To ask you to stop flying

[Walkingthere]

We are facing a climate disaster. Our children will have to live through it. And yet I overheard two women today discussing how many holidays abroad they had been on this year. Both over 60 years of age. Obviously it will not directly impact on them.
This is also very common in my social group, people jetting off 4-5 times a year. Mini-breaks, weekends away, European trips, long haul, hen do's, weddings, birthdays. It's unbelievable how much people are burying their heads in the sand.

We need to stop flying. Urgently. Now. My family have not flown in over 5 years. We used to travel a lot, before we realised the consequences. I am putting this here, to make people think, we all need to urgently reduce (ideally stop) flying now.

Actually yes all meetings could be adapted to be over Skype, they might be different, slightly less effective but it’s a matter of weighing up the desire to prevent a potential small dip in revenue with the NEEDS of the planet

You really can't.
I train people, and I can't do a week's training over Skype. Not if I want to work out how people are actually doing the thing I'm training them to do, which includes going to places without wifi and talking to people, and me working out if they are asking the right questions in the right way.

It's like saying children don't need to go to school, they can just stay home and dial in.

LaminateAnecdotes....Donald, is that.....is that you!?

No but seriously, carbon fee and dividend is actually a very good economic model for moving quickly to a low carbon economy. It’s been around for a few years and people are really trying to get it heard. As much as capitalism has fucked up the world, what’s not going to change in the next 11 years is how the world works, so we need a system for change that doesn’t reinvent the wheel. Taxing carbon at source incentivises big business to make money from clean energy in a way that piddly gov incentives could only dream of.

You do you but don't try and get other people to stop flying. Not only do I want to go on holiday but I also want to visit my family who live all over the world. I do other stuff to help the planet but stopping flying isn't one of them.

LaminateAnecdotes....Donald, is that.....is that you!?

Er, no. Just someone old enough to have realised that if you want to get anything done, the best way to ensure it never happens is to suggest it benefits everyone. Because that isn't - and never has been - what any political system in the world was ever meant to do. Or does.

Taxing carbon at source incentivises big business to make money from clean energy in a way that piddly gov incentives could only dream of.

Governments don't give two shits about tax revenues. If they did, they'd tax the rich and big companies properly. As long as the rich stay rich, taxation is working just fine. And as long as we can sell that to the poor as "austerity" then so much the better. There's an added bonus if you can actually persuade people to cut benefits into the bargain.

Drspouse, actually you probably could all of our training is delivered via Skype/webinars. Is it as effective? No is it a worthwhile trade of both economically and environmentally-yes.

Kids in many remote parts do schooling via Skype (it used to be 2way radio) rap in Australia.

Yes. I work to go on holiday. So don’t ask me to stop flying.

LaminateAnecdotes - carbon fee & dividend isn’t a political system. Nor is it a tax in the traditional sense in that any of the revenue would be kept by government, the entirety of money would be given out, equally, as a dividend to everyone.
There is a massive problem with tax avoidance and rich/poor inequality. It will only get worse unless people do something about it (personally, I think inaction is not an option, no matter how bleak your world view). I’ll post a link...

citizensclimatelobby.uk/take-action/write-to-your-mp/

Dottyboxes And frankly if people lived near their families and raised their children within the extended family like they used to rather than flitting round all across the planet, they wouldn't have the issue of not seeing family.

The problem with that is that some jobs require you to move regularly or be based within 25 minutes of your workplace. Some jobs are only in certain places, so you have to move to where the work is. Do you live where you were born?

LaminateAnecdotes - carbon fee & dividend isn’t a political system.

But unless you are proposing a revolution, you'll need a political system to make changes to anything involving legislation ...

I've been more wrong in my life when I've been less cynical than more. It's why us oldies can be so hard to persuade sometimes ...

Over crowding in schools can be dealt with by more and better schools
technological advancement comes from many minds working together, sharing and building on idea's etc

Business travelers account for 12 percent of passengers but are typically twice as profitable for airlines.

I can't do a week's training over Skype
no, but when we have immersive VR and AR the potential for remote working will expand

My family are in South Africa.... I'm hardly going to to get a ferry there.

Whosorrynow oh and where is the money for that coming from?

No,not going to stop flying,I do it rarely but some random person asking on the Internet means jack shit to me.

no, but when we have immersive VR and AR the potential for remote working will expand

When people still use the phone over email, I doubt it ....

When people still use the phone over email, I doubt it

That's a good thing. What's wrong with using the phone rather than email?

That's a good thing. What's wrong with using the phone rather than email?

I prefer to do things at my convenience, not yours. Why should I have to wait in a queue when I could compose and send an email whenever I like ? And then why shouldn't I be able to read your reply when I want, rather than drop everything when my phone rings.

Plus you get a ready made audit trail.

AR and VR will contain the potential for detailed audit trails, every action can be captured & logged

oh and where is the money for that coming from?
I can imagine a similar response had I tried to explain the modern internet or Netflix steaming to someone in the 1980's

Do you live where you were born?

Yes, I live ten minutes away from my family. My son was born in the same hospital I was born in.

M3lon
Or in shorter form, if someone else is fucking the environment that doesn't mean its okay for you to do so too.

In reality if others are fucking the environment it is EVEN MORE IMPORTANT that YOU DONT.

Or in another form

It doesn't matter that you are fucking over the environment more than those without children, they childless should do even more so that you can fuck them over even more so that you can live how you want to.

Lucky you Dottyboxes...evidently you've never had to move for work, because HMG requires you to do so. That's probably why you are being sanctimonious about those who do live away from family.

I do not have a car. If I go away a few times a year, I am not polluting the planet everyday like mothers who clog up the roads on a school run instead id walking for 10 minutes.