Would you reduce your air travel to help reduce carbon emissions? Here is a common misconception about air travel that’s worth considering.
I was in a cafe the other day. The kind of cafe where the tables are squashed together just a little too close to one another for comfort. I had come for peace and quiet. Aas I took my seat at the only free table, I immediately regretted my choice of cafe. Two women were sat at the table next to me chatting quite loudly. As I drank my cup of tea and scribbled some notes, I tried to tune out their chatter.
My ears pricked, however, when their conversation turned to holidays. One woman revealed to the other that she and her husband had booked a family holiday abroad. And whilst she was excited about the holiday, she had recently watched David Attenborough’s Climate Change: The Facts. She said she felt terrible guilt over the flights it would entail and the impact on the environment. Her friend, being the good friend, told her not to worry because that flight would go anyway, whether she was on the flight or not. She told her that this act of her flying on this particular flight wouldn’t make a blind bit of difference to the environment.
I bit my tongue. I’m not the kind of person that would butt into the conversation of strangers. Though it seems I’m the type of person that would recount the conversation of strangers on the internet! However, I couldn’t help but wish we could stop spreading the false notion of “it’ll go without me” when it comes to transport, particularly air travel.
Profits, Not a Public Service
When it comes to air travel, you have to remember that flight operators are businesses. They don’t just exist to perform a public service. Therefore money is everything. Flights and routes need to be profitable otherwise services get cut. So yes, in the short term that one flight probably will go without you. However, in the long term the fewer people that choose to fly, the fewer flights and fewer runways are required. Reduce our air travel, means fewer flights, and the less profitable aviation becomes. This means the “it’ll go without me” notion becomes a hollow excuse.
Of course, some air travel can be unavoidable or hard to reduce. Work trips, trips to see family and friends abroad, or living on a small island with little alternative, can mean few alternatives to flying. However, a recent study showed 47% of Britons are willing to fly less because of climate change. If almost half the country stopped flying or flew less for avoidable trips – the number of flights would be cut back drastically to reflect the downturn in demand.
Of course, it’s not just Brits that need to stop flying to be able to reduce flights. The good news is no-fly campaigns are growing in Europe. I would imagine more will catch on more and more as interest and awareness in our climate emergency gathers momentum. Particularly when one transatlantic flight can add as much to your carbon footprint as a typical year’s worth of driving (and that’s just one way).
Be Part of the Solution
So the “it’ll go without me” excuse doesn’t hold weight. Like most environmental actions, while you won’t save the world on your own by not flying, you will certainly be part of the solution by not flying when you don’t need to.
If you want to really be part of the solution when it comes to air travel then consider the value of social proof. This survey on fast fashion, for example, showed that a staggering 90% of respondents would shop secondhand if their friends or family did so first. Therefore, it would hold if more of us reduce our air travel, and holiday in the UK and talk to our friends and family about our holiday,s then the more people that will consider the value of holidaying without flying anywhere.
One of my Scottish friends took a holiday in the north of Scotland over Easter and shared the photos on Facebook. Two Scottish people commented that the photos of the trip had inspired them to holiday in Scotland, which on a micro-scale highlights the value of social proof:
And living in the UK, we really are spoiled for choice when it comes to beautiful spots to holiday in. There’s no shortage of places to go. From city breaks to beach holidays, to forests to mountains, we really do have it all.
It’ll Go Without Me Applies to Public Transport Too
The same “it’ll go without me” mentality when it comes to public transport is another one that needs to stop. This is because, like with airlines, if people don’t use their local bus and rail networks, they will cease to run too.
Whilst many bus routes are subsidised by local authorities, these routes still have to be profitable. When bus routes get cut, these cuts hit the poorest the most. The more we use public transport, the better for the environment. It’s also better for those on lower incomes too, which is true sustainability.
Would You Reduce Your Air Travel?
Over to you: do you holiday in the UK? Have you reduced your air travel because of climate change? Would you cut back on your flying because of climate change? I’d love to hear!
