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Friday, April 09, 2010

Welcome Aboard Flight 2010!

I fly too much (on airplanes that is, there can never be too many dream-flights, even if for some odd reason I'm usually wearing only my jockey shorts when I soar...)

Last year I think I flew about 30 times. A round trip from Vancouver to Toronto generates about 1200 pounds of CO2 (my share that is). Our lovely vacation in Australia chalked up another 4,600 lbs each. Just to compare, driving about 15,000 kilometres in my Subaru Outback shoves about 11,200 lbs of CO2 into our collective faces. Look here if you want to do your own calculations.

Okay, I did pay some carbon offsets, but still...

I have a friend who is mourning Mexican vacations because she plans to never fly again. Me? I am trying to be more sensible, reducing the number of flights and paying carbon offsets.

Just for fun, have a look at large aircraft flying around planet earth in one 24 hour period. And have a look at Europe and North America if you doubt those who say we're the fat cats in this very shared atmosphere.



Comments:
Just for fun??? That was scary.
Nothing like a good visual to bring home a point.
 
That reminds me of the story about the speaker telling an audience that somewhere in the world a woman was giving birth every two minutes and asked what could be done. Someone stood up and said, 'I think we should find that woman and stop her'.

I just did the calculation and we're at less than 1500lb of CO2 annually so far as travel is concerned. Does that mean we're offsetting somebody who should be sending us money? I want his name and address for billing purposes.
 
Wow! That was an eye opener. This year I switched to a "sipper" a vehicle that gets much better gas mileage. It's great to keep driving past the gas station.... thinking not yet & when I do go, she's filled up pretty quick.
One station attendant said- see ya next month!

I can;t quite get by on one tank of gas per month, but my gas bill is down by half. So not only is that great news for the planet, but for my wallet.
 
it looks like a plaugue, very interesting video!
 
Cheri - yeah, scary.

Beth - don't be scared, you can hide at the cottage and just watch the vapour trails.

Susan - you guys are my heroes. That's a pretty decent little footprint you've got there. Maybe you can sell it to Shell Oil as an offset.

Fran, gas is about $12 a gallon in some parts of Europe. I was pleased to see so many small cars there. A Honda Accord looks like a bus in a small English village.

Claire - it is a sort of plague, isn't it? Although I do love to travel and it will take me a long time to walk or ride a donkey from here to Mexico.
 
It is scary and an eye-opener indeed. I fly allll the way to the Philippines 2 or 3x a year. That's wayyyy too much CO2.
 
i am going to put moss in my nose, so that when i exhale, it will filter out the co2. i will exhale only good clean air.
i will floss and brush my teeth.
i will wear soft shoes when i'm not walking on floors or cement.
i will recycle my post-it notes.
i won't flush twice unless its absolutely necessary.
i won't use air freshener.
i will eat unflatulent foods.
i will donate to worthy causes.
the tongue in my cheek will only form kind words.
all in the name of offsetting carbon.
 
Hi Gary ā€“ simply amazing ā€“ Iā€™m afraid we are soon to join the congestion flying to Budapest to commence a river cruise to Amsterdam.
Best wishes
 
i need a vacation.
backpacking sounds good.
also, covering my feet with sand while reading a book and watching the ocean between chapters.
 
Super easy solution for you! See below:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sf49cw0134U

=) Cheers, friend!
 

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