Flying - I know many love to do it, but is it worth it in the bigger picture? - YouLookFab Forum

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Flying - I know many love to do it, but is it worth it in the bigger picture?

texstyle

(website)

Veteran

This is probably going to make people cringe - who wants to be labeled as part of creating more pollution and carbon? But I still think it's important enough to share. And yes, I flew twice last year but I have to say it's not something I enjoy doing personally. I wish there was a better solution.

https://www.vox.com/business-a.....r-arctic-i

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27 replies

Latest reply was from

Style Fan

Veteran

It is important to think about. I rarely fly. It has been years since I got on an airplane. I hate the experience with a passion. I feel like I am being wedged into a seat and then I have to sit there for hours. Going to the washroom is like jumping an obstacle course. And the security to get on the airplane!!!! Then there is the environmental impact to consider which is huge.
I admire Greta sailing across the Atlantic. I would be absolutely terrified. And very seasick.

Sal

Veteran

Thanks TexStyle - I think it is important to think about. I work in Aviation although most of our clients are Rescue and Medical Aircraft.

I justify my flying to myself but I think it is to appease my guilty conscience. I have flown to Europe once and to Australia once this year. So I am a contributor.

I went to a conference on Aviation this week and there are some hybrid and battery power aircraft in development but they won't take over long haul or large scale passenger aircraft.

Suz

(website)

Veteran

I am definitely a contributor. It is a serious issue. I tell myself I'm not the worst offender, and that is certainly true. I rarely drive. Instead, I walk most places or take public transit. I take the train where possible. I do eat red meat -- but very little of it, and all of that locally raised on small farms. Yes, I shop online (delivery is an environmental issue) but now that I live in a centre with bricks and mortar stores, I shop in person more. I also shop more at second-hand stores now, and at small local designers. And a longer term goal is to reduce my consumption.

Even so, I fly several times a year, minimum. For work and for family visits mostly—but also, occasionally, for a holiday.

A friend of mine is extremely involved in environmental efforts. She is still flying, but she pays carbon offsets to (partly) assuage her guilt. There are plenty of arguments pro and con.

https://www.bbc.com/news/business-48657582

https://www.ontheluce.com/carb.....g-flights/

My friend has the means to do this -- not everyone does, of course, and some people need to travel for work. Even then, more and more are refusing and saying they will meet online instead. For some projects/ companies/ situations/ that works. For others, not so much.

As for me, given my personal situation with family all over the world and work that also involves travel, flying is pretty much a given.

Jenn

(website)

Veteran

I’ve had to fly a lot this year. It’s just not feasible to spend four days driving every time I need to get to California and back. Today, though, for the first time ever, I purchased carbon credits to offset my travel. It’s not a perfect solution, but it’s better than nothing. It took five minutes and cost $6.50 for me to support a reforestation project equal to the carbon emissions from my round-trip flight.

texstyle

(website)

Veteran

I think it's all made worse by the sheer number of people on the planet and the corresponding increased number of those who are flying regularly. I guess there is no solution at all - the volume of carbon from flying is so high that no one can really pay there way out of it - the math just doesn't work out in the long run and those programs are not exactly monitored in an official way.

Recently a bunch of celebs all flew their private jets to a conference about climate change. The sheer
hypocrisy

of that is just amazing to me.

I know the airline industry is doing all it can to curb the news about the sad facts - if people were to reduce flying by even just 20% I can only imagine what a huge impact that would have on the industry.

Anonymous

I have a lot to say on this matter , but don’t want to offend anyone here . Just wanted to register my acknowledgment that this is a very important issue .

Anonymous

Yikes! I'm with SF, I hate air travel. I don't have to fly often, but do have to drive a lot.
I hope they can develop some more efficient solutions-solar or some sort of hybrid engine.

Quebella

I fly A LOT for work. And long hauls from NY to wast and southern African 4-5 times a year. I cringe when I think of my carbon footprint and I try to give to earth healing charities to offset as much as I can. Plus I don’t have a car and walk more than anything else. That must help a bit. Thanks for sharing this article. It’s good to know how bad it is.

