3 ms·

I don’t think my frequency of air travel is exceptional for my demographic. (Though I did charter a private jet two years ago for a business need. I took a sma

I don’t think my frequency of air travel is exceptional for my demographic. (Though I did charter a private jet two years ago for a business need. I took a small team to a place without regularly scheduled service. It is not clear to me if it was a net win or loss for carbon emissions given the other routes available.) While I personally choose to live in a walkable downtown for many reasons, including climate impact, I end up having to travel in an automobile often. I think the taxes for this are misaligned to the impact. Personally, I am a proponent of global travel. I think more travel means fewer wars and more benefits for humanity.

sorenjan 4y ago
But part of the problem is that for almost every demographic air travel is not only a big part of each person's total emission budget, it's increasing over time. You're probably flying more than your parents did, and your children have probably flown more now than you had at their age. The aviation industry took a big hit die to the pandemic, but it's been growing steadily up to then[0], and is soon back to pre Covid numbers. People are used to flying several times each year now, while it was considered a luxury to do one flight per year a couple decades ago, and something you did maybe a handful of times in your life a few decades before that. And like most consumption, it's also vastly skewed towards the rich, whether it's the richest in your country or the richest countries in the world. Personally I don't think global travel does much if anything for peace. Most wars are between neighboring countries and are started by leaders that have other reasons than not having visited the other country for doing so. Although travel isn't the issue, fossil fuel is, so instead of framing it as travel is good or bad, it should be about where the energy is coming from. And just like with economy, if you have a certain (carbon) budget, you can't spend more if you already spent all of it. [0] https://www.icao.int/Newsroom/Pages/2021-global-air-passenger-totals-show-improvement.aspx https://www.icao.int/Newsroom/Pages/2021-global-air-passenge...
- mcculley 4y ago
  > You're probably flying more than your parents did, and your children have probably flown more now than you had at their age. Amusingly, while this is likely true for many people with the same wealth, it is not true for me. My mother was a pilot and I have no children.
- mcculley 4y ago
  > Most wars are between neighboring countries and are started by leaders that have other reasons than not having visited the other country for doing so. My reasoning on travel being good for peace has little to do with leaders.

sorenjan 4y ago

But part of the problem is that for almost every demographic air travel is not only a big part of each person's total emission budget, it's increasing over time. You're probably flying more than your parents did, and your children have probably flown more now than you had at their age. The aviation industry took a big hit die to the pandemic, but it's been growing steadily up to then[0], and is soon back to pre Covid numbers. People are used to flying several times each year now, while it was considered a luxury to do one flight per year a couple decades ago, and something you did maybe a handful of times in your life a few decades before that. And like most consumption, it's also vastly skewed towards the rich, whether it's the richest in your country or the richest countries in the world. Personally I don't think global travel does much if anything for peace. Most wars are between neighboring countries and are started by leaders that have other reasons than not having visited the other country for doing so. Although travel isn't the issue, fossil fuel is, so instead of framing it as travel is good or bad, it should be about where the energy is coming from. And just like with economy, if you have a certain (carbon) budget, you can't spend more if you already spent all of it. [0] https://www.icao.int/Newsroom/Pages/2021-global-air-passenger-totals-show-improvement.aspx https://www.icao.int/Newsroom/Pages/2021-global-air-passenge...

mcculley 4y ago
> You're probably flying more than your parents did, and your children have probably flown more now than you had at their age. Amusingly, while this is likely true for many people with the same wealth, it is not true for me. My mother was a pilot and I have no children.
mcculley 4y ago
> Most wars are between neighboring countries and are started by leaders that have other reasons than not having visited the other country for doing so. My reasoning on travel being good for peace has little to do with leaders.