Flying harms the environment. A flight from New York to Los Angeles generates one ton of CO2 per person. (go to CO2.org to compute your next flight’s impact). Jets are a fast growing contributor to greenhouse gas emissions.
If you can’t skip the flight altogether and opt for a teleconference (or go to the nearest halo room) then you can ease your green conscience by buying a credit. According to an article in the current Vanity Fair, guilty travelers can now go to ClimateCare.org, calculate the environmental degradation of their journey, and then make a donation that is put toward forestry and energy-efficient products.
The NY-LA flight would result in a $10 guilt tax. Our regular host, Mark Ashley, is burning up 1.85 tons of CO2 on his way to and from Schiphol right now, or about $20 if ClimateCare would put a price tag on his environmental degradation. If only everything bad that we did could be so easily remedied.
What do you think? Would you pay such a fee? What if it were mandatory, like a Homeland Security surcharge?
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April 18th, 2006 at 3:21 pm
If we have to fly, we have to fly. I guess, the best that we (as individuals) can do for the environment is to “care” in some other ways. We can practice recycling and re-using at home. Or, we could limit the use of our cars by walking when we only need to go a few blocks. Little things like that would probably be easier for the environmentally concerned US rather than giving 10$.
my two cents.