You know, there’s an easier way. . . .

I saw this item earlier today, but it was linked on Drudge tonight, so I figure it’s going viral and thus worth a notice. Gordon Brown’s top climate change adviser, Adair Turner, testified to the Environmental Audit Select Committee that “We will have to constrain demand in an absolute sense with people not allowed to make as many journeys as they could in an unconstrained manner” — that is, according to writer Perry Flint, “the possibility of rationing air travel, limiting UK citizens to just a few vacation trips abroad by air per year in order to reduce the impact of carbon dioxide emissions.”

Of course, superior to rationing air travel (not that there won’t be a thousand exemptions and caveats that would either render the system useless or inequitable) is simple pricing. If you decide that air travel imposes significant negative externalities that justify restricting its growth, then why not just raise the price to the appropriate level? It’s a lot more sensible to implement than a rationing scheme.

UK environment czar looking at limiting holiday trips to save CO2 [ATW Daily News]