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?

Well Harry and Meghan clearly aren’t - having had the bloody cheek to lecture us! ‘Splitting time between UK and USA’

This has got some numbers for those who like/demand that, and a graph too...
www.thelancet.com/journals/lanplh/article/PIIS2542-5196(17)30082-7/fulltext?elsca1=tlpr

There's a lot of info out there if anyone does want to look things up further, either to convince themselves or to see what they can do.

We need to reduce our carbon by 45% emissions cuts by 2030 on the way to a carbon neutral world by 2050 to stay within a carbon/temperate zone where were not fucked (technical term used in industry, won't be seen in the reports).

I do this for a day job and yes it can be depressing but we all need to contribute positive change, including through our influence as consumers and in pressure to our elected representatives, as well as those of us in the environmental sector doing our bit. For those who say you don't care, I hope you change your minds.

www.un.org/en/climatechange/assets/pdf/cas_report_11_dec.pdf

I would welcome legislation to stop us driving, restrict flights, eating beef etc.
I’m just not strong enough to give up my comforts when everyone else has them.
However- I didn’t use to recycle, I always got new plastic bags for shopping and I used to let my car idle with engine on. I would NEVER do any of these things now, thank you Greta.

As a family we aim for no more than one short haul flight every five years and plan no long haul. It is a bit sad not to travel, but it's just not sustainable.

We holiday in the UK. Camping, mostly.

And yes, I think everybody should be cutting down on flying or avoiding it altogether.

I have taken more holidays in the uk recently but have parent abroad so will not give up visiting them

And I drive need to for work

They say some people have the wandering gene and that's me.

I LIVE to travel. Usualy fly 3-4 times per year but I would travel internationally more if I had more time and funds. I basically work so I can see the world and I've no intention of that changing any time soon. Do I feel guilty? Definitely, but travel calls to me on an elemental level so I try to offset it in other ways:

Conserving water
Insulated house
Walking (I don't drive)
Recycling
Cutting out (as far as possible) single use plastics
Reusable bags
Biodegradable wipes/cleaning products
Seasonal food
Cutting down meat consumption as this contributes massively to climate change, particularly rate of change.

My husband enjoys the journey and we have caught trains across Europe to Germany, Spain etc. We even travelled by train and boat to Malta.

Even our honeymoon invoked travelling back from Dubai by boat.

I think we have said goodbye to flights but we do tend to drive. I wish you could put cars on trains.

It’s january. I live in Northern Europe. I haven’t got the heating on. Normally I would be dying of cold. Think we’ve missed the chance of sorting this. Which is really f...ng sad.

Totally agree with you OP. We need to start making serious cut backs in this area. The situation in Australia has brought the climate issue into sharp focus. I haven't totally ruled out short haul flights but they won't be often, maybe one every 3-4 years. I wouldn't do a long haul flight for a holiday, although I would to visit someone I loved (not applicable for me at the moment). There are plenty of beautiful places in the UK and Europe to visit anyway without going further afield. We do other things to try and help too, we are a vegetarian family, we buy renewable energy, we recycle, compost and are trying to reduce our plastic use (finding that hard). We're not perfect by any means and I appreciate that systemic change is also needed to address this issue, by governments and companies. I do sign petitions, e-mail companies/my MP and vote with my feet in terms of what/where I buy too. I do think that every little helps and if everyone does a bit to help the climate, and puts pressure on for systemic change, it can only make things better. Especially as now we have a Conservative government again, we can't rely on them to make the changes that are needed, individual actions become more important.

I last flew in 2012, and before that 2010. Both long haul. We get the train to Europe if we go.
If we decide to go long haul again, I won't feel guilty for it.

Meant to add: am vegetarian, don't drive (bus or walk), used reusable canvas bags before they were cool etc. My carbon footprint is pretty low.

We fly once every 2 or 3 years so not going to reduce that but have thought of getting a hybrid car as our next family car if its financially achievable. Little changes we can easily make 😊

agree on the lack of funding being a key issue. isn't it also on the hazard reduction fires that it's just not possible in certain areas now because of the drought / temperature rise

Yep, another factor
When i was a kid the smell of spring was farmers starting to back burn.
But cos of the drought everything already dry, huge fuel load and the window to back burn wasnt huge at all last year so that didnt/couldnt happen. Even our local area seemed to be less burning off after the crops came out. The risk of it taking off was too big as temps were already reaching into the 30s
Some areas also just cant be due to not being able to get there and do a burn safely.
Some areas have super strict clearing laws which yes the greens are mostly to blame for. But they not sole cause

I watched a documentary which stated emissions from cattle contribute to climate change more than all forms of transport put together (buses,trains, cars and planes) I have not eaten meat for a year now this is my contribution

I don't fly very much, one short haul every 3 years or so.

What I am doing this spring is planting more trees.

