Greens shun cheap air travel, point to impacts of industry

A small but growing number of eco-conscious Brits are turning away from cheap airfares and looking to other means of transport or forgoing planned vacations altogether in hopes of reducing their personal environmental footprints. Overall, aircraft-related carbon-dioxide emissions make up some 5 percent of Britain’s total, according to Kevin Anderson of the Tyndall Center for Climate Change Research, and airline-industry emissions could double in the next 15 to 17 years as the industry grows. Says transport specialist Meyer Hillman, “We are going to have to face the fact that we cannot go to Australia or Prague or Florida every year. It’s a luxury the planet cannot afford to sustain any longer if we are to have any hope in tackling our current climate-change crisis.” But whatever to do with all those frequent flier miles?