21st July, 2006

If you were Richard Branson how would you react to this email I sent the other day?....



Dear Sir Richard,



I have had an idea which I would really like you and your team to consider. It is on the subject of carbon emissions. Cutting to the chase I hope that you will consider helping to save the planet's rainforests.



I have calculated that during the course of an 8 hour flight to Antigua 45,000 acres of rainforest will have been destroyed. Neatly, I also estimate - using information found on various websites such as carbonneutral.com - that the sponsorship of 45,000 acres of rainforest would cost c.’1,250,000 and would offset the carbon emissions generated by 1 billion passenger miles flown ( about 40% of your fleet total ?? ). This seems a rather small amount of money addressing what is a terribly important issue.



The destruction of the rainforests is a significantly more important contributor to global CO2 emissions than the airline industry and furthermore its destruction is pretty much irreversible. However there is clearly a growing consumer focus here on the issue of carbon emission and airlines are going to be a focal point for attention. So, whilst I appreciate that my initiative may seem inconsistent with your business of attracting and growing air traffic, I think that by adopting this responsible stance you will win plaudits and market share and, perhaps, stem the tide of a growing number of people who opt not to fly because of the environmental considerations. In any case whilst it may be voluntary just now, I am certain that ultimately some form of carbon offsetting will become compulsory.



I believe you would get a fantastic public response if you were to take a proactive stance, beating the likes of BA who are presumably also grappling with how to address this issue, and announced that Virgin Atlantic was going to make a donation to save a large area of Virgin rainforest ( like it?! ) whilst you set up a programme which would allow your customers to make their own carbon offsets when they book flights contributing to the cost of conserving the rainforest on an ongoing basis. I appreciate that my suggestion is simplistic and there will be numerous issues to address, but I would love to see Virgin running with it and doing something to address this critical challenge.



In the meantime, on a completely separate note, some years ago I read on one of your inflight magazines that it was a goal of yours to play a round of golf on the Old Course at St. Andrews. You declined my offer of a game at the time, but I would really like to re-invite you particularly if you give this initiative some consideration! I'm a member of the Royal & Ancient and have a tee time on the Old Course at 9.00am on Wednesday 2nd August or 2.30pm on Thursday 3rd August. It would be my pleasure to have you as my guest on either or both of these times.



Yours faithfully,



David Sandison