Beyond Flying, Why fly less?
Flying has for so long been seen as an elite activity with the promise of status, luxury, leisure and freedom that we’ve blinded ourselves to the impact this First World activity has on climate change and on the damage it causes not only to the developing world but to us, too. We only have to look at the flooding this month in the UK, Argentina, Uruguay and elsewhere to see that.
Flying is never zero carbon. Despite aviation engineers making huge advances in efficiency, there is a limit to how much more they can do. Burning fuel in the sky is more than twice as bad as burning it at ground level.
Since the recession, 47% of UK businesses have reduced their flying and are committed to flying less and videoconferencing more. Why? Because of cost savings, greater staff productivity and lower CO2.
Fourteen individual travellers from across the world share their stories about keeping in touch in their business and personal lives while flying less.
From commercial, professional, academic, NGO, literature and science backgrounds, they have managed to find easier and better ways of living and working in a globalised world that readers can identify with. What is stopping the rest of us, then?