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.

Exactly @thefamilyjuror! Well said.

Sorry I meant @theaveragejuror

No, sod off! 🙄

teenagetantrums

You do know that just because you choose not to fly somewhere that the plane is still going there. If the world is going to end I'm going to have a holiday once a year. My two now grown children fly more than me.

Sorry not sure how to embolden above comment. The above is a crazy comment. Like most industries, they are demand driven.

I am trying to reduce my flights but it's tricky. Live in Ireland and a lot of friends and family are in England. I'm not a fan of driving at the best if times…so taking car isn't really an option.

I do think we all need to be a bit more responsible so we can leave planet for future generations....I know I could Def do more

@letsrunfar I agree, I don't think it is going to affect us or our children to the extent that the media is portraying. I've just written this on another thread where someone's panicking that we've got 20 years left:

Whilst I do believe that civilisation will come to an end, I don't believe it will be in ours or our children's life time. I think it's scaremongering in a bid to get people to take drastic action, which I do agree with of course.

Exactly @thefamilyjuror! Well said.

@EleanorOalike thank you and I like what you've done there😁

If the OP had no children and no intention of having children she would have for the exact same response. People are focussing on her children to deflect from their own actions.

M3lon

In much the same vein... people don’t need to have children. They want to....

I am sure when the internet was created, cheap flights that you could book yourself were invented. Since then, flying has been increasing not decreasing each year
International food being transported & goods too

One of my hobbies is travel, why should I stop ???
I haven't eaten meat for decades

It's a NO from me

We all need to fly a lot less than we do. We holiday in the UK a lot more now and hardly fly. But until people are prevented from flying so much many people will continue to keep flying justifying it with stupid comments of my flights won’t make a difference etc.

IMO flights need rationing. People have got used to cheap and freely available flights. Soon people are going to have to alter their outlook on moving to other countries and being able to see friends and family as much. Businesses need to have to justify flying people round the world for meetings.

Globalisation is extremely bad for the earth.

The thing is, flying is an easy target because for many people it's relatively easy to cut out and can also be expensive. This means it's very easy for people to point the finger at those who fly, whilst studiously not looking at their multiple cars and children, and imported food, clothing, gadgets, furniture...

The Duke of Cambridge has warned the clock is ticking towards a tipping point when our impact on the environment will be irreversible.

hasn't stopped him from flying though!

You do know that just because you choose not to fly somewhere that the plane is still going there. If the world is going to end I'm going to have a holiday once a year. My two now grown children fly more than me.

Demand affects supply. Just google it please.

I agree, all this hand wringing that the human race could be at an end in 80yrs is utter fear mongering.

Stop lapping, stop flapping, start being sensible. That's all.

It's a good argument against emigration

M3lon

Can you not see the irony in Oneminuteandthenallgone posting quotes from The Duke of Cambridge?

Its almost as ironic as Dame Emma Thompson flying to the UK for the environmental protests.

Millions of people wouldn't have a job if people stopped flying. Aircraft manufacturers are doing more and more to ensure green travel. They are not sticking their fingers in their ears about environmental impact.

Having less children is the biggest thing we can do to help the environment- people desperately need to stop having so many, definitely no more than 2. Taking fewer flights is definitely up there though

IMO flights need rationing.

I feel a bit dizzy when I read things like this... I imagine the Central Comittee drawing up the flight schedule for the year.

A great start would be removing the bloody fuel subsidy (JET FUEL IS NOT TAXED). Then maybe add a mandatory carbon offset? See how things go.

Also there is plenty to worry about apart from Co2 - market forces/taxation have really jigged along renewable energy whereas biodiversity is absolutely tanking and deforestation is a disaster and jesus the palm oil/orangutang situation - unconscionable.

Can someone explain why they think the reports coming from climate change research are "scare-mongering"? I suspect it might be because the picture they paint is too awful to really comprehend, so there's a tendency to pretend it can't possibly happen that way. Or is there something else?

Genuinely, I'd like to know, because it feels a bit "had enough of experts" a la Gove.

This will be another effect of globalisation. My family are immigrants to the uk and some have now emigrated to other parts of the world. All for work.
Until we go back to whole families living and working locally, many people will travel regularly to visit family.

I think its pretty obvious the OP is inviting people to think it through. Some flights are unneccessary. Does a hen night have to be abroad? Is a flight to Paris a better option than Eurostar? Lovely to have a holiday home in Portugal or Ireland but is that an ethical choice if it means multiple flights to enjoy them. Family moving to Australia or a business expanding operations there on the basis of cheap transatlantic flights - whose resposibility is it to keep that option open? We have choices, and responsibilities, and take our chances.

And yet @Davros, if my parents and thousands of other people’s parents hadn’t have emigrated here then the NHS would have collapsed by the 80s.

Its almost as ironic as Dame Emma Thompson flying to the UK for the environmental protests.

She's really not that switched on, is she?

#curious
How many trees have you all planted? Or shrubs?

I plant a bee/butterfly friendly tree or shrub for every flight.
I recycle (abysmal in UK though compare to where I came from), reuse, repair, have no children, FULLY bee friendly garden including clover lawn, eat less meet, use minimum heating, we have 1 car, even my units are from recycled material. Oh and I use NO pesticides, even though I grow my own veg (bits and bobs) and actually grow weeds for elephant moths, cabbage for cabbage butterflies etc.
But god forbid I wanna fly to see my family🙄