As recent Newcastle University graduates, our proximity to Cumbria, and thus the highly public, environmentally-centred row over the construction of Cumbria Coal Mine meant that we closely followed the controversy throughout our time at university. Now, just two days from the beginning of the public inquiry expected to last until mid-September, its significance as a precedent of the value of public opinion is clearer than ever.

You’d be forgiven for hearing the words “flight shame” and looking puzzled while on UK soil; in Sweden, however, “flygskam” has rapidly become a part of everyday vocabulary.

Coined in 2018, and attributed in part to the ever increasing influence of Time Magazine’s person of the year Greta Thunberg, the Swedish term aims to increase travellers’ accountability for the emissions produced while flying. And the impact of this awareness is undoubtable; Airport operator Swedavia point to the climate c