With its current project into the effects of rapid climate change, funded to the tune of £20 million by the National Environment Resource Council (NERC), the decision by this univeristy to choose a method of transport that puts into the atmosphere many times the amount of global warming carbon dioxide than is necessary is, frankly, difficult to understand.

As we report on page 1, Mr Wakeham justifies these actions by insisting that for any future collaboration it was vital that he and other members of staff travel to UNCW, and that for this travel a private jet was essential.

Firstly, why was such a meeting so vital? In Mr Wakeham’s opinion: ¨To view at first-hand UNCW’s facilities and research programmes.¨ Does Southampton, then, not trust UNCW’s reports on its own facilities and research programmes? And if not, why was Mr Wakeham’s presence required? A graduate of physics, what expertise was he bringing to the meeting that meant the facilities and research programs were better judged for having been looked over first-hand by himself?

Secondly, if such a meeting was indeed vital, why was a private jet essential? Mr Wakeham tells us that given the number of people it was so imperitive were present at the meeting, it would not have been possible to make the trip any other way without a delay of several months. So why was the meeting not planned several months ago, or scheduled for several months’ time, so commercial airlines could be used?

The reason that this is such an important issue is not that several times more pollution was released than necessary. Private jets are used all over the world every day. The number of extra carbon dioxide molecules from this journey will hardly be the difference between global warming plunging us into a new ice age, and carrying on as we are. And in fact, the good that will come from any collaboration will lead to much that is positive in the field of climate change research. The issue here is the principle.

The world is just coming round to the belief that global warming is a major issue; and now its likely consequences are known (see Dawn of a new ice age? page 6), issues we need to do something about as soon as possible. Yet some of the people with the most power to implement the necessary changes have yet to be convinced of their necessity. By choosing to use a private jet as its method of travel, this university, so highly regarded in the field of climate research, has effectively undermined the case for change. Such a move was foolhardy.