Anonymous

This is getting to be a more serious problem with an aging population who tend to fly rather than the physical vigors of driving. I do not have control of my blood sugar. When it goes low, I cannot stay in my lane among other things DH refuses to let me drive on long trips but he gets sleepy. A plane is a better choice for an 8-10 hour car trip. There will be millions of us in a few years...baby boomers. I am taking notes on suggestions.

kkards

Veteran

i fly 7 or 8 times a year....almost allways to visit family...yes, i understand that there is an negative impact on the environment....but i thinking visiting family is important too...on the other hand, i don't have any children so i believe i've helped to offset my impact LOL....

JAileen

Veteran

Oh boy. The irony was not lost on me that by flying to see the polar bears (five flights each way), that we were hastening their demise.

I looked at a calculator last night, and the offset for my car (RAV4 hybrid) was $6. However, I had to put in double my actual mileage because their drop down box didn’t have a small enough option. Yes, I am the proverbial little old lady from Pasadena.

annagybe

(website)

Veteran

I fly a few times a year, long flights. I do commute mostly by bus, live in a small two bedroom condo, and don't have kids.
My father has been flying more than me, but that's a whole 'nother story.
I am very much aware of climate change, and have been since the 90's.
Also another issue is food miles. I love blueberries and yeah in the winter sometimes I get the ones from Chile. I should just get frozen ones in off-season.
ETA I’m also not good at meal prepping and end up getting a lot of premade salads etc, which is unfortunately a lot of plastic.

Gretchen

Veteran

I have a lot of thoughts on this, especially as someone who travels a lot for work. My basic opinion comes down to: it's better for more people to do little things to change habits than 1 person to do everything. So I do my best to question if the travel is necessary, and link trips whenever possible so I'm not flying across the country as often. And in my home life, we drive electric cars and shop/stay local whenever possible. I'm sure my carbon footprint is higher than many, but I try my best to limit where I can, and encourage others to do the same.

bj1111

Veteran

Im with @kkards. I’ve done my part not to produce a resource consuming earthling (think of all the energy saved by putative progeny from said non-earthling).

I’m extremely pessimistic that the collective we will be able to stop, let alone reverse, climate change. I just hope to have enough saved to heat my drafty house in my senescence.

Angie

(website)

Fashion Stylist

I'm with Suz and kkards.

Greg and I fly a lot and don't have a choice if we want to earn a living and visit aging parents who are not well. For the record, we don't enjoy flying at all. It is what it is.

The flip side to that is that I walk everywhere and barely drive at all. I haven't eaten a mammal in 23 years either, and do not have children.

Classically Casual

Veteran

I hate flying, and have only flown a handful of times since 9/11. I drive an electric car, and now legitimately tell people we’re lowering our carbon footprint. The electricity is almost totally generated by hydro power. No children either...we were young in the era of the zero population growth movement.

Latest project is to coordinate Amazon purchases with DH, and only hit the submit button once per week.

Gaylene

Veteran

Mr. G and I cycle, walk, and take the bus almost everywhere, fly 1-2 times a year to visit family, buy 80% of our groceries from local farmers and businesses, use fans for cooling in the summer and a small gas fireplace for heating in the winter, compost and reduce/reuse as much as we can, and, in general, try very hard to live a more responsible lifestyle.

BUT, we are lucky to now live as retirees in a location which makes it easy to have a satisfying life doing all these things. And I’m reminded of this:
Baby Boomer to Millennial: “Why did you rip your jeans?”
Millennial: “Why did you rip the ozone layer?”

I’m ashamed enough to think my trying to live responsibly at this point is probably way too little and much too late.

taylor

Veteran

I don’t enjoy flying at all . TSA has removed all the joy. High prices and overcrowded flights , dirty planes, I could go on and on.

I do however like getting from point A to point B in as little time as possible. Flying is really one of the many wonderful advances in modern society , it brings people and culture together like nothing else.

I don’t feel the need to apologize for flying. I haven’t flown in 3 yrs. but some people must fly often for work , emergency visits etc.
Sal made a great point about emergency flights, rescue and medical flights etc.

texstyle, I agree. Celebs and I will add politicians are the biggest hypocrites when it comes to this!

Astrid

Veteran

I will probably book a flight to Tenerife later today. I have no excuses (besides wanting to spend my forced holiday at the end of the year somewhere warm, after six months of working).

