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?

No, I am not suggesting flying is worse. I am saying it’s having a negative impact however little. Sorry if that was not as clear. Billionaire emissions too are terrible. But the point of this post was to encourage mumsnet users (majority of whom are likely not billionaires) to rethink before judging the choices of other people, especially whose constraints in life are different from theirs

How many times have you been away on a plane and how many countries have you visited?

But if a billionaire burns through my lifetime emissions, even if I use a plane once a year, in a day then it makes absolutely no difference whether I fly. It’s not a ‘however small’ issue. It’s a ‘literally pointless self denial’ issue.

Edit: your title is asking people to swerve flights. You only bring up the comparison with fast fashion and asking not to judge as a secondary thing b

It’s not just rich people flying, it’s the easyJet/Ryanair/Tui pay £2 a week all year for a fortnight in Majorca that FAR outnumber the ‘rich’ people who fly abroad for holidays.

its the Gen Z extreme day trip trends, its the city break/hen party/stag party/destination wedding crowd.

It’s the billionaires

Rich people won’t buy Shein.

this thread is ridiculous.

No. Do the maths. Far more of the very ordinary habitual travellers with their multi breaks a year than there are billionaires

Why the chiding, corrective, "don't ask for/do this, ask for/do that?" approach and tone? Wouldn't it be better for people to "swerve" Shein and Temu AND unnecessary plane trips AND owning/driving private vehicles (and electric vehicles aren't unproblematic either), or whichever combination they reasonably can do? If every little bit helps, then logically MORE little bits add up to help more.

In that case, one person buying few items from Shein/Temu should not make any difference on the grand scheme of things?

See my statistics earlier.

No. Which is why I don’t judge them either. Seems like you do or why would you think others do? People do what they need to do. They are doing their best.

By “rich” I meant people who are not in the lowest income bracket, but love to judge the poorest who purchase some things from Shein/Temu

If you go through the original Shein/Temu post linked, you will start to see why I think others judge

I travel and will not stop. My flights are chuff all compared to the crap China, Brazil etc chuck out. Go and preach at them before starting on me. Oh by the way where did your phone and computer come from ?

yes, you are being unreasonable - though to be fair, I stopped reading when you spoke about vacations, if you said holidays I would have read all the other words😂

@Happyone99
Do you have / do any of the following?

child / children
pet
car (any kind)
laptop
phone
TV
Microwave
buy any meat not from a local, high welfare farm
buy any fruit or veg not grown locally
have any clothes / bedding etc not made locally

If you can say NO to all of the above I will stop flying.

As to the sudden decision to bring in judging people who use Temu / Shein. I don't personally use them but I don't judge people who do because it's not my business and has nothing to do with me flying.

Perhaps you could have just, said that then?

YANBU - some people have ridiculous carbon footprints.

I did fly once last year. Some of the people I know were away every other weekend.

For info OP the highest emissions from transport relate to cars pretty sure this is wrong but perhaps it's right if you disregard private jets. But why would you?

I drive a hybrid and commute to work by foot/rail, so my car gets very little use. I suspect my one flight produced more carbon than my car use for the year.

Then we could not really see what reasons people came up with. And compare those reasons with that in the Shein/Temu thread.

I am smaller than the average human. Therefore I consume less food. I don't eat meat everyday. I don't shower every day. I rewear clothes before I wash them if I can. I still have clothes in my wardrobe that I wear that I bought 20 years ago. I don't have a dog. I don't have two kids. I drive a small car. My house is fricking freezing because DH insists on the thermostat only being 18c. I walk everywhere as much as I can. I buy local produce when I can.

Therefore I can fly more than other Brits.

I meant don't be like the vast majority of Europeans who eat meat every day.

The only place I fly to is Australia every 3 years, so no I won't be swerving that.

I only fly every few years, I won't be giving that up as it would cost far too much and take far too much time to travel from my country to the uk by car and ferry, several days in fact and not sure that much driving would be any better.

I remember the comedian Lee Evans talking about climate change:

"Russia and China are the biggest producers and users of fossil fuels, emitting 11.9 billion metric tons of carbon dioxide yearly and then you've got Las Vegas lit up like a fucking Christmas tree every night but apparently it's ME!"

Yabvu and gullible. There is no climate crisis.