As calls to curb the carbon emissions from flying grow, how wise is it to reduce gloval travel on this flimsy pretext? University of Western Australia’s Mark Beeson discusses the issues.
PERTH: Shame is a powerful emotion, but is it powerful enough to save the planet? Almost certainly not.
But the question has assumed unexpected prominence as sensitive Scandinavians and a schoolgirl activist Greta Thunburg spearhead a campaign to encourage us to fly less, simply because it’s the right thing to do.
At this very moment, the redoubtable Greta Thunberg is metaphorically tied to the mast of an obliging friend’s racing yacht crossing the Atlantic to attend a UN conference on climate change as she stoutly resists the siren song of cheap, convenient air travel.
What impact she or the idea of flygskam, as the Swedes call it, will have on individually-minded Americans and their entrenched consumer culture remains to be seen. But it’s worth noting that a seat on a flight across the Atlantic puts 1.6 tons of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere.
Read more at: CNA
