"Tourists Fleeing Forest Fires Have No Idea How Lucky They Are"

On the plus side, you will definitely come back brown from your summer vacation in Rhodes.

Okay, it may be second degree burns and a thick layer of ash, but at least you'll have an adventure and the chance to complain to the papers that the tour operator wasn't quick enough to get you on a plane home.

Meanwhile, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs will have people to issue emergency travel documents and take your word for it that your passport burned in the hotel room. Let's just hope they treat brown born Brits the same as pink Barbies.

I bet you don't. Because just as those with the wealth and power to pollute believe they must be rescued from its effects – preferably by air – those with less wealth and power are urged to bundle it. That's why tourists rescued from wildfires in Greece are complaining about a ruined vacation they'll happily demand to do again next year, and have no idea how lucky they are to have been rescued.

If he had brown skin, you would probably assume he was a refugee fleeing a war zone (

Picture:

Anadolu Agency via Getty Images)

Global aviation emissions have quadrupled since 1966. They've doubled since the last time Barbie was cool. Yet overall they only account for 2.5% of the world's CO2, which is perhaps why the tourism industry is keen to point out that it's not the one causing climate change.

But it doesn't fit. Aviation has not gone green like other transportation, and hydrogen fuel cell aircraft are only at the design stage. Only domestic flights are considered in a country's official CO2 data - no one is responsible for all international travel. In fact, about 80% of the planet doesn't fly at all. It's only the top 20%, usually in the richest countries, which means it's the rich, white humans who are killing the planet for everyone else.

Many of those who will be brought back from Rhodes will be on cheap packages, raising families and not considering themselves well off. But compared to the Greeks whose house is on fire, they roll in it. And while the Brits are helped by the locals, who house and transport them, the situation was a bit different in 2020.

When the Moria refugee camp caught fire that year, residents erected roadblocks to prevent fleeing refugees from entering their villages. Families have been trapped on the roads without food or water. Six Afghan men were wrongly accused of starting the fire. THE...