To ask you to swerve vacations abroad on airplanes

[Happyone99]

Inspired by https://www.mumsnet.com/talk/am_i_being_unreasonable/5433252-to-ask-you-to-swerve-shein-temu?page=24

As mentioned above, I personally don’t use Shein or Temu because they ARE terrible. However, why only change bad things lower income people happen to be involved with, rather than starting with things higher income people are involved with

Slave labour and poor working conditions are indeed terrible. So is the climate crisis, exacerbated by rich people flying on airplanes for vacations, and poor people in low-lying countries like Bangladesh suffer worst environmental consequences

Who are responsible for the most emissions and who are suffering the most?

Its funny how people love to travel, just not the language

Tell you what, you stop using motor vehicles and walk or cycle.
Stop heating your house using anything that is not sustainable
Don't replace your phone/tablet/computer because of the rare metals used in their production
Don't buy an electric car because of the damage it's already caused to the environment

I could go on, but everything we do has a massive impact and my 2 flights there and back a year is like 1cc of water dropped in the ocean compared to the pollution that China has produced in the time it takes you to read this post

Ask the fuckers who fly into Davos first

Comedy is not your forte.
Don't give up the day job 🙄

Oh, this is supposed to be comedy?

bangs head repeatedly against wall

Your selfish consumption is ruining others' lives.

~sent from my iPhone made in one of those Foxconn factories with the suicide nets

I agree OP. Haven't flown for about 8 years for this reason. I really despair about people's attitudes. I had university friends who would fly from the north west to the south because it was slightly cheaper than the train.

I wouldn't rule out ever flying again, but it would have to be somewhere I really wanted / needed to go, and couldn't get there sensibly by other means.

Nah. As long as there's war and warfare with all that entails via costs and environmental damage there's absolutely no impact you can make. Also, Davos.

AI tells me its 1.5% if you include UK and territorial emissions.

Global footprint is higher it says, not sure on the difference.

It's just not viable to go abroad from the NW of England via train.

Our options are a very long drive to Folkestone and then onwards from there.

I have good friends in the Netherlands, I've known since childhood.

My options are a ten hour drive there and a ten hour drive back via Folkestone. To flight. Or to take the 11hr Ferry after a 4hr drive via Hull.

I was looking at it this week. A four hour drive and over night ferry isn't too bad. Except it's £250 one way. That's double the Chunnel. It's also cheaper for three of us to fly from Manchester airport to Schiphol - it's an hour flight and we close to the airport. As for the train?! Well it's two hour to London and it would be two or three hours from London plus passport control etc. Which I'd consider if there was a good and viable timetable which I could just book on from Manchester. But there isn't.

Why wouldn't I fly?

Don't ask us not to fly, ask transport providers to provide an alternative to flying which isn't going to take forever, is easy to book and is cheaper so the question becomes 'why fly?'.

YABU.

I don't drive and am a vegetarian and I don't like living in the UK, so I will continue to escape to the sun as often as I can afford, thank you.

What I find interesting on these threads is how people will say they don't drive, so they don't need to feel guilty about flying, as if driving was so much worse than flying.
Eating meat is actually one of the most relevant aspects in climate change. People shouldn't be lecturing others about flights, when a much bigger impact could be made by reducing meat consumption (no, you don't need to become a vegan, or even vegetarian. Just don't eat meat every single day like the vast majority of Europeans).

I have always been really careful about the environment, recycling reusing, no single use plastics, supporting local businesses etc. Little things like using solid soap instead of liquid. There is probably a long list of little things I do that others don't. We've been talking about our environment for years now and I always felt I was doing my little bit. Until recently when I heard about the astronomical damage AI is causing and everyone is embracing it because they don't give a shit. It's hard to reverse something thats existed for years before we realised the damage, but its another to buy into a new thing knowing the damage it causes. One by one businesses buy into it to save money, proving they don't care. Thats before we even consider the human cost. Every time I hear of someone using ChatGBT it makes me want to buy a plastic bottle and throw it in landfill. I feel like I've been taken for a mug all these years and im still making some effort but i find myself caring less recently and not inconveniencing myself so much. So no, I don't feel a bit guilty about flying and never will until the people in control start caring.

India is the world's third-largest greenhouse gas emitter.

Satire apparently.
Or the OP decided it was satire when it didn't go the way she planned 😁

Yes.

My impact on the suffering is less than a drop in the ocean. Me choosing not to fly is not going to make any difference to things ultimately however me choosing to go away is going to have an exponential impact on the quality of my life. My view is that the climate isn't going to be saved by stopping flying, it will be changing technology that saves it long term.

7 years on and I still think about my holiday to the Maldives and Botswana almost daily and smile thinking about it. Take that away and I will contribute to significantly more suffering as I will be a miserable fucker to those around me.

Which Europeans are they then?

We're by far not the highest consumers of meat

Well on the basis that I can't see my family without flying then no thank you.

Could not agree more. We (as a family) do so so much to reduce our Co2e. Then I hear of folk asking ChatGTP or Co-pilot to do everyday tasks like it’s of no consequence at all. The water consumption alone that AI relies on is obscene. Utterly obscene. People only give a shit when it suits their virtue signalling.

Hope was at least some people could see the irony, double standards, classism. And some have. Therefore, I am happy.

I dont buy from shein or temp but I do fly. We can all point fingers at others all we like. Fact is until we are systemically forced to change our behaviours, individual choices wont make much difference. Im in favour of enforced not voluntary change as this is the only thing that will have global impact on reducing environmentally negative things. For example, if tomorrow Temu and Shein were forced to stop trading due to not complying with stringent environmental rules, id be 100% in favour. If rules were brought in that every person had a legally enforced airmile limit, I'd be in favour of that at would comply. At least then I could be sure that systemic action is being taken. These rules aren't coming any time soon but give it 10 or 20 years and I believe they will, as the only way to correct over- consumption and excessive air travel.

Did ye, aye.

Nothing makes me want to book a long-haul flight more than a sanctimonious plea not to, I’m afraid.

I used to feel guilty about flying to go on holiday so I solved the problem by moving to my favourite holiday destination. Now I hardly ever get on a plane and see plenty of sun. Win, win!