No holidays - carbon footprint

They really need to look at making train travel more affordable.

I recently priced up a trip to London (I'm in Scotland).

Flying - £45 return
Coach - £68 return
Train - £110 return

Lol.

Where did I say I was flying anywhere? I don't even live in the UK and even if I did I wouldn't be flying to Benidorm or Costa Del Sol - not my thing.

I was simply replying to your rather simplistic view of how tourism works - and for your information some countries actually have less tourists visiting than before the pandemic - lol

We haven't flown for 16 years

No. Only on mn. I'm lucky if I fly once a year anyway. That makes no difference to a flight that's already booked. Having children in the first place is a major contributor. I'm aware, don't do lots of things.

But I find some of the food rules confusing. Some need to be taken into perspective: eg because buying fruit from local shops helps. But some vegan products are produced far away so that can't be good airmiles wise. You need to be aware and conscious, but fur some decisions you'd have ti work out the maths (joke) using a complicated equation, and most people aren't prepared to do that.

I fly every few years. Last time was last year to the US to visit friends, time before was three years prior to Canada to see same friends.

While I don't fly loads I did feel trapped during the travel restrictions through Covid and I wouldn't ever impose such restrictions on myself.

I have no current plans to fly.

I think its harder to be carbon friendly when poor, except through things like travel. I can't afford solar panels or electric cars, for example. I can't afford to buy local produce at higher prices. I work long hours so can't grow my own.

Almost everyone in my circle has a no fly policy, not a no holiday policy.

We're well educated and work in coinage adjacent fields. It's much more common in wealthier and better educated circles, for obvious reasons

This makes me think of my bosses.

Obsessed with @Teacherbee85 lecturing us about environment (even have a sustainability team to badger you even more) yet themselves fly about 10 times a year each to various exotic destinations.

I can’t afford to fly because of the cost of living but I would if I could!

Climate scientists are indeed scared. They know more than the average Joe and know what’s to come. 😞 In the news today there are more dangerous heatwaves being reported. China are building renewables at a faster rate than anyone too. The UK could have been global leaders in green tech 😞

I try not to loose sleep and just do my bit. But you are right.

I don’t fly because I hate flying. I have solar panels and 2 electric cars but not for environmental reasons. It’s to save money.

I don’t fly because I just can’t bring myself to now i know the facts and have made the link. I know those flights continue but that doesn’t matter. I know I can look my DC in the eye when they are older and say ‘I did what I could’.

But, if enough people did stop or cut down on flying then the aviation industry would adjust the number of flights accordingly. They are not going to run half empty planes. They will not run at a loss. So eventually there would be higher prices and less flights. Eventually it would make a difference.

But that’s not my goal, what will be will be, like with meat, I couldn’t knowingly contribute to suffering of animals so I don’t. It’s about my own personal moral code.

if more people make individual changes it’s adds up. Most of the carbon expended is down to our individual choices added up together. You can make changes individually as well as strategically. But having looked at our individual carbon footprint, flying was by far the biggest impact. Having informed ourselves of the facts, we made the decision that we couldn’t justify it. We do a lot of other strategic stuff too.

Can I ask why you feel the need to argue against the position people have taken to reduce flying? What difference does it make to you? I am curious because this dynamic happens a lot.

I don’t eat meat and people used to tell me all the reasons my choice not to eat meat wouldn’t make any difference. Why? It makes no difference to anyone else if I dont eat meat, don’t fly, drive an electric car, don’t drink much alcohol, yet people will often feel the need to comment on my choices (without me starting a conversation about it) and try and dissuade me. My only theory so far is that it highlights cognitive dissonance/guilt and/or shame, which is uncomfortable to sit with.

I know someone who refuses to go on holiday at all for environmental reasons. However, he also drives a big gas guzzling car and lives in a massive house with a pool. His carbon footprint is probably through the roof on heating his house and pool and pottering round in his car.

We haven't stopped going on holiday but have tried to cut down flying. So instead of flying for all our holidays we might do one week in the UK, our main holiday tends to be a ferry then cycle touring/public transport. I also sometimes have to fly for work so try to have a few days holiday at the same time to double dip the flights. So this year it looks like a week in andalucia (work flights from a trip to seville), a week in the lake district, two weeks in europe (ferry/bike/train), a long weekend in Paris (work flights) and a week in Spain (proper holiday with flights).

We also try to reduce our footprint in other ways to make up for the flying!

I'd be genuinely interested to know on what basis you consider yourself to be environmentally aware?

I am making an effort to reduce flying but won't eliminate it completely. My family lives abroad, 1.5 hours by plane and over 7 hours by train. I visit them about 3 times a year, so I am trying to reduce flying to once a year or less and take the train the other times. I'll fly to other holiday destinations but am eager to take the train to any destinations where it's possible and doable.

Not all employers are the same. Mine actively encourages employees to travel by train to work meetings in Europe even if that means extra time spent out of the office.

We don't fly, mainly because it's too much bother, we are getting a motorhome instead...

I'm going on 4 holidays this year. One is by plane, the others are by train. Last year I had 2 holidays, one by plane and one by train. The year before that I had 3 holidays, all by train. The year before that, one by car and 2 by train.

So, not perfect but better than 12 trips by plane.

I met a guy about fifteen years ago that traveled for two days by coach rather than take a three hour flight, because of the environmental impact - so they do exist. It was for study rather than a holiday, but I'm pretty sure he wouldn't fly for a holiday.

And very few people I know take two holidays per year. Many don't get one every year.

I was looking at holidays a few days ago and was surprised at the number of places that listed all the "environmentally-friendly" measures that various hotels were claiming.
Talk about greenwashing! I was almost expecting some pop-up condemning me for wanting to fly to visit these places. It was all very off-putting and "worthy".
Personally I do not think enough attention is focused on the damage to the environment caused by the internet, e-mail generation and storage and cloud computing. Almost nobody mentions this.

I have a friend who is in the Green Party and doesn't fly. But she also doesn't work so can take three weeks out of her life to drive to Europe in a van. If you've only got a week off at a time that's just nit possible.

Blindest*

@ForGreyKoala there's about 8000 planes in the sky right now.

If you choose not to fly to Costa Del Sol next week, someone else sure will be sat in that seat.

There are more flights in the sky than ever, with more and more people flying every year. It's documented that there are about 200 million more flying passengers since the pandemic.

So no, what you're doing by not flying to Benidorm and the other select few who are also not flying, it's not making the blinders bit of difference, lol

If enough people stop flying there will be less flights lol