This post really chimed with me. I am fed up with being the oddball who prefers to take the tain wherever possible and to leave the car at home or the plane on the runway. Some hotels or B&Bs offer lower rates for those who come by public transport too which is always a plus. Sadly we had to cancel a rail tour to Scotland at the end of April which I had been looking forward to when I broke my ankle and was told I might find it difficult getting on and off trains and going up and down steps etc. So now we are planning a trip by train to Devon – only a short distance away from us but we prefer to leave the car behind and once there we will use public transport to explore. You can get almost anywhere in Europe by train and the journey is part of the fun after all the views from a plane are much the same wherever you go but from a train can be interesting, spectacular, beautiful, tranquil etc and even the outskirts of cities are interesting even if sometimes grafitti covered. If any of your readers are not already au fait with this website I can highly recommend it: https://www.seat61.com/
Keep up the good work I am always an avid reader of your posts but this is perhaps the first time I have felt compelled to comment.
Aww, thank you Jane! And thanks for commenting. I completely agree – the journey is always to be savoured, particularly by train or by coach. I always try and bag the window seat! And sorry to hear about your ankle – but Devon sounds like a wonderful consolation. Enjoy!
I’ve been trying to fly less for probably about the last ten years and have signed up to not flying in 2020 with https://www.flightfree.co.uk. I’m not saying that I’ll never fly again after that – maybe I will, maybe I won’t – but I certainly won’t, and don’t, simply fly without thinking of the alternatives.
Over the past few years, we have travelled with our children to the South of France to camp at a place called Argeles-sur-Mer; taken the train to Barcelona (twice) although due to time constraints we flew back, Paris and Disneyland Paris and have also gone by ferry to Holland and then driven around Holland, Germany, Denmark and Sweden. As well as holidays in the UK and Ireland (by ferry). I certainly didn’t feel deprived during any of these holidays.
I would agree with Jane White in recommending https://www.seat61.com. It’s my ‘bible’ for all things train travel.
I have never flown and for the last 25 plus years all my holidays have been in the UK. However I tend not to talk about it as I am sure people don’t want to know about my trip to Whitby when they are going to Greece! Perhaps I need to talk about it more. There are lots of wonderful places to go in Britain.
I used to think that, but I’ve found that people are actually quite interested (surprisingly interested). I think people are genuinely surprised when they realise there are such great places to visit.
Argh, it’s such a tough one. I love to travel when I can and now that I have a son I want him to be able to explore different cultures and places and would actively encourage him to travel the world. I also live in Spain and have friends and family in the UK I like to regularly visit, given that the journey time door to door is shorter than it would be to travel north to south UK by bus, so feels so convenient too. However, I am trying to make eco-friendly changes in so many other areas of my life, that it feels like some kind of compensation at least! From growing veg to using solid shampoo and making homemade cleaning products etc. plus buying 2nd hand and not supporting big corporations. Hopefully those changes will also affect large polluting corportations, even if I will struggle to reduce my air travel at the moment. Great blog, thank you for writing!
Oh yes, Sarah, if I lived abroad and was travelling to the UK to visit family I would fly to, especially with young children. We can only do what we can do, and it sounds like you are doing a great job!
Hi
I thought you maybe interested in this https://climatecare.org/infographic-the-carbon-footprint-of-the-internet/ It makes you think maybe I should use the computer less.
Thanks for sharing this Chris! Really interesting. One thing I did notice is that the infographic assumes our power stations are powered by coal, however a great news story I ready today is that the UK passed one week without being powered by coal for the first time since 1882 – isn’t that great! – so I suspect it may be a little less energy intensive than the graphic suggests but it’s a great reminder of everything in moderation!
I would recommend the book “Being the Change” by Peter Kalmus who is a climate scientist who does not fly. He has a good breakdown of the issues. I thought it ironic that Extinction Rebellion defended Emma Thomson and also added that climate lawyers and scientists needed to fly to symposia etc – Peter Kalmus is living proof that you don’t have to.