A return flight from London to New York produces a ton of CO2 per person
www.theguardian.com/environment/ng-interactive/2019/jul/19/carbon-calculator-how-taking-one-flight-emits-as-much-as-many-people-do-in-a-year

A single tree absorbs one ton of CO2 in its lifetime. So fat in my life I have planted aound 50 trees in properties and woodland near me.
This spring I will plant 4 more trees in my garden.
If everyone planted even a single tree the effect would be significant.

A single tree absorbs one ton of CO2 in its lifetime.

So planting trees is great but the problem is that trees have a long lifetime (if they don't get taken down) and so it takes a very long time for them to absorb that one ton. We simply don't have that time.

I applaud the planting of trees and we do so regularly (I am lucky enough to own ten acres of woodland), but its unfortunately not enough to plant a few trees and think you've offset your emissions. Time is running out to make big fast impact changes.

Reducing flights, red meat, fast fashion, unnecessary consumerism (nobody needs the latest iphone). We can all do that. We don't have to stop all together, just halving would be a start. The problem is that most of us won't.

I have to fly for work, a good few trips to Europe per year.

As a family, we have flown long haul and short haul and driven on the ferry and driven in our own country for holidays. Not all at once! Usually one main holiday per year, and some years we’ve had a 2nd trip - city break or (once) skiing.

We mostly use public transport and DH cycles a fair amount for daily commuting. Our overall footprint is well below average for this country. So I don’t feel guilty about the occasional flight for much-needed holidays.

kjhkj

I agree, but we need a multi faceted approach. Reducing flights, red meat, fast fashion, unnecessary consumerism (nobody needs the latest iphone

I hardly ever fly, don't eat meat, and don't buy into the idea of consumerism.
Pretty much everything I own is second hand- all of my furniture, almost all of my clothes, linen, household goods.
I am looking around the room i am sitting in- TV- second hand, two sofas and armchair, second hand, two lamps, both second hand. Cat bed, second hand, lap top I am typing on- second hand reconditioned, my trousers, top and cardigan, all from chaity shops, table- charity shop. Curtains- charity shop. In fact I am struggling to lay my eyes on anything that I bought new!

Nope, my family is in the US and Scotland. I am in London. Once a year to the US . We meet family travelling for business when we can. The rest of the year we walk and take public transport but family fills my soul for another year.

I grow a lot of veggies in our small garden - which both reduces the amount we buy and absorbs more CO2 in the growing. We eat some red meat but only about twice a week (lots of fish, chicken and many purely veggies meals). We keep our heating relatively low. We have good insulation to keep that heat in. We don’t waste much food and generally buy hard wearing clothes that we look after and last for years.

@pantherrose - I would LOVE to see the scientific evidence backing up climate change as a misnomer. Could you please share?

"We Do Not Inherit the Earth from Our Ancestors, We Borrow It from Our Children"

If you feel you must keep flying then look at what else you can do to see your children do not have their lives ruined.

I also have to fly for work but this is infrequent and quite sporadic. Overseas conferences, vivas and archival visits sometimes require long-haul flights. This wouldn't average out at once a year; more like once every 3-4. Short-haul flights are more frequent, but I'm increasingly seeing online conference with podcast presentations as opposed to the physical experience. I confess I'm disappointed. I love coming together, keeping proper contact, and having actual conversation with colleagues in my discipline. Making everything 'remote' will not be the same and I hope it won't become the general pattern.

My sector is fairly sensitive to these issues and has taken some small steps. There are no bottled drinks now available anywhere on our campus; these have all been replaced with aluminium cans. I have a water bottle that I refill and few vacuum sealed coffee cups that come with me everywhere I go (these have the added advantage of keeping drinks warm for hours)! This is all good as far as I'm concerned.

I was vegetarian for 20 years (that meant NO meat - no pretending to be vegan and then stuffing my face with burgers). I gave that up when a solely carb-based diet started to cause me health issues. I still love veggie food but make no apologies for loving my slow-cooker :) But I've done my bit for the planet in cutting it out for two decades, and I still have a number of meat-free days a week.

The shocker for me lately has been Christmas and the sheer scale of the waste it generates. Plastic is a major issue: I recently visited a seabird sanctuary whose nesting colonies were strewn with the stuff. The impact one end-user can make as opposed to the corporate entities who cocoon everything in plastic is probably minimal, but I can't in all conscience continue to justify two trips to the skip with all the waste wrapping. Online ordering doesn't help with this either. I'll be taking whatever steps I can to improve next year.

Only legislation can effect any really significant improvement. Yet governments don't seem too keen to go after the corporate entities who are seriously contributing to the problem. It's not too difficult to see why (easier to claim global warming is natural, has nothing to do with humans, and is a scam).

No, I am not. Because me popping over to Ireland or down to Spain, twice in 15 years....really isn’t going to make any difference.

What percentage of flights are for work? I suspect rather a lot. I also suspect they could easily be halved without much loss...

Video conferencing etc is really rather good now! State of the art virtual reality meetings anyone?