If you travel on a plane you are worse than a climate denier
Do you care about the environment? Do you think global warming is real and that we must make a better effort to stop global warming? Well, if this is the case then you should not be flying at all.
I have a friend who is to the far right politically he thinks global warming is a crock. However, he rarely leaves Manhattan. Another close friend speaks eloquently about climate change and is politically to left but he travels all over the world for leisure. My right-wing friend is the far better environmentalist than my left- wing friend.
According to the David Suzuki Foundation, “A quarter of all emissions could be from flying by 2050. And Carbon emissions from the airline industry grew by 75 per cent from 1990 to 2012. It’s expected they will continue to grow rapidly until 2050.”
The solution is simple stop flying for personal reasons and stop flying as much as possible for business reasons. With technologies such a Zoom and others most work travel can and should be eliminated.
As far as vacationing goes, I live in New York State and I have not been on a plane in about 2 and half years. About 2 and half years ago I accompanied my wife to North Carolina to see her guru. And you know what? In retrospect that was a mistake. We could of stayed home and watched the guru on the internet or attended an additional nearby spiritual meeting. When it comes to vacationing everything, you need is nearby. In New York State where I live there are wonderful state parks, lakes, wineries, and restaurants. I am sure that you can make the same case for whatever state you happen to live in. I am sure you have heard about the shop local movement, well if you care about global warming you should be vacationing local too.
You hear a lot about global warming, but you read little about the need to eliminate flying. And I think the reason is that a lot of the elites in this country count traveling as one of their favorite activities. Well for the sake of the environment, the wealthy and everybody else, should stop flying for leisure. Also, Americans and others should start planning their lives in such a way as to eliminate air travel. If you are choosing a college or a graduate program you should go with an in-state option. If you are dating you should choose to date someone who is nearby and who plans on staying nearby. You should not plan on moving to another state or country for work. Find something local. You should plan your life in such a way that your family remains nearby, so you do not feel compelled to travel.
In Europe there is a movement to shame people into not flying. The Swedish environmentalist Grata Thunberg has encouraged people to minimize travel by air. We should import this movement. Americans should stop traveling by plane and we should shame and condemn those who do. We should demonstrate at airports and demand that they be shut down. To sum up this essay if you believe that Global Warming is real you should stop flying on planes!!!