A question that has been swiped under the rug for a decade now has to deal with one of England’s oldest airports. Tuesday October 25th the British government decided to endorse the expansion of Heathrow airport to include another runway. Heathrow airport was built close to the city back in a time when the scope of aviation was not fully realized. Being so close to residential centers has made life discomforting for the people who live in these residential areas and made it almost impossible to expand the airport. This is where the problems start to arise. Parliament is split with the conservatives on one side of the fence saying that this is needed to compete with other European airports that are taking money away form England. The liberal side saying that this is un-ethical because it will force hundreds of London residents out of their homes. The differing opinions are so strong about this issue that the vote for wether this plan to expand the airport has been put on hold for a year.
This specific story has to deal with two different ethical dilemmas that we covered in class. First is the ring of Gyges. This i believe is something that could come up in the future. Many people in the British government have ties to this airport like the London mayor and would benefit from a government grant to the expansion of Heathrow. They are in the process of using their political pull in the government to push this act through. But there also is an argument for why Britain should do this. They say that doing this will create jobs and bring money into the county. The price for this is that hundreds of people will lose their home and even more of the residential area will suffer from living under the an airport. This is a parallel to the trolley problems that we have discussed in class. Do we put hundreds out of their way to create jobs for thousands which will also bring trade and commerce to England? In my opinion i side with the conservatives when they say that we should not put people out of their homes. In my opinion the ethical option that would saves peoples homes and yet still generate jobs as wealth is the expansion of Gatwik. It is out of residential areas and will still add more commerce if another runway was built there.
phi325 