Although this article by Peter Kalmus (@ClimateHuman) about his difficult personal decision to stop flying was published in 2016, it's every bit as relevant today.
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Hour for hour, there’s no better way to warm the planet than to fly in a plane. If you fly coach from Los Angeles to Paris and back, you’ve just emitted 3 tons of CO2 into the atmosphere, 10 times what an average Kenyan emits in an entire year. Flying first class doubles these numbers.

However, the total climate impact of planes is likely two to three times greater than the impact from CO2 emissions alone. This is because planes emit mono-nitrogen oxides into the upper troposphere, form contrails, and seed cirrus clouds with aerosols from fuel combustion. These three effects enhance warming in the short term.

In today’s world, we are still socially rewarded for burning fossil fuels. We equate frequent flying with success; we rack up our “miles.”

This is backward: Burning fossil fuels does real harm to the biosphere, to our children, and to countless generations — and it should, therefore, be regarded as socially unacceptable.
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FULL ARTICLE -- https://www.yesmagazine.org/issue/life-after-oil/2016/02/11/how-far-can-we-get-without-flying

#Environment #Climate #ClimateChange #ClimateCrisis #ClimateAction #ClimateEmergency #CO2 #Emissions