Commercial aviation is one of the biggest CO2 emitters.
But point that out to all the travel obsessed millennials who want to brag about their Prius and their composet pile… and they tell you what an awful person you are. lol
A 4 hr train trip vs a flight is about a 1000x difference in CO output.
I don’t travel much because it’s one of the most environmentally destructive things any single average person can do. Not traveling is way more green than buying a Prius/EV. But it seems to be the #1 social status marker among the under 40 set. Esp among young women.
Aviation is responsible for around 2% of emissions, but it’s also the global connector. While we should refrain from flying when possible just counting on individuals to take the best behavior won’t work.
What should be done:
- ban private jets
- end all the tax perks for aviation, which allow for insanely cheap tickets that promote senseless flying
- ban short over-land flights
- simplify ticketing and reduce prices on international trains in Europe, it’s almost always too expensive to cross borders by train in Europe, it makes no sense.
We need aviation, but we also need it to be sensible in a warming planet.
Or, hear me out, make it unnecessary to travel distances beyond a day of walking. Work from home was a blessing during the Pandemic, why can’t we make it the standard?
I agree with everything there but a ban on short distance flights. If the prices reflect the costs let people fly.
The problem is that that only happens because aviation gets tax perks that trains or buses don’t.
From a per-distance standpoint a flight is hardly any worse than driving alone. Cars are just that bad for the environment (and have fewer inspections for compliance and can afford to dump more particulates into the environment).
The single most environmentally destructive thing that people can do is drive. Fortunately, it’s also the single most lethal thing that people can do. Even more fortunately, it’s also insanely expensive to do. Even more more fortunately, a lack of car-based development allows for greater density and thus reduced mobility needs in general.
In working papers released over the past two years, Sivak has attempted to overturn the conventional wisdom: His main recent finding is that the average energy intensity of driving is about twice that of flying, a conclusion based on the current average on-road fuel economy of cars, pick-up trucks, SUVs, and vans (21.6 mpg).
