| Back to Home > Bulletin Board > Current Events > Topic: Flying sucks... |
Topic: Flying sucks...
| Author | Message |
| UGoGirl | Posted – 4/8/2007 10:40:23 PM | show profile In addition to being a hassle (going through security, etc.) it is one of the single worst sources of carbon emissions. A round trip flight NYC to LA results in about 1,880 pounds of carbon emissions per person. That's about the same as two or three months worth of carbon emissions from driving a car (for a mid-size type car, assuming you drive about 8,000 to 10,000 miles a year, etc.). Unfortunately, these planes we have in stock are extremely expensive and won't be replaced with newer airplanes that are presumably cleaner (and presumably future ones will as well). I'll admit this year has been a particularly bad one for me air travel wise... I'll try to do better... |
| mailbag | Posted – 4/9/2007 1:00:30 AM | show profile | email poster Look what is behind airlines I hate flying now too Ugo. They are creating a whole new industry around airports (airlines - backroom deals - retail / fast food chains / day spas springing up - makes more money while you sit waiting for a flight.) It won't end soon, I agree. Our "immediate" need to get somewhere for work keeps this going. This is capitalism. That is really what is evil here. After 9.11 - do you remember the first step Bushie took? Paid off the airlines. Fuck-the people of New York City as we wept in the streets -- he paid the airlines. NY paid for $88 billion in losses, and Bloomberg got Bush to finally agree to $11 billion two years later. If I'm not mistaken, Bush gave airlines $21 billion in Sept 01. Free cash. Had they been treated like the rest of us, they'd be broke. What a shame. Too bad says I. |
| UGoGirl | Posted – 4/9/2007 9:24:59 AM | show profile Of course corporate welfare is alive and well. But try to give some food stamps to a minimum wage worker and they're taking advantage. Our priorities are seriously warped. |
| olegna joven | Posted – 4/18/2007 4:13:11 AM | show profile What's your point? Don't use commercial air travel? Yeah, that'll work. By far the biggest source of harmful air pollutants is coal-burning power plants. The best way to pitch in isn't to cancel your trip to Florida to visit grandma, but rather if everyone reduced their consumption of electricity and governments found alternatives to the cheapest, dirtiest source of power. And if you want to help reduce your personal footprint you can start with cutting your annual car mileage by half. |
| olegna joven | Posted – 4/18/2007 4:14:53 AM | show profile PS - The average vehicular mileage isn't 8,000 to 10,000 a year. It's almost 15,000. If every Americans drove 8,000 miles per year, that would be a huge reduction in fuel consumption and air pollution in itself. |
| UGoGirl | Posted – 4/18/2007 8:59:21 AM | show profile My point is we need to do this, that, and the other. There is no single solution. Yes, demand that no new coal fired power plants are built and the ones already out there cleaned up with the goal of putting them out of business ASAP. Yes, reduce the number of miles you drive. Yes, change your light bulbs. Yes, plant a garden. Yes, buy locally grown food. Yes, cut down on air travel. Yes, take the bus/train instead. Yes, turn your thermostat down. Yes, walk or bike. Yes, buy less crap (that has to be manufactured somewhere likely using energy from a coal fired power plant). We are on the titanic and that ice berg is in sight. We don't need just to tweak our course, we need to put the brakes on and make a hard turn immediately. We can't wait for new technologies or better solutions to come up, we've got to work with what we've got. |
| Nikongirl | Posted – 4/18/2007 10:44:56 AM | show profile My new snappy black Trek city hybrid bike will take me all over the city all day every day. I've been an urban cyclist for over 35 years now; when I was in my thirties, I would have never guessed that I would still be riding a bike to get around as I near 60....but it is my favourite way to go, no traffic, no stopping, just gliding by enjoying the day, the sunshine, the city. I just don't understand those who live in the city and drive around in giant SUV's - there's no where to park, they guzzle gas and pollute the air - makes them all look like idiots. Oh, and I've been recycling and composting for over 25 years too! I turn off lights,shut off my computer and do my part in reducing my carbon footprint as best I can. Yeah, yeah, give me the old Girl Scout shout out! I want a green lapel pin. |
| UGoGirl | Posted – 4/18/2007 11:28:31 PM | show profile Wow, Nikon, 35 years of biking. Not only is it good for the planet, it's good for your health. If only we all lived like you do. |
| sWordplay | Posted – 5/16/2007 3:56:36 PM | show profile Road-trips rock. Gotta say, in terms of good story-gathering, road trips are the way to go. I've driven cross-country, oh, half a dozen times now, and from Chicago to Colorado many many more times, and, well . . . I'm a little addicted. It's not a hybrid (still saving the money) but it IS a tiny two-door Honda Civic with awesome mileage, and his name is Billy Markham, and apparently I could go back and forth across the nation nearly four times for the cost of a single plane's emissions, so . . . let's hear it for road trips! |
| ManhattanMatt | Posted – 5/16/2007 8:42:18 PM | show profile I refuse to give up my lightbulbs ... ...in favor of those compact flourescents that don't work with DIMMER switches that I had installed throughout my apartment. I like the flexibility of being able to pot my bulbs up full blast when I really need the light ... and being able to pot them down to only 40% for soft evening light ... and down to 5% for night lights. You have no such flexibility with the new compact flourescents. |
| 9over14 | Posted – 5/21/2007 2:10:27 PM | show profile I refuse lightbulbs I put one of those energy saver lightbulbs in a light that had a dimmer switch and it didn't dim it, it just made it flicker in higher or lower frequency - and in seizure enducing randomness. |
| ManhattanMatt | Posted – 5/21/2007 2:54:24 PM | show profile Here's the ironic part ... Conventional light bulbs are packaged in recycleable cardboard boxes. The so-called "greener" compact flourescents are packaged in oversized hard-shell PLASTIC. Hmm. Better for the environment? I think not. |
| 9over14 | Posted – 5/21/2007 3:35:42 PM | show profile haha, thats funny - the energy saver bulbs I bought came in just plastic - not as good as recycled paper but better than that... |