I am writing this from a holiday cottage in the Yorkshire Dales. We holiday in the UK and this week we’ve been blessed with the weather. It means that we can be on holiday in the time we would be sitting at the airport just waiting; we can get to know our country better ( visited daily here by a charm of goldfinches); and put money into the UK / rural economy instead of Thomson, Ryanair, Virgin etc.
Yes we are guilty of using the car – but in our (weak I know) defence we only do 3500 miles per year as we walk to all our local services. Holidays represent our biggest usage.
Exploring by local transport
I can only applaud Jane White’s determination to holiday without a car but if public transport in Devon is anything like it is here in Suffolk – and I suspect it is – she is going to find it difficult to explore anything. Local bus services a cross rural areas have been cut more than 45% in recent years. They only run between local towns to facilitate working or getting to school. Here there are no buses in the evenings or on Sundays and these were cut some time ago. Beauty spots, stately homes, historic monuments, even beaches are frequently only accessible by car. When I was obliged to give up driving through injury, my life shrank greatly. I can no longer go out in the evenings to the cinema or theatre, get to my place of worship , belong to organisations which meet all over the county, visit friends – on and on unless I can afford very expensive taxis. I sometimes think that enthusiasts for no wheeled transport except bicycles, must be living in cities with good bus services round the clock. Now that we have lost so much public transport, it will be difficult to restore it, if ever.
I have discovered an excellent service for train travel. Ring the HQ for all companies – found it online – to book assistance getting on and off trains and help with luggage at every change. Arthritis makes the gap between platform and train terrifying for me. My first trip went like dream with friendly help at every station. For years I avoided frains as more expensive than driving, but now , the use of a senior railcard, makes journeys feasible.
Pretty much had the same conversation over coffee with friends as you describe overhearing! The exact same issue arose. My friends were trying to reassure me that I should go. It was to see my new baby niece again in America, but I have seen her already this year. In the end I stuck to my guns. Told my brother he can take all my carbon credits (don’t know if this is a good thing?? But anyway)
I have two trips planned and opting for the train instead of the plane, I live in Wales and catching the train to Glasgow in August and also for Christmas catching the train from London to Amsterdam (Will either catch a train or coach from Cardiff to get to London). *Costs wise it may be quite a bit more than the plane, depends on which journey your thinking of out of the two yet you don’t have to get to and from an Airport two to three hours early, security restrictions and yes trains can take more time yet I hope to see amazing views.
I’m orginally from Perth, Australia and in August will be flying home for two months, this flight is quite unavoidable as you state in the above article.
Hi Wendy – we are a family of four and we booked a trip to Edinburgh at Easter. We wanted to take the train but it turned out to be FOUR times as expensive as flights from the south of England. It was too far to drive for four days away and so we had to fly. We were very disappointed to do so. Airlines are keeping their costs deliberately low whilst train travel seems to be very high cost. I don’t know the answers but if trains want to encourage people away from air travel they need to make themselves more attractive! Thank you for you well researched blog, best wishes.
Thanks so much Lynne! It’s absolutely not your fault. There are huge problems with the transport sector – an old agreement means that airlines don’t have to pay fuel duty, and there’s no VAT on tickets. That adds up to an industry-wide saving of over £10 billion per year – a lot more than the annual £4bn government rail subsidy. There are a host of other facts too, that all add up to the fact that rail travel is ridiculously expensive, and incredibly frustrating for us all.
I am trying to make eco-friendly changes in so many other areas of my life, that it feels like some kind of compensation at least! From growing veg to using solid shampoo and making homemade cleaning products etc. plus buying 2nd hand and not supporting big corporations.
One thing I did notice is that the infographic assumes our power stations are powered by coal, however a great news story I read today is that the UK passed one week without being powered by coal for the first time since 1882 – isn’t that great!