Should we stop flying?

https://www.ara.cat/societat/Hem-deixar-volar_0_2278572134.html

Should we stop flying? This is the question which the new’s writer starts the text with, and after reading it, the answer is very clear to me: we must reduce the number of flights immediately.

I do not use planes very frequently, but I know it has converted into a habit for the people of the first world. The welfare society brought with it a situation where everyone can have a car, have a TV, travel, play golf and lots of other things that before were just for the rich and important people. And often these activities cost much less than their real price, because nobody pays for its contamination. And probably the solution is this one: add in the ticket price a supplement for the used kerosene, like a tax for contaminating. This way, flying would not be the first option to go abroad, and those who take planes lots of times in a year, for work, family or whatever is the reason, would have to think another cheaper mode to travel.

Looking at the graphics, cars pollute a lot more than planes, but actually it wouldn’t be surprising if the difference were a lot bigger than it is, because It seems to be that only a 20% of the whole population in the Earth has flown sometime. And here we see again the climate change injustice: a few ones pollute, cut down forests, use non-renewable energy sources and do not mind about sustainability. However, they aren’t going to be the more affected ones by their acts, because they will have the money and power to face the problem, while the less developed countries, where life is already difficult and the people did not contribute to destroy the planet, won’t have the tools to solve it.

So, returning to the theme, it is obvious that the cars pollution is a problem, especially at cities where, like Barcelona, there are so many cars that you often can see a grey cloud of pollution from the mountain. But I think that car’s emissions are more justified than the planes’, because is perfectly possible to live in a city or village, work there and do whatever you have to do without taking any planes, except if you live in an alone island. Let’s say cars are more necessary, commuting, visiting familiars, or going to the market. Travelling is a luxury, and there are lots of other ways to do it; there’s people that goes around the globe by bicycle, like this german guy, Felix Stark, who made a report of his experiences. http://bit.ly/2KQnc2A

So, I think we have to change the way we think of travelling, maybe we cannot visit all the places in the world and go every year on a 4 days trip to a capital city, but some years ago nobody did. Instead of visiting other countries maybe first we will have to know well ours. In addition, nowadