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Thirteen percent of US citizens said they had never heard or read anything about global warming, according to a survey of more than 25,000 Internet users around the world.

57 percent of the whole survey considered global warming a "very serious problem" and a further 34 percent rated it a "serious problem". People in Latin America were most worried while US citizens were least concerned, with just 42 percent rating global warming "very serious". The United States emits about a quarter of all greenhouse gases.

But more Americans than ever are taking food-orientated vacations, according to the Travel Industry Association of America (TIA). Two in five holidaymakers have participated in activities associated with culinary tourism and it’s boom time in the hotel kitchens (that’s funny, I NEVER eat anything but breakfast in my hotel).

Tourism worldwide is booming: 842 million arrivals, a 4.5% growth rate, according to the latest United Nations World Tourism Organization figures. This exceeds the long-term forecast rate of 4.1%.

The numbers of people flying are soaring likewise, with low-coast and short-haul booming still faster:

Europe now makes a quarter of all low-cost flights worldwide: numbers rose by 15% to more than two million in January, according to trade news service OAG’s Quarterly Airline Traffic Statistics.

The world’s airlines scheduled 83,600 flights to and from Europe, 6,000 more than in January last year and more than 25,000 more than in the same month in 2002 (when they were still jittery after September 11th). This 8% increase in air services to and from Europe is twice the worldwide growth figure.

Low-cost airlines profited from a sharp 57% rise in the number of flights to and from the region, mostly new services between Europe and North Africa; the total number of seats on sale in Europe in January was more than 60 million (up 6%) compared with 45 million five years ago.

The British market saw a greater increase in internal flights over international services, with the number of flights rising four and one per cent respectively.

Flights to and from the USA are 5% higher at 114,700, and the 818,000 US domestic flights hit a 2% increase.

Meanwhile, the British Airports Authority (BAA) is planning a £2.2bn second runway and terminal at Stansted Airport. Local group Stop Stansted Expansion said a second runway would be an "environmental catastrophe". In November, Uttlesford Council turned down plans for expansion of the existing runway, with climate change one of the reasons for the refusal. A public inquiry is expected to start in May into this separate application, which would allow the airport to grow passengers from 25 million to 35 million by 2014-15.

BAA expects to reach around 45 million passengers a year at the airport by 2018-19 and, with further phased expansion, grow to 68 million passengers a year by 2030. The low-cost airlines who dominate Stansted think it’s still insufficient. EasyJet chief executive Andy Harrison said: "Today's plans are little better than any of the other plans BAA has put on the table in the last couple of years at Stansted.”

Meanwhile and more seriously, Indonesia could lose about 2,000 islands by 2030 due to climate change, according to the UN: sea levels are expected to rise about 89 centimetres in 2030 which means about 2,000 (mostly uninhabited) small islets would be submerged. The country’s Environment Minister Rachmat Witoelar had a few words of comparative comfort.

"We are still in a better position. Island countries like Saint Lucia, Fiji and the Bahamas would likely disappear," he told reporters.  

A major UN conference on climate change will be held in the Indonesian island of Bali in December.