlock, a Dutch citizen at a Barcelona, Spain, airport had been waiting three days for a flight home.
The easing could begin to unravel the gridlock that many rate as the worst peacetime air travel disruption, a nearly weeklong halt in flights that stranded tens of thousands and cost airlines hundreds of millions of dollars.
Yet even if the ash spewed across European skies by a volcano in Iceland begins to dissipate soon, the region is grappling with a new blow to its ability to act decisively during an emergency. That is a problem that has plagued it repeatedly as it has struggled to manage swine flu, the financial crisis and the problem of Greek debt.
Most noisily, the head of the International Air Transport Association said before the announcement of a partial lifting of the aviation ban on Monday that "the decision Europe has made is with no risk assessment, no consultation, no coordination, no leadership." The industry group's director general and chief executive, Giovanni Bisignani, went further, saying that the crisis is a "European embarrassment" and "a European mess."
It took five days to organize a first conference call of the European transport ministers, Mr. Bisignani said, and with 750,000 passengers stranded, "Does it make sense?"
His words struck home with many. But given that the European Union does not control European airspace, a responsibility that rests with each individual country, some suggested that Mr. Bisignani was being a little too harsh — but only a little.
Jean Quatremer, the European Union correspondent for the French newspaper Libération, said the situation seemed "inexplicable to outsiders, that the Europe Union should regulate the size of peas but not the E.U. airspace."
Under Monday's agreement, the aviation authorities would carve airspace above the Continent into three zones: one closest to the volcano that would completely restrict air traffic; another zone that would set up partial restrictions on flights; and a third zone, free of ash, where flights could resume completely.
It was unclear precisely what portions of the Continent's airspace would be reopened when the agreement takes effect on Tuesday at 8 a.m. Paris time, but the European Union's transport commissioner, Siim Kallas, called the deal "good news for Europe's stranded passengers."
Adding to the uncertainty, however, the British air traffic control agency reported late Monday that the volcano's eruptions had strengthened, and a new ash cloud was headed south and east toward Britain and might affect the re-opening of some British airports.
The no-fly zone would cover one-third of the airspace until now designated as contaminated, said Bo Redeborn, the director of network design of Eurocontrol, which coordinates regional air traffic management. The authorities said they would perform test flights and monitor air conditions every six hours.
Even before European officials made their announcement, several countries said they would be easing or lifting flight bans as the volcanic eruptions weakened, spewing less ash.
The German carrier Lufthansa said that it had received permission from Germany's civil aviation authority to fly 50 aircraft into Germany carrying about 15,000 stranded passengers from Asia, Africa, and North and South America.
The scattered approach added to concerns that the region has no effective, collective mechanism for dealing with aviation problems.
European airspace is coordinated by Eurocontrol, an intergovernmental agency, not by the European Union, and each European government controls its own airspace, in part because of military and defense requirements.
But the real question, Mr. Quatremer said, is whether the European Union is competent or not, "and at what point should the E.U. activate itself?"
Fabrice Pothier, the director of Carnegie Europe, the Brussels center for the Carnegie Endowment, said that the ash problem grew slowly and was not at the start thought to be so long-lasting.
But, he said, politicians have the duty to give their citizens the confidence that crises are being managed for the collective good.
The technicians at Eurocontrol reacted quickly, Mr. Pothier said, but not the politicians. "The problem for Europe is that we have no political early-warning system, to say we have to come together politically. Technicians are fine, but on big issues you need leaders to make ultimate decisions, and that's where we're always a bit short, a bit late."
David Henderson, of the Association of European Airlines, said that Mr. Bisignani was "perhaps too harsh," but that governments were slow to coordinate and make decisions to close airspace based on the dimensions of the ash cloud, rather than trying to measure its density. "There's no transparency, and we don't know what's governing the decisions," he said.
Other analysts pointed to a general European obsession with safety, which is called "the precautionary principle." Essentially, European governments and their constituents believe that if the safety of something is not proven, it should not be allowed.
"Europe is the victim of the precautionary principle," Mr. Pothier said, of "an uncoordinated overreaction to possible risk." That led to a huge oversupply in swine flu vaccine, for instance, and, as Mr. Quatremer noted, the European aversion to genetically modified grain.
"It's the same principle for the ash cloud," he said. "We fear everything and want maximum safety for our citizens," just like the way in the United States, he said, the society will go to extremes to protect citizens from terrorism. "No one can argue with security," he said.
For Kenneth J. Button, a professor at George Mason University's School of Public Policy and a transportation economist, the airline association's criticism is expected as it continues to push for a "Single European Sky" program, as it has done for years.
"The E.U. has no legal responsibility at all; the responsibility is with the countries," Mr. Button said. "Everyone is being extremely cautious, because no country wants to be responsible for a crash," and the government, not the airline, would be blamed for a crash.
Mr. Bisignani expressed hope that the chaos would lead to a new momentum on creating a unified air traffic control system.
"This is really a failure of Europe," he said. While Europe has been able to remove borders on the ground, he added, "We haven't been able to take away the borders in the sky."
Willie Walsh, the chief executive of British Airways, said the region's carriers had approached the European Union and their national governments seeking financial compensation for the airspace closings.
"There is a precedent for this to happen, as compensation was paid after the closure of U.S. airspace following the terrorist events of 9/11, and clearly the impact of the current situation is more considerable," Mr. Walsh said in a statement.
James Kanter, Nadim Audi and Scott Sayare contributed reporting.
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