I think what we're not talking about a lot, but what we should be talking about, is how sick our system is and what we're going to do about it. Changing personal habits is a good thing and is certainly not a wasted effort, but it won't save the earth. That's what they want us to think because they want to keep on going as they are now (more or less). We only have a chance to do something against climate change if we become more political and push for changes on a far bigger scale (I'm pessimistic when it comes to that, unfortunately). This is an systemic issue, not a personal failing of individuals. People don't want to hear that, though. Just my two cents...

Janet

(website)

Veteran

Anyone is free to judge if you want, but I LOVE to fly because I love to travel. I want to see the world. There is really not another feasible efficient way to do it. My parents did not travel (other than my dad's tours in the military in two wars), and it was something I vowed to myself 30+ years ago that I would pursue when I had the means. And frankly, at 54, I'm pretty sure I have fewer truly active travel years ahead of me than behind me, so I'm willing to be a bit selfish about this. Heck, I never had kids, so I guess I'm saving the earth's resources in other ways, right? We have an electric car. I recycle. I donate. I am working to reduce how much energy and packaging we use.

I was going to mention the same thing Suz did about carbon offsets.

We have good friends (a couple, husband and wife) who are airline pilots, who also do more work than almost anyone I know protecting wildlife through their efforts with a conservation nonprofit. I believe it's possible to pursue things we love to do and make choices that help the earth. Everyone has their own priorities and things they are willing to do and not do for the greater good. Frankly, I'd rather put my effort into working to elect leaders who take this shit seriously and put environmental regulations in place for the biggest offenders -- large manufacturing and farming corporations.

Janet

(website)

Veteran

Oh, and Gaylene, I don't see any individual efforts as too little, too late. It's all an example for the younger generations.

JAileen

Veteran

I want to add that I fly not because I love it, but because in some cases it’s the only way to get there. There were no roads to the lodge in Manitoba, for example.

I gave up beef in 2001, and apparently cow farts really are that bad for the environment.

Anonymous

Enjoy flying? Hardly. What's to enjoy? The up side is, if it were enjoyable, we'd really have a much worse problem with the ozone. They've made automobiles a lot cleaner to run, so there's no reason the airlines can't do some mitigating of their environmental impact. No doubt they'll have to be pressured into it, though. I do a couple of big air trips every year, but hardly drive my car at all, so I'm hoping my carbon footprint is small (unlike my real feet).

Angie

(website)

Fashion Stylist

I really enjoyed what Astrid and Janet said. Thanks for sharing your perspectives.

Janet, I don't enjoy flying but like you, I LOVE traveling around the world. Nothing has enriched my life more, and opened my mind more, than seeing other parts of the world and how others live. And of course living in other parts of the world too.

shiny

Veteran

The only way we're going to make any significant impact is in the voting booth -- not with what any of us do on a daily basis. And the political will has to be there on a global basis. All countries have to get in line and agree on drastic measures to right this ship that's going down. And, it already is probably too late anyway, there is unlikely no time for a Hail Mary.

I am tired of being guilted and shamed. We've lived a low carbon footprint lifestyle for decades (before I took the job with 50% travel) and all that meant was that gas prices were cheaper so our neighbors could buy a honking huge gas guzzling SUV.

If you study this problem a lot, as I have done, there's no way out. We're all screwed, no matter what we do or don't do. Civilization collapse is coming. We just don't know when. But it's inevitable. Some are saying 2050, some are saying sooner than then. Every new report, I count on my fingers and guestimate whether I will still be alive for it, or will die before it happens.

So yeah I'm going to get on the plane and fly and see the world before it melts. My action may be hastening that, but if I don't, others are going to do it anyway.

Sorry to be negative. I get it. I was in the "bargaining" stage of grief for many years. Now I am in the acceptance stage.

The problem is way bigger than me. It started before I was born. The problem is way bigger than you too. Or any single country's political will.

How to Enjoy the End of the World
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5WPB2u8EzL8

Janet

(website)

Veteran

Well said, Shiny!

Anonymous

texstyle, thank you, I imagine you felt compelled to share this.

Things that come to mind are, from the best fortune cookie ever, "he who never expects gratitude is rarely disappointed" and of course, "no good deed goes unpunished"