4 ms·
A lot of us is avoiding more by choosing not to fly.
by kubafu 2mo ago
A lot of us is avoiding more by choosing not to fly.
- orphereus 2mo agoI don't think that not travelling is the solution. A lot of people cannot avoid flying.
- tngranados 2mo agoBut even more people can
- delusional 2mo agoWe should be careful not to confound a call to reduce with a call to eliminate. I don't think most people want to completely abolish modern air travel.
- CalRobert 2mo agoIn many instances there are alternatives. Amsterdam to Berlin is served by good rail (except when DB are crappy) and flight options. NYC to DC or Boston. Maybe, someday, SF to LA, and others.
- jtwaleson 2mo agoIMHO you can remove the "good" and "except when". DB is 30% of the time a frustrating experience, which I've noticed makes me want to avoid it, even though I love trains. Trains in the rest of Western Europe are pretty great!
- CalRobert 2mo agoFair, Deutsche Bahn is awful. Went to Berlin with them last November and instead of getting in at 9:00 PM we got in at 1 AM, which was especially horrible given we had a 6 and 8 year old with us.
- jtwaleson 2mo agoThey just cancelled a train from Amsterdam to Munich for me and never replied to my form for a refund. I called them about. Had to spend 600 extra for a sleeper instead.
- port11 2mo agoBoy what happened to DB since 2022? That was when I last travelled in Germany and I was never able to relate to everyone’s online complaints about them. Did Berlin to Nessau through small routes: wonderful. Berlin to Prague? Stellar, if long. Berlin to Munich? Amazing all 4-5 times, unless they forget to stock up on soft pretzels.
- CalRobert 2mo agoInsane delays and cancellations. I’ve taken them Amsterdam to Berlin, Utrecht to Frankfurt, etc and only one trip has managed not to be multiple hours late. In one case a train ended early and I had to run like hell with my folding bike to cram on to a packed bus for an hour ride to the next station.
- ufmace 2mo agoEhhhh I think it'd be more accurate to say that in a small percentage of potential routes there are alternatives.
- johanvts 2mo agoJust stop subsidizing flying, maybe even tax the fuel a fraction of the value it’s destroying and I bet most of flying will suddenly turn out to actually be completely avoidable.
- ChrisMarshallNY 2mo agoI think advances in remote work tech have had a huge impact on business travel. Zoom beats Boom.
- mlrtime 2mo agoZoom is also probably the worst software I'm forced to use. The UI and fat client are from 2000.
- shrubby 2mo agoYup. Make the flyers pay the infrastructure costs based on the environmental effects. It's not too complicated.
- tim333 2mo agoIt is a bit complicated as flying isn't much subsidised in cash terms and if you put large taxes on fuel, flights will divert to nearby countries with less tax. In the UK there is air passenger duty which is for example £102 per passenger on economy seats to the US. I think they are reluctant to raise it too much incase business shifts elsewhere.
- shrubby 2mo agoWe're afraid of the zillionaire tantrums, thus this should be a coordinated effort. I'm seeing it from both sides of the isles that people are being fed up with the overlords. But currently the zillionaire tantrums control the future so you're right.
- dbspin 2mo agoInsane take - this is just ensuring that the only people who get to enjoy travel are the rich. Nothing in our society is improved by taking a privilege that's widely enjoyed and restricting it to the wealthy or very wealthy.
- shrubby 2mo agoMost people on the planet can avoid flying alright. The addicts cannot? Or who cannot? Anyone with money cannot? Homo fricking economicus for you alright.
- iamgopal 2mo agowandering is human nature, we can not avoid it. with tech, almost 99% reason to travel can be avoided, we human as a nature, we will not skip it.
- ktallett 2mo agoWandering can be slower paced, or to places that are magical but nearer and connected via alternative to planes. Also we can avoid using planes for less important things, like business meetings etc.
- imjonse 2mo agohomo sapiens could avoid wandering in the skies for 200k years, yes we can avoid it. Finding joy in life should not really be correlated with flying often to faraway places.
- dash2 2mo agoI hope I'm not overinterpreting, but I get the sense that you think that's morally better than simply avoiding contrails. If so then this is surely a mistake! While an individual who imposes heavy costs on himself to do something socially valuable is certainly demonstrating commitment to the cause, the best solution for society is the one with the lowest costs.
- lavela 2mo agoPlease explain how more flights with optimal routing are environmentally cheaper than less flights with optimal routing.
- gblargg 2mo agoSounds like parent was taking into account all costs, not just certain ones.
- mlrtime 2mo agoHint: It's performative. The people who are actually doing this don't come to HN to announce it.
- jtrip 2mo agoThis is an issue, a question of an issue, with the maximalist position. By simply using trains wherever possible and avoiding 'frivolous' travel a huge impact can be achieved on one's carbon footprint.
- mmooss 2mo agoActually, lots of people acting together regularly accomplish things - almost everything wortwhile is accomplished that way, probably back to our non-homo ancestors. As a simple matter, it keeps my city clean - we all put garbage in the bins (yes there's a law, but no way could it be enforced if the great majority of people didn't do it already). More dramatically and recently, the protests in India. > society Society is us - you, me, everyone. Nobody else is coming to help us. I'm responsible for what I do, for the consequences of my actions. It's embarassing to say it's someone else's job (especially when the someone else is 'society'), and therefore I'm not going to do anything.