Today's bike ride included a stop at Groningen Airport Eelde to attend today's protest organised by @extinctionrebellionnl
While normal capitalist businesses are expected to turn a profit or they will go out of business, our local airport receives millions of euros in subsidy each year.
Not only do airlines benefit from not paying any tax at all on the huge quantities of fuel that they burn, but each passenger flying from the airport also benefits directly from this subsidy that we all pay. Fliers don't come even close to paying the full cost to society of their flights, let alone for the destruction that they're causing for future generations.
"According to the authors, a global economic model focused on wealth accumulation and profit, rather than true sustainability, is a major impediment to #decarbonization, conserving natural resources, and ensuring #SocialEquity. Therefore, the authors argue, governments should enforce radical, immediate cuts in #FossilFuel use, eliminate environmentally harmful #subsidies, and restrict trade that generates pollution or unsustainable consumption."
Volker Turk, the United Nations' human rights chief, "told a UN Human Rights Council debate on the right to #food that #ExtremeWeather events were wiping out crops, herds and ecosystems, making it impossible for communities to rebuild and support themselves.
Turk said world leaders "perform the choreography of deciding to act and promising to act and then get stuck in the short term".