Everywhere
you look the world is burning down, fighting over clean drinking water,
starving, suffering from floods, hurricanes, tornadoes, and record-breaking
warm years. So how much of this is due to airplane travel? Roughly four percent of
climate change is created by humans comes from airplane travel. The real
question is, is airline travel really something that can be reduced? People
know that it is polluting the earth and environment and yet they still book
their next flight! For me, I have always struggled with being an
environmentalist while also having family far away. I did long distance for
three and a half years with my husband and every time I got on a plane I felt a
twinge of guilt. But what are we supposed to do? Are we to never see our loved
ones or see the beautiful sights around the world? It is unlikely that anytime
soon we will see massive improvements in airlines going green what can we do
in the meantime. There are some steps being taken in the right direction, France recently banned any airline travel that could be swapped out
for railroad routes. By doing so France will see a massive decline in their
airline pollution. For something like this, it will take some time for people to get used to it, and some may be angry, but we all need to sacrifice where we
can.
Another fantastic new idea is to create electric planes that make short trips to haul
goods. It is these seemingly small decisions that make a difference. By doing
this, doors might open to create more opportunities where electric planes or
other transportation can become more prevalent in our lives. So much travel is
done to haul things from one place to another and any way to bring
down the pollution is a start. If as a whole, we can switch to better and
greener options we may be able to continue our travels without feeling guilty. One
more exciting and new improvement is Airbus attempting to become the first commercial aircraft that will be powered by hydrogen. They
have their goal set for 2035, which seems far away but will be here before we
know it.
Now
it would be naïve of me to assume that we will see massive changes anytime
soon, these things take time, but in our world where things seem so bleak, we cannot afford to give up
on hoping, for if we do we may never come out of a fit of depression. In the United
States, it can be harder to cut down on airplane travel because our area of land
is so massive, and most people are not flying to airports that are less than
four hours away. We can, however, be conscious of who we give our money to. Some
companies are doing more for the environment or giving more back, those are the
companies we should support.
Hey! This is an amazing post, especially with spring break coming up, it's an excellent reminder for traveling to other places to consider that could be closer and less disruptive to the environment. I also love how you pose questions throughout the writing to give the reader a chance to consider other possible solutions.
ReplyDeleteThis is an amazing attention grabbing blog about a serious subject. I really learned a little more into how airline travel is a cause of Climate Change. I have a better understanding of the different ideas there are to help aid this issue. Great blog!
ReplyDeleteI really like the point that you bring up that most people want to fly if their family lives far away, and if we ended up using railroads to travel versus flying to the same place. It was really interesting to learn that 4 percent of climate change comes from airplane travel. Also I like that they are working on find alternatives to gas fueled plane and making advancements to make electrical planes. My question is, how much pollution will be caused by the creation of the electric planes, and if we get rid of the gas fueled planes, how hard would it be to recycle those planes or repurpose them?
ReplyDeleteThere is definitely internal conflict many people feel about airline travel and its environmental impact. I like the mention of innovative solutions, such as electric planes, which shows hope for the future of travel. I didn’t know that France has banned their airline travel! It would be interesting to see if other countries will follow their lead.
ReplyDeleteAirline travel is definitely an obvious contributor toward greenhouse gas emissions and it is alarming how more of these alternatives have not been initiated. Transportation has become more of a necessity in current times, especially for the transport of goods, and what frustrates me is how the wealthy abuse this mode for frequent travel which I believe would also need further consideration to cut these emissions. The solutions you proposed such as electric planes targets the issue as a whole. Very well done.
ReplyDeleteThis was such a great post, and it made it even better hearing your personal confliction with it. I didn't even think about airplanes contributing! Western has one of the best flight programs! I think your solutions are great ideas and I love the idea of the airbus. I think that is so inventive. Climate change has never been something I had really put much thought into but now I realize how much it contributes to. This was a great post, and I truly loved reading your side of the story!
ReplyDeleteI really enjoyed this post and learning about the possible solutions to airline travel. An environmental physics class I took stressed how huge of a problem these emissions are and to know there are promising solutions is really cool to read about. I always thought it was so ironic that the United Nations conventions that are held to discuss climate change involve many of the leaders taking private jets/planes to attend.
ReplyDeleteI really enjoyed your post and perspective! Your personal anecdote really resonated with me as I also struggle with rectifying and balancing my ideas and requirements of my reality. I really like how you put forth multiple future avenues and then grounded it all with realistic steps that can be implemented right now.
ReplyDeletei really liked the idea behind this post showing the message that maybe when we travel we can maybe go somewhere closer rather than far away. i also like the idea of the hybrid plane but my concern is that if you try and do something like this for say cars i worry about what the oil industry will do.
ReplyDeleteReally great opening sentence! I expected airplane travel to contribute a lot more to climate change. This is motivating information! Also, This is the very first time I have ever heard anyone talk about electric planes. Good info!
ReplyDeleteThis is a great post! Not only is it informative, but it encourages us to be conscientious of the travel choices we are making. I have also never heard anyone mention electric planes before and think this could be fascinating if it could be safely engineered.
ReplyDeleteI wrestle with the question of air travel, just as you do, Abby. I have family in Florida, Oregon, and New Mexico. I have looking into trains but they are just about impossible, especially to Florida. Not to mention expensive. Every major city in China is connected to all others by high speed rail. Why has America been asleep on trains? I bet the lobbyists of the fossil fuel and auto companies are involved...
ReplyDelete