Bring on the Third Runway - It's a Gift to the Green Movement; Let Battle Begin: Heathrow Protesters Earlier This Week. This Could Be the Moment We Decide the Environment Is What Matters Most

Byline: ANDREW GILLIGAN

AS BOTH its opponents and, unintentionally, its supporters have demonstrated, the economic case for a Heathrow third runway is weak. But though today's announcement does not represent much of a boost for the London economy, it does throw a vital lifeline to another troubled cause: the British green movement.

Until now, this had not been a good few months for environmentalists.

Recessions seldom are. Sales of organic food, for instance, have dived as shoppers turn back to cheaper, factory-processed stuff. Now there is less money around, it will be harder for policymakers to pursue higher green taxes.

Green ideas have often flourished in times of plenty, when consumers have the so-called "luxury" of worrying about the environment, and dwindled at times of hardship, when immediate personal survival seems more urgent.

In 1989, the height of the Thatcher boom, the Green Party got nearly …

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Publication information: Article title: Bring on the Third Runway - It's a Gift to the Green Movement; Let Battle Begin: Heathrow Protesters Earlier This Week. This Could Be the Moment We Decide the Environment Is What Matters Most. Contributors: Not available. Newspaper title: The Evening Standard (London, England). Publication date: January 15, 2009. Page number: 15. © Not available. COPYRIGHT 2009 Gale Group.

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