To be pissed off at people who constantly say we need to fly less?

[lockdowncockdown]

I'm probably going to get flamed for this but here goes. Am I being unreasonable to be annoyed by the people who constantly say 'well, we need to fly less anyway'. Well, yes that's ok for you to say at 40/50 years old after you've spent the last 20 years flying all over the world and brandishing yourself as ' well travelled' and cultured. What about those of us in our early twenties like me who has been abroad four times in my whole life, not even to anywhere particularly exciting and I'm just about to finish university and was hoping to finally be able to travel a bit? It's ok to spout nonsense about flying less when you've been lucky and already had your experiences but I find it very hypocritical to want to deny others the same experiences that you were lucky enough to have.

And most people I have heard saying that we need to fly less have been young (20's).

We all need to fly less.

The trouble is most of the people who tell us to fly less fly a lot more than the rest of us.

Yes like the celebrities who jump on a private jet to go to a meeting on climate change... have they never heard of Zoom?

Our flights atm are virtually non existent.

Is it making a significant impact on global warming

No

So shouldn’t we be looking at stuff that would make an impact instead of fiddling around at the edges trying to save 1% here and there

The hassle of getting to an airport, checking in, going through security, lining up in a cramped place to get on board, get on board etc. doesn't really appeal to me anymore.

Probably require 4 or more hours in an airport with social distancing etc. but then once through the aircraft door, it's a free for all on board.

Anyway we are all free to make our own decisions about this, am not preaching at all.

We do need to fly less.

I'm 40 and we as a family have only flown once abroad together for a holiday after many, many years of holidaying in Scotland. In fact, I don't think I have flown abroad more than 10 times in my entire life, and most of it was when I was at university to my early 20s.

If you want to fly to travel, then nobody is stopping you.

I do however object to the ageist crap you spouted about those of us in our 40s and 50s who have been flying for the last 20 years. What utter nonsense.

So shouldn’t we be looking at stuff that would make an impact instead of fiddling around at the edges trying to save 1% here and there

Exactly. You are not going to make a dent in emissions by grounding the aviation industry. So why focus on that when you can switch out coal for natural gas (or my preference, nuclear) and make a much bigger impact with hardly any downsides?

I just don’t get it.

We do need to fly less

Why?

In the grand scheme of things even if all airports closed down then global warming emissions would only go down by 2%

Wouldn’t it be better to focus your attention on buying less, on not eating animal products and our power supply

That though would impact everyone not just those that can afford to holiday abroad and I think no one wants to change their lifestyle enough.

Far better to point the finger at others.

I think someone should invent a better method of transport which allows us to travel long distances at high speed with low emissions.

Anybody here know someone smart enough to throw something like that together this weekend? ...anyone..?

It’s called an airplane and it only rises global warming by 2%

I think we should be looking at going back to eating only fruit and vegetables which are in season, like we used to, rather than expecting strawberries in January, etc. All these items are flown in how many times per week from many countries across the world, and to many countries in the world. Think about that number of air miles, rather than one family going on holiday maybe once a year and flying there!

We do need to fly less. And I say this as an avid traveller who has backpacked extensively over 4 continents and still have so much travelling I want to do.

We do need to fly less

People keep saying this but they don’t establish the reasoning behind it. Aviation does not emit more than 2-3% of global emissions so any reduction is pretty meaningless.

I hate this phrase, but it does seem like empty virtue signalling

We do need to fly less. And I say this as an avid traveller who has backpacked extensively over 4 continents and still have so much travelling I want to do

Right. Only as you've travelled all over, you think others shouldn't have the privilege.