If not, you want all life on Earth to die. But, are the fees worth it?
You could opt to pay extra on your next flight to help the planet. But is it a waste of money?
For people trying to lower their carbon footprint in the world, flying is a conundrum.
It’s wonderful to visit family and see new places, but air travel is also a contributor to the carbon dioxide emissions that cause global warming.
Commercial airplanes and large business jets make up about 10% of US transportation emissions, accounting for 3% of the nation’s total greenhouse gas production, according to the latest numbers from the Environmental Protection Agency.
So climate-conscious travelers may be tempted to buy an add-on to their ticket that claims to reduce the environmental impact of their flights. Several major U.S. airlines offer to let passengers buy these offsets through their websites. And multiple other companies and non-profits also sell carbon offsets.
This piece from the USA Today then goes on to describe how utterly evil it is for you to fly. Not for the Elites, of course. That’s a question that few media outlets will ever ask, namely, why are all these high toned and fancy todo believers in ‘climate change’ taking lots and lots of fossil fueled flights, mostly on private jets? Then we get to
Do carbon offsets really work?
It depends on the offset. And who you ask.
They’re a scam
Still, offsets are not a “get out of jail free” card. Carbon is being emitted by the plane, notes Daniele Rao, an expert on the decarbonization of aviation at the non-profit Carbon Market Watch. He’s generally skeptical of offsets but is willing to say they’re “probably” better than nothing.
“It’s OK to purchase offsets. But you have to know that you’re not reducing your emission, you’re still having an impact,” he said.
Basically, it’s like paying speeding tickets because you like speeding while lecturing Other People to stop speeding. Anyhow, no one really, truly knows if these carbon offsets make any difference, because transparency is rather low. One think after all this time things would be a little bit more definitive, right? Here are a few ideas so you can be better
Take a train, bus or car for trips that are 600 miles or less — especially if multiple people are going.
Trains and buses take quite some time. It would take longer to take either from Raleigh to NJ to visit the parents than driving. Interestingly, the article fails to note the vast number of fossil fueled flights Biden takes to Delaware, which are way, way, way less than 600 miles.
Don’t fly business or first class. The amount of energy required to fly a plane is divided among the people flying. Coach is the most energy efficient.
Huh? That plane is going there anyway. You’re just paying more for the seat. The plane has the same “carbon footprint” regardless of seat.
Use a program like Google flights to see the actual carbon footprint of a given flight, so you can compare. Newer aircraft and more dense seating arrangements mean fewer pounds of carbon dioxide per passenger.
Yeah, no. I just want to get there.
Read: Who’s Up For Paying Extra Airline Fees To Save The World From A Fever? »