The choice of the 'green economy' as one of the main themes for the next world Earth Summit (Rio +20) seemed to appeal to a range of governments on the basis that it could provide an optimistic and forward looking agenda.

Like the looming kraken emerging from a murky underworld, the ash cloud has now returned to hunt European skies once more. Flights have again been grounded, airports are in disarray, and political parties have been forced into drafting strategies on how to protect their airspace from a clump of dust participles. The ash cloud has cost the airline industry over 1.1 billion euros.