Do you want to do something to help this planet? Stop flying.

[Kimberly]

Great thread

Fri Jan 18, 2013, 11:44 AM
MadHound (32,974 posts)

Do you want to do something to help this planet? Stop flying.
When you fly, the plane is spewing far more pounds of CO2 into the air per person per mile than a car ever does(even my old '49 DeSoto). Yet over the past fifty years, flying has become de rigueur for most people. Long gone are the days of Mom and Dad packing the kids into a station wagon and driving out for a vacation. Now Mom and Dad make sure that they and their kids are wearing shoes that are easy to slip on and off before they head to the airport and board a plane.

While the numbers vary a bit(due to car and plane model and how long the plane trip is), a rough average is that a plane emits a little over one pound of CO2 per person per mile. Meanwhile, if that same person were driving a car, they would be emitting a bit over 0.6 pounds of CO2 per mile. That is a significant difference.

Worse yet are those planes that are not carrying passengers, but cargo. Our obsession for next day(and now the latest thing, same day) delivery means we're sending up planes, planes and more planes all in order to get your Ginsu knife set to you tomorrow, because you absolutely, positively can't wait until next week for it. A train, even on our nation's horrible rail system, can go coast to coast in four days max, but apparently we've become far too accustomed, far too demanding to wait until then, so it is flown to you instead.

Oh, I know, I know, I can hear all the complaints and snide remarks now, but the fact of the matter is that if you want to accomplish something to abate the severity of global climate change, it is up to you to make that change, because if we leave it up to corporations and the government, it simply isn't going to happen. So it is up to us to make the change we want to see come about.

And really, just how much of a sacrifice are you going to be making? It wasn't that long ago that air mail was hardly used, and most of us waited patiently to get anything that we had ordered, a week or two. No big deal. You simply planned ahead for the delay. Same with travel. When I was a kid, air travel was something for the elite, not the rest of us. So, we took two week, or one week vacations, and drove to our destination. Some of the best times were to be had in the back seat of a car on a long trip.

But now we are a society that is far too into instant gratification. We want our stuff now, not in a week, we want to be there now, not tomorrow. It is this sort of selfish attitude that allows FedEx and Southwest to continue to pollute, and profit, from our poor self control.

So, the next time you want to order something, check the US Post box for shipping. When you want to go somewhere on your vacation, drive, don't fly. We've got to be the change we want to see, because nobody else is going to make that change for us.

 

Response to MadHound (Original post)
Fri Jan 18, 2013, 12:45 PM
 zappaman (6,848 posts)
15. No thanks.

I work to make money to be able to travel the world.
Unless you can beam me around like Star Trek, planes are gonna be the way I do it.

Response to zappaman (Reply #15)
Fri Jan 18, 2013, 03:43 PM
MadHound (32,974 posts)
47. Nice bit of attitude there,

Me, me, me, I, I, I. Hmm, what group does that remind me of? Oh, yeah, that's right.

 

Response to MadHound (Reply #47)
Fri Jan 18, 2013, 03:45 PM
 zappaman (6,848 posts)
48. Sorry, but flying is a reality.

Better ways to fly that aren't as harmful to the planet?

MadHound (32,974 posts)
50. Rationalizing your selfish attitude, hmm.

Well, I hope that I don't see you complaining about global climate change around here. After all, you are part of the problem, not part of the solution. Your basic answer is "I'm going to keep recklessly polluting the planet until they find a better way to gratify my needs."

Sad, truly.

 

Response to MadHound (Reply #50)
Fri Jan 18, 2013, 03:54 PM
 zappaman (6,848 posts)
52. ummm...

"Your basic answer is "I'm going to keep recklessly polluting the planet until they find a better way to gratify my needs." "

So flying is "recklessly polluting the planet?"

You really live in a different reality than humanity.

Response to zappaman (Reply #52)
Fri Jan 18, 2013, 04:15 PM
MadHound (32,974 posts)
60. I do what is necessary to keep my carbon footprint as small as possible,

Guess you can't say the same.

You're the one doing the rationalizing around here, rationalizing your own selfishness. Again, your basic reason for flying comes down to "I just want to, and I don't give a damn about the planet".

 

Response to MadHound (Reply #60)
Fri Jan 18, 2013, 04:16 PM
 zappaman (6,848 posts)
62. Bully for you!

 

I'll raise a toast to you when I am in Thailand after my flight!

 


 


 


 

 
 

[Mike220]

Preach to Al Jazzera Gore DUmbass.

I kinda like zappaman. He's good at calling fellow DUmbasses out for being DUmbasses.

[I_B_Perky]

Response to zappaman (Reply #15)
Fri Jan 18, 2013, 03:43 PM
MadHound (32,974 posts)
47. Nice bit of attitude there,

Me, me, me, I, I, I. Hmm, what group does that remind me of? Oh, yeah, that's right.

What is welfare dummies for $1000, Alex?

[Celtic Rose]

Yeah, lets all take a couple months extra in our vacation to visit Europe.  Lets postpone Uncle Ted's funeral for a week to allow everybody to drive across the country while grief stricken to say their final good-byes, if they can get close to two weeks off work for a funeral.  Better hope that the ship Obama is going to take to Hawaii every couple months has good Wi-Fi so that he can conduct business while on the sea. 

[liana]

Kind of hard for DUmmies to stop flying, when there high 24/7.

 

[LC EFA]

Ah yeah. Back to the days of Tyranny of distance - where only the ultra rich and powerful ever travel out of their little Oblast.

[tac]

Tell Obozo to stop taking so many vacations, and have the clowns in H`woody stop their plane travel. 

[Freeper]

Tell you what DUmmies, you don't like flying then don't fly. You don't like guns don't own one. Stop trying to control everyone else's behavior.

[WinOne4TheGipper]

Good luck convincing the Learjet Liberal.

[Skul]

The angry mutt should have posted reliable links to support his numbers.
Big fail.
Stupid mutt.

[SSG Snuggle Bunny]

Even if planes spew 10 times the carbon they still require only 1/20th the travel time and move hundreds more people than a single car.

[USA4ME]

MadHound

Do you want to do something to help this planet? Stop flying.

Do you want to do something to help this planet? Stop breathing.

.

[ColonelCarrots]

Stop flying? You can't swim everywhere. Even if you're Cuban.

[JohnnyReb]

Read a Walter Williams piece many years ago in which he stated that 1/2 the CO2 in the air is caused by termites eating wood.

I think he also said that 1/2 of that CO2 came from decaying wood in the rainforest.

So, DUmmies, we need more deforestation and for you to off yourself.

[andhe78]

I'm being serious, can a train actually get across the country in four days?  I unfortunately have to travel to NYC quite often and usually take the train.  In over two dozen trips, I have yet to get from Buffalo to penn station in under ten hours and it's usually over twelve.  That's not even all the way across one state.

[JohnnyReb]

I'm being serious, can a train actually get across the country in four days?  I unfortunately have to travel to NYC quite often and usually take the train.  In over two dozen trips, I have yet to get from Buffalo to penn station in under ten hours and it's usually over twelve.  That's not even all the way across one state.

Trucking company here(east coast) used to guarantee delivery any where on the west coast in 52 hours.

Might do better if you thumbed a ride with a trucker.