AIBU to ask how many of you are seriously revising whether (or how often) you fly again?

[Thelowquietsea]

We don't fly often (one flight a year tops, mostly to Europe) but reducing my air travel is one of the few differences I can make towards climate change.

And yet, I'm celebrating a big birthday this year. I had an idea to take myself to a retreat quite far away, and now it's 'booking' time, I can't quite bring myself to do it. Especially in light of Australia's tragedy. I'm really torn.

How many of you are making serious sacrifices in this area?

Pressed go too soon! It's one way to cut down but by no means the only. Being a one car family helps, as does walking locally, buying local etc. You need to find what works for you.

Yes I think I we should all reduce our flying, not that I fly very often. Trains around Europe I believe are more eco-friendly.

I seldom fly, but mostly because I'm always skint 😐

Hopefully if we all start holidaying in UK we will improve our domestic economy too. Only problem is it's pretty dull going from one sea side resort to another. The weather is usually unreliable and you end up spending a fortune on dodgy fish and chips. There aren't so many regional variations any more and every high street around the land is virtually identical.

It’s not unreasonable to ask people the question however it’s not unreasonable to go on a holiday either. I’m off to the maldives for my 20th wedding anniversary. That will involve 3 planes and a speedboat. It’s likely the only overseas trip my husband and I will have this year and it’s for a special occasion. I understand the climate issue but a lot of countries also look for tourism to bolster their economies.

I've used the train in Europe a lot more, and I also tend to use smaller, propeller planes for short haul, which use a fraction of the AVGAS jets use and are more environmentally friendly. I have never flown long haul and probably never will.

Why not? I’m genuinely interested. Does climate change not concern you?

I haven't flown for ten years. Not sure I could with a clear conscience very easiky tbh. But I work on climate change adaptation so I'm too aware of the carbon emissions. Thinking in might take one long haul flight at some point, but I'd want to make it count.

TBH I feel very sad reading most of these responses, I don't think we should feel powerless and every little adds up but drastic action is required on national and international levels, as someone already said we won't have the same choices in future and our kids certainly won't. Business as usual on any level isn't going to help make the cuts to emissions needed. Frankly I feel everyone's mostly burying their head in the sand like the Aussie PM.

I couldn't give a flying f**k about climate change, as it's a complete misnomer, with very sound scientific evidence to prove it. Even if the climate change agenda was honest, it's not appropriate to put the burden of guilt on Joe Public, We are just consuming that we have been told to consume, in order to keep us drugged, 'happy' and less likely to revolt. It's for the industrial conglomerates and world leaders to put their money where their mouth is and change their political and economic agenda accordingly. I'm far more likely to reduce flights due to the ever increasing fear of being used as a ticket to paradise by the terminally gullible and having my 'infidel' ass blown out of the sky!

I’ve flown four times (short haul) in my four decades. The last time was for work eleven years ago. DH did a long haul trip about twenty years ago. Neither of us has felt the need to fly since, and managed to celebrate significant birthdays etc without boarding a plane

This is in large part for environmental reasons. We’re also either veggie or not-much-meat, mostly use public transport/walk (one car family- it’s a small car only used for essential journeys), have cut back on plastic and single-use items as much as possible.

Must be nice that all your family has never had to leave a relatively small area to obtain employment or education they otherwise couldn't get, have to move for medical reasons, or flee even worse so that your conscience isn't troubled by having to fly or not see them at all and you have the privilege to scorn those who aren't so fortunate.

As a family, we can afford to fly regularly. We choose not to. No long haul flights for 8 years. Wracked with guilt at short haul flight every 18 months and want to cut that down too. Making radical changes in the rest of our life too (car use and diet, buying charity shop clothes, avoiding products packaged in plastic, etc).

WE are all the problem. If you’re not changing how you live your life, YOU are the problem and you will have to justify to your children who will live with the catastrophic consequences why you made the selfish choices you did. I totally agree that business flights are often wholly unnecessary and I know plenty of people who hop on and off planes multiple times a month, but we all have our part to play as individuals. And if we look at everyone else and say “they’re behaving far worse than me, so I don’t have to modify my behaviour” then we’re all doomed. It’s like going to a restaurant and everyone ordering the most expensive thing because the bill will be split between the group. That would be considered CF behaviour on mumsnet; this is far more serious and should be called out too.

This makes for sobering reading from Oxfam - how we in Britain have already exceeded in 2 weeks the average annual per capita emissions for 7 African countries:

www.google.co.uk/amp/s/amp.theguardian.com/environment/2020/jan/05/britain-annual-carbon-emissions-overtake-africa-two-weeks-oxfam

I repeat: we are the problem.

Nope I wouldn’t
I’m off to On holiday in few weeks
New York in June and probably somewhere In Europe in September
I normally fly 3/4 times a year long haul for holidays and not about to give that up any more than I would become a vegan

Why not offset your flight? I plant trees every month to cover my carbon footprint. There are loads of organizations that can do this. I plant with Reforest action since they have sites near where I live (France) but are expensive at 3euros a tree. So I also plant with Graine de Vie since they plant in places where trees grow really fast and soak up the max carbon. If I remember right, they plant 4 trees per euro.

**”We work hard and holidays are our treat" - find a new treat - the people who will die and be displaced first from climate change worked hard too, and weren't enjoying long haul holidays as a treat. I used to love overseas travel, but regular flights don't sit well with me knowing what is happening.

For Europe we take Eurostar, which is fantastic. Nuclear powered in the French segment.**

I don’t want to find a new treat! We like holidays they are our downtime as a family and I enjoy travelling with kids.

the ' perfect human' with the lowest carbon footprint ?

Vegan
Grows own food
Recycles, composts, reuses
Swaps goods eg homegrown food for second hand clothes
No pets
No children
Travel via foot, bicycle or public transport
Contributes to society in some way, not necessarily a job
Lives in what sort of accommodation, tiny house ?
Insert add more to the list

Not many people live like this

Most of us do some of these things to try to help

Insert add more to the list

Reusable glass water bottle.
Cries inconsolably when they tread on a snail.

In the words of that great bastion of liberality Meat Loat, 2/10 ain’t bad.

Some of these posts make depressing reading. I can only assume you are very young, or can’t read. Otherwise it’s frankly terrifying.

You feel guilty but rich people take helicopters to football matches and have 5 super cars on their drive

You're not unreasonable to be conflicted. I however am not remotely conflicted and fly regularly and don't give it a second thought. However I'll take the Eurostar rather than fly to Paris.
I do other things to offset my carbon footprint but I like holidays in the sun too much to reduce the number of flights I take.

Haven’t read the thread but EasyJet are carbon neutral another reason to fly with them than the horrors of Ryanair.. and I’ll give up steak before I give up flying.

Actually it might be their flights that are carbon off set rather than all of them but even so..

I usually fly once a year to visit family in Europe. I am going on a long haul flight this year... probably a once in a lifetime trip. I won't let anyone guilt trip me for that.

I believe that reducing the carbon footprint is very important and it should really be something we work on every day.
I also believe that it will be very expensive in the future to fly- the days of budget airline & cheap holidays in exotic places are numbered.

One return trip a year, sometimes two.

I don’t drive, but I’m sure half my consumables and belongings are flown across the world before they get to me.