As you read this, you may know someone or be that someone who has been stuck somewhere overseas when you’d rather be at home, or vice versa, you're one of the many stranded here when you'd rather be at your scheduled, paid for, long-awaited holiday destination...

Iceland’s volcano, Eyjafjallajökull (pronounced: “AY-uh-fyat-luh-YOE-kuutl-uh”) erupted on the April 15 sending plumes of smoke into the atmosphere. Of course, having tons of ash hanging around in the air is a huge aircraft safety threat, keeping in mind that the last time an aircraft was affected by smoke plumes from a volcano was in 1982 - when a British Airways 747 flight from London to Auckland encountered a plume from Mount Galunggung in Java, Indonesia. All four engines failed but the plane glided far enough out of the plumes for three of them to restart and work sufficiently - allowing an emergency landing at Jakarta, with 263 passengers unhurt…

Now I’d rather not be on an aircraft whose engines might stop working. So although the airspace ban has caused many people to want to pull their hair out, it’s made Mother Nature smile…

The very clever people at Information Is Beautiful put together the below graphic showing that in one day the European aviation industry emits 344,109 tons of CO2, compared to the 15,000 tons emitted by the volcano. Due to the airspace ban with 60% cancelled flights across Europe, in one day 206,465 CO2 is saved (or not emitted, as it would have been).

 

But at the same time as Mother Nature grins away, the cancellation of flights has hit the Kenyan horticulture industry the hardest, with Kenyan farmers losing $1.3 million per working day, leading to 5,000 workers being laid off and the dumping of tonnes of vegetables and flowers. In an interview with the Daily Nation, The Fresh Produce Exporters Association of Kenya chief executive officer Stephen Mbithi said, “We have handled drought, El Niño and the post-election violence, but we have not seen anything like this.”

Is Eyjafjallajökull volcano a blessing in disguise?

For updates on what is happening, visit www.guardian.co.uk/news/blog