Prize Flights: BBC urged to stop offering flights to competition winners

A petition launched by behavioural change charity Flight Free UK has now received support from environmental campaigners, after Radio 1 offered flights from the UK to US as a prize for listeners<br/>A petition to stop the BBC giving away flights as prizes has now reached more than 21,000 signatures, after an open letter to the broadcaster from some of the UK's leading environmental campaign groups urged it to stop glamourising carbon intensive activities. The campaign is led by charity Flight Free UK - which encourages behaviour change by challenging people to take a year off from flying - and has secured support from Greenpeace, Friends of The Earth, and Possible. The group first contacted the BBC at the end of February in response to two long-haul flights being offered as prizes on BBC Radio 1 when the station offered return flights to Nashville and LA. According to emissions data from Flight Emissions Map flying from the UK to Nashville and back could emit more than 1.8 tonnes of CO2 per passenger, while the LA trip would result in more than 2.2 tonnes per person. Flight Free UK said that this is equal to one person's entire annual carbon budget, as recommended by the IPCC.<br/>