air travel
-
Reducing your carbon footprint from travel
If want to reduce your carbon footprint, what should you do about your air travel until we have carbon-free jet fuel?
The Stockholm Environment Institute and the Tufts Climate Initiative have a good handout on the subject, titled "Flying Green." They note:
... the average American is responsible for the emissions of about 20 tons of CO2 annually ... If you fly to Europe and back from the U.S., you'll add about 3-4 tons to your (already large) carbon footprint. With one flight you will have caused more emissions than 20 Bangladeshi will cause in a whole year. Unfortunately they are the ones who will lose their homes and livelihood once sea level rise inundates their low lying country.
-
Greenpeace takes Heathrow
Today, Greenpeace UK held a peaceful protest against the proposed expansion of Heathrow Airport in London (the addition of a third runway). The activists managed to walk out onto the tarmac and up onto the tailfin of a plane, where they hung a huge banner: This effortless breach of security at one of the world’s […]
-
Tourism and carbon neutrality
This story is critical -- another datum showing that the global jet travel binge is both global suicide and homicide all at once, complete with pre-flight thuggery from the TSA* and a side dish of helping-promote-coal-to-liquids on the side (there was another story today about the U.S. (Ch)Air Force's new plan for dealing with peak oil: burn liquified coal / natural gas mixtures).
-
How much global warming results from air travel?
Over the past few days, I’ve been trying to pull together some data on how airplane travel affects global warming, as part of a broader project on transportation and climate change. My stunningly obvious conclusion: it’s complicated. Worse, different calculation methods yield wildly different results. Take, for instance, this brilliant chart (below) from the Stockholm […]
-
Umbra on planes and cars
Hi Umbra, Which is less harmful to the environment when traveling long distances, flying or driving? A jet puts out a lot of exhaust, but since it carries a lot of people, maybe it’s less than having everyone drive themselves? Craig Denver, Colo. Dearest Craig, Jeepers it was fun to find out the answer to […]
-
Janisse Ray says that greens need to ‘be the change’ in moving toward sustainability
The wonderful southern environmental writer Janisse Ray (Ecology of a Cracker Childhood, and others) has a new piece in Orion magazine of interest to Gristmillers, called "Altar Call for True Believers," where she wonders why even the so-called choir seems to be failing at making great strides toward sustainability. It starts out with this startling vignette about greens and air travel:
-
A mountaineer calls mountaineers climate criminals
David Crosby and Graham Nash's haunting and hypnotic introduction, "To the Last Whale," before the song "Wind on the Water," is the kind of work that we need more of.
What we really need is someone to write a song "To the Last Glacier" quick, so that more people wake up to the truth that this guy has beamed onto: flying on jets because you love some great natural wonder is like f*cking because you love virginity.
Great article.
-
Boeing’s new Dreamliner plane boasts increased fuel efficiency
A few years ago, Boeing was struggling. Sales were slipping, financial forecasts grim. Meanwhile Airbus, a foreign competitor, passed the former champ in total sales. Now the tables are turned. There are several reasons for the stellar advance sales of Boeing's new 787 Dreamliner, but I can't help but point out one:
After years of research into lightweight carbon-fiber, which now replaces heavier aluminum for the jet's fuselage and wings, the Dreamliner can sail with an estimated 20-30 percent less fuel per passenger. What's the company's reasoning behind increasing fuel efficiency? It's better for business, of course.
