It’s not realistic to suggest everyone give up flying, even though climate change experts say that one of the top nine ways to stop climate change is ‘fly less’. Or don’t fly at all. But if you travel by air for an annual holiday or regular business trips, there are a few simple swaps you can make, to drastically reduce your carbon footprint.
Fly Less
This is the obvious one. If you can take the train, then do so. Nobody is suggesting you go by rail to New Zealand. But say you travel to Europe, it’s easy to get there by ferry and/or train (the main train station at Amsterdam can get you nearly anywuere in Europe in a few hours).
Domestic train travel is expensive. So use Split My Fare to drastically reduce your fares, by purchasing separate tickets (the site does all the work for you, sometimes reducing ticket prices substantially).
Fly Direct (if you can)
Again nobody is saying to fly direct to Australia! But if it’s a short flight, try to take direct flights. This is because most fuel is used for take-off and landing.
Fly Economy on Short Flights
All of us would prefer to fly Business or First Class on longer flights, simply because you have more legroom and get better sleep. But if you fly short-haul, then choose Economy Class. This is because the less planes in the sky, the better. And sometimes a short-haul flight may only have a few Business Class Seats. In short, economy planes put ‘more bums on seats’, so there are less planes needed.
Take Public Transport to the Airport
If you can, take the bus or train to the airport, rather than give airports more profits, by paying a small fortune to park at the multi-storey car park. If you have to take your car, then use Just Park, an app that lets you park in driveways or garages (or unused office car parks) of local people. This way they earn some passive income, you save some money, and the big car parks don’t charge you more than your holiday, just to park your car for a week or two.
Take Your Own ‘Everything’
Make your own sandwiches, take a reusable water bottle, and pack some hankies (to avoid the plastic-wrapped ‘wet towels’). The more people refuse over-packaged junk food, plastic drinks and tiny bags of pretzels, the less they will be offered.
On the same note, often airports have delays, and you’re waiting around a long time. So pack a good book to pass the time, rather than pay over-priced charges for magazines and other stuff in airport shops.
Order a Vegan Meal
Even if you’re not vegan, order a vegan meal (24 hours in advance – code VGML – or FPML for a virtuous fruit platter). These meals are not just kinder and have less carbon footprint. But they are farmed out to special chefs who can actually cook, so will taste better too!
Boycott Airlines that Fly Kidnapped Wildlife
A few airlines (mostly outside of Europe but at time of writing this includes SAS Scandinavian Arilines) still take money to fly kidnapped wild animals to vivisection labs. Send a message, and boytcott these airlines, until they stop.
On a positive note, Easy Jet refuses to promote tours that include animal ‘entertainment’. And Qatar Airways offer free flights, to fly captive animals back to their wild homes, say in protected sancturies in Asia or Africa.
Donate Air Miles (and Luggage Allowance)
Good Flights lets you donate unused air miles, which are used to help transport abused or homeless pets (often after natural disasters) to shelters or new loving homes. If you’re a regular traveller to Thailand, you can use your luggage allowance to help Soi Dogs transport street dogs (that never find homes locally) to new loving homes, to save the charity the cost.
Leave Companion Animals at Home
Flying is very stressful for companion animals, as vets say they should not be tranquillised, as it can be dangerous. Obviously if you are emigrating (or it’s an emergency situation) that’s different. But for the most part, find someone you trust to leave pets at home, if you have to fly somewhere.
If you need to fly with animals, PetAirUK is run by vets, and has comprehensive and reassuring information, should you need it.
A Quick Overview of England’s Airports
Heathrow (which is actually made up of three villages) is by far England’s busiest airport, followed by Gatwick. There is present controversy over plans for a third terminal at Heathrow, which locals don’t want. The new Labour government is likely backing the plan that will cost cost billions of pounds.
Heathrow is the second most polluting airport in the world (after Dubai International) and the most polluting place in England.
If you live near Heathrow and are affected by noise, the website has information on how to apply for financial help to insulate (or even move home). You can also report damage to your roof from fallen ice or vortex (swirling air).
Although most Heatherow flights are long-haul, one popular destination is Dublin. The Man in Seat 61 suggests a leisurely train ride up to Holyhead, then a nice ‘ferry cruise’ from Holyhead to Dublin. He says the ship is ‘rock steady’ which is progress from the past, when it was a notoriously seasick-inducing trip, with ‘waves flying past the window’. But he says the trip is a treat, with the ferry hardly ever having missed a sailing. And you can upgrade to sail in style, with wine and canapés! Alternatively, you can take a (longer) ferry trip from Liverpool.
Heathrow Airport has a long history of incidents including the arrest of the man who shot Martin Luther King Jr (he was trying to leave the UK on a false Canadian passport). And of course the flight that was blown up over Lockerbie, was on a journey to New York from Heathrow.
Please, No Second Terminal at Luton
There is also concern over plans to build a second terminal at Luton Airport, which will again cause more pollution and noise, and also impact wild orchids and ancient hedgerows (the natural home of hedgehogs). These would be covered in concrete, to build more aircraft hangars and car parks. The town of Luton has a tradition of hat-making. Considering the airport does not have good reviews, it may be best to focus again on making hats!
England’s First Green Electric Airline?
Eco entrepreneur Dale Vince (founder of Ecotricity) is soon to launch EcoJet, the world’s first ‘electric airline’ that will retrofit existing planes with hydrogen energy, for massive CO2 emission reductions. Flights are due to start from Edinburgh to Southampton, then to mainland Europe and eventually long-haul. The airline will serve vegan meals, crew will wear organic uniforms and no single-plastic items will be used.
If you immediately think of that airship in the 30s that exploded, apparently it’s more complicated than that. Experts say that hydrogen is safe if done well. The bigger problem will be opposition from the oil industry.
