2 ms·

I look back on air travel of former times with incredulity - being able to smoke on a plane is one excerpt that particularly takes the biscuit. Concorde was qui

I look back on air travel of former times with incredulity - being able to smoke on a plane is one excerpt that particularly takes the biscuit. Concorde was quite incredible too, but the world has moved on to this new madness of easy-hack TSA locks, bullshit terror stories and lame air miles schemes. (As it happens I am looking after a house right now because the occupants have gone on a cheap flight made possible through some frequent flyer scheme.) People also used to go mad for Green Shield stamps from garages, racking up far more miles on the road as a 'sales rep' than needed because there was this marginal incentive of rubbish you could get with the Green Shield stamps. It all worked wonderfully for a while and many people were delighted getting things like 50 glass tumblers for their kitchen cupboards. I am sure the people next to the Avis depots around the world are used to people revving up their engines, slamming doors and shouting, but that does not make it right. If you had something important to do, how would you feel if there was someone parking a car every few minutes outside your place to drive off again a few minutes later, repeating ad-nauseum? I personally would not feel happy doing that sort of 'driving' even if I was in some faceless bit of American surburbia where such activity was normal. I might not have cared when I was a teenager but I didn't think very well in those days. I also have connections with Madeira and I have seen the old photos from how things used to be before the E.U. plonked some massive airport and motorway there. It is a small island with a big runway, no surprise people on the island use it instead of hitching a ride on a fishing boat. I have not stood outside the departures lounge to count natives vs tourists but I am sure that whole infrastructure was built for tourism, not so grandma in Funchal can visit her relatives spread out all over the globe.

icebraining 11y ago
I would I feel? I wouldn't particularly care. Is it wasteful? Yes. Do I find it kind of dumb? Sure. But is it terrible? Unless he was constantly doing it, not really. Frankly, I doubt the problem here is really the pollution, but the fact that he's spending that in something not considered "proper." Some guy might waste much more taking a long vacation in some remote place, but the fact that this person was doing something you and I consider dumb, makes him not deserve to do so. But I personally don't consider a person who produces 1T of CO2/year to "travel properly" or "really know" the place they're visiting any more deserving that someone who wastes the same amount to drive between Avis stands. Unless he's actually wasting more than average - and we have no reason to think that - who am I to tell him how to enjoy his life?

icebraining 11y ago

I would I feel? I wouldn't particularly care. Is it wasteful? Yes. Do I find it kind of dumb? Sure. But is it terrible? Unless he was constantly doing it, not really. Frankly, I doubt the problem here is really the pollution, but the fact that he's spending that in something not considered "proper." Some guy might waste much more taking a long vacation in some remote place, but the fact that this person was doing something you and I consider dumb, makes him not deserve to do so. But I personally don't consider a person who produces 1T of CO2/year to "travel properly" or "really know" the place they're visiting any more deserving that someone who wastes the same amount to drive between Avis stands. Unless he's actually wasting more than average - and we have no reason to think that - who am I to tell him how to enjoy his life?