What's that, up in the air?

This video, 24 hours of global air traffic, made me Google.

An 'old' (2005) article in Energy Bulletin reads: 'Air travel produces 19 times the greenhouse gas emissions of trains; and 190 times that of a ship'. Clear. I suppose it won't be much different since the 2005 data. Perhaps the trains became cleaner. In that case it could be that it is now 25 times the emission of  trains. Nonetheless...

I googled a bit more, but couldn't find so quick the current exact amount of emission of 24 hours of global air traffic. Nor have I found the right numbers per year. I can't exactly tell you what the percentage is of pollution by airplanes. It's a bit the same story as this thing with the emails of scientists that leaked before the Kopenhagen summit: they supposevly overreacted on the actual state of the world. But even so, it is a fact that we have global warming, that our world is sick. It's in the same way that I might not know the exact numbers, but I know that airplanes contribute in a great way to the sickness of the world. I participate equally in this polluting, or maybe even more as I travel quite a bit for work.

Branson

Sir Richard Branson (Virgin) acknowledges it too and started to undertake action. He says he's putting GBP 1.6 billion to the table to invest into new green technologies. He hopes to create a biofuel for flying planes. See Friends Of The Earth for the interview. “Because I’m in one of the dirty businesses, I have all the more responsibility to do something,” he said in Times Online.

So, without the exact numbers at hand, having the assurance of Branson it is 'one of the dirty businesses', the YouTube video 24 hours Air Traffic around the globe almost gives me a soar throat, just by looking at it.

In case you’re interested: Here's a European one. And here a video for the USA. This too is: an interesting picture.