Wow! Isn't that a very provacative statement? When I first read the headline of this article with Richard Branson I was stunned. Anyway once I got over the first surprise I thought he has a very valid point. The only way to achieve change and to have many people actively driving that change is that people can benefit from it economically.
To say "just do less of what is harmful" is not enough. In this article that would be flying. While I think it is good to say "I want to fly less" it is very unlikely that this will actually happen. Everyone has some interesting places they want to see, people they want to visit or some business travel they have to go to. Do you stay at home to save the climate?
It's easy to expect that from others but there is always a reason why we have to travel. So it's a noble but futile gesture that doesn't really drive change. Instead I like Branson's approach to say let's use our brains and come up with something new. We can't and really don't want to go back to the past, so let's take the future in our own hands and make it a good one.
