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A transatlantic flight of 6 hours on a Boeing 737 would emit about 540 kilograms for a single passenger. In the US per capita C02 emissions were 15.8 metric ton
by ch4s3 6y ago
A transatlantic flight of 6 hours on a Boeing 737 would emit about 540 kilograms for a single passenger. In the US per capita C02 emissions were 15.8 metric tons in 2017. So the round trip would account for ~1/15th of a person's yearly total.
You could probably make that up by driving less, since a typical passenger vehicle emits about 4.6 metric tons of carbon dioxide per year. If you look at the UK, it's estimated that 20% of the nation's emissions are directly from heating and hot water, which is analogous to many areas of the US. This is largely due to old and poorly insulated housing stock.
This isn't meant to be CO2 whataboutism, but rather to compare meaningful individual contributions to emissions. IMO aviation for most international travelers may be a large single contribution, but they do it infrequently and other activities could be moderated of modified to make up ground. I mention this to support my parent claim that aviation has numerous benefits, and they may likely outweigh their costs accounting for externalities. That said, I would advocate a carbon tax that prices emissions into things like gas, heating, flying, etc.
- makerofspoons 6y ago1/15th of a yearly total that is far, far too large. A sustainable value is 3 tons of CO2 per year (https://www.ecocivilization.info/three-tons-carbon-dioxide-per-person-per-year.html https://www.ecocivilization.info/three-tons-carbon-dioxide-p...). Now that transatlantic flight is 1/5 a person's yearly total which also has to include the emissions for their heating, water, food, and transport which is just not feasible in western countries today.
- fsflover 6y agoThis is not how you should look at your CO2 emissions. You should look at where you can deccrease them first: http://www.kimnicholas.com/uploads/2/5/7/6/25766487/fig1full.jpg http://www.kimnicholas.com/uploads/2/5/7/6/25766487/fig1full...
- mcv 6y agoNice infographic. I'm sad to say I moved in the wrong direction on a few of these: I used to be car-free and vegetarian. Now that I have a family, I'm neither. Then again, I did get two fewer children than I actually wanted.
- ch4s3 6y agoTo reply to makersofspoons the blog post cited sources the 3 ton figure from a 2011 UN report. The report only mentions the figure in the summary and states "3 tons of carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions per capita by 2050 MAY need to be considered". This seems a little thin for advocating the eradication of aviation in 2020.
- makerofspoons 6y agoIt's in line with the 2019 IPCC report, which called for an 80% reduction by 2050 https://grist.org/article/how-soon-do-we-need-to-cut-greenhouse-gas-emissions/ https://grist.org/article/how-soon-do-we-need-to-cut-greenho... There's really no budget for burning kerosene if we are serious about the 1.5 degree target. The only way I see aviation being compatible is if there is a massive breakthrough in biofuels or battery technology.
- ch4s3 6y agoThat article doesn't directly cite any IPCC report. This actual IPCC policy maker summary report[1] makes exactly 1 mention of air travel and it is to suggest structurally shifting some air travel to rail as a minor component of improving total transit emissions. [1]https://www.ipcc.ch/site/assets/uploads/sites/2/2019/02/SR15_Chapter2_Low_Res.pdf https://www.ipcc.ch/site/assets/uploads/sites/2/2019/02/SR15...
- makerofspoons 6y agoYou're right, I cited the wrong article. The summary does mention air travel only once, but it does mention the 80% reduction figure, which seems nearly incompatible with air travel if everyone is expected to live with yearly emissions of ~3-4 tons of CO2.
- wott 6y ago> In the US per capita C02 emissions were 15.8 metric tons in 2017. What about taking a normal person and not an American? Even compared to other developed, Western-type nations, the US emissions are terribly high (only matched by the other 2 large Anglo-Saxon colonies); but triple of UK and France per capita emissions. And those 2 are already over the emission budget.
- adrianN 6y agoCO2 emitted high in the atmosphere has a stronger warming effect. I've seen factors of 2x-3x for airplane emissions[eg 1]. I underestimated per capita emissions for US people. A German only emits 9t, a French person only 5t. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Environmental_impact_of_aviation#cite_note-21 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Environmental_impact_of_aviati...