Litegreen Lifestyle, My Flying Dilemma
My Flying Dilemma
Topic: Travel
Litegreen's Chris tells us about his dilemma on flying and why he decided to give it a break.
So what's the story with flying? Over the last year there has been a build up of anti-aviation sentiment with the press telling us what bad 'world citizens' we are for flying! The same press incidentally which is full of adverts for flights at give away prices.
Then recently we heard that CO2 emissions from aviation are dwarfed by those from rainforest burning in places like Indonesia and Brazil, so does this mean that flying is okay now?
With all this confusion around flying, here are my thoughts on the subject (please excuse the geeky science in the next paragraph).
A week ago I heard David Miliband concede that "excluding magnification caused through CO2 emitted at high altitude (radiative forcing) aviation accounts for 7 per cent of UK emissions." Actually it's a lot more than that. If you count the radiative forcing effect it is over 13 per cent of UK emissions.
And it gets worse. International standards count only the flights of nationals leaving their home country, wrongly assuming that an equal number of foreign nationals will be entering the country and so balancing the books. But we Brits fly more than most and we account for 70 per cent of flights through UK airports.
If you count return journeys for UK citizens then aviation accounts for almost 20 per cent of the UK's total greenhouse gases!
To me these figures of 13-20 per cent sound like a significant number, one worth bothering about because aviation is also predicted to grow year on year and this growth is predicted to undermine all our efforts to cut CO2 emissions from our homes, cars and industry!
So while flying isn't the biggest source of CO2 (rainforest burning has that title!) it is still a significant part of the problem. And a part which we can directly control.
So now I have set the scene of my dilemma, I love travel and I am not anti aviation - it is certainly a luxury I have enjoyed and no doubt will do so again - but I have come to worry about aviation obesity!
My belief is that I should treat flying as a luxury, as a treat and that there are loads of other ways to go on holiday and to guarantee a relaxing break.
Me and the wife took the Flight Pledge nearly a year ago. We pledged to take only one long haul or two short haul flights in the following year. At the time I agonised over this decision. Would I be able to wean myself off my three to four return flight per year habit ? Would it be a year devoid of fun and sun?
Far from it - the result was that having made the decision to fly less we found heaps of other options. We became more conscious of alternatives and we saw it as a challenge to ensure that our quality of life didn't suffer. We haven't flown since August last year and this year we wont need to.
We had a week skiing in the Alps - by train, with civilised departure times, minimal queuing and seats reserved for each leg of the journey.
We had breakfast at Waterloo, lunch in Paris and arrived in Geneva with plenty of time to explore the city and enjoy an excellent dinner before meeting the rest of our party at Geneva airport the next day. We raved about it so much that next year the whole party are taking the train.
Next week we go to Denmark for a family birthday party and then its down to Toulouse in September for the Rugby World Cup - again no flying just ferry, train and hire car!
It may sound odd but holidays have become much more 'fun' because we have to think about them in advance and, like Christmas, anticipation is a big part of the experience. We have also rediscovered the pleasure in 'travelling'. Let's be honest there is no pleasure in air travel with all the waiting around, searches, do's and don'ts along with the ever present risk of strike action. Now we are less stressed and get to appreciate some scenery along the way.
A lot of my friends tell me they are trying to reduce the amount of flying they do as part of becoming more carbon aware in the same way as they are trying not to use the standby button on the TV or switch to more efficient cars...that's the Litegreen way!
We will fly again, but in future only sparingly so that it becomes both a luxury and a responsibility.
So here are some ideas to help you cut back your travel emissions:
1. Always take a journey by train if it's feasible - that definitely includes skiing.
2. Take the Flight Pledge or if that seems too strict promise to take one less flight than you did last year!
3 Once you've done that, reward yourself with a fun trip (by train of course!).Check out Alistair Sawdays Special Places to Stay - British Hotels Inns and other places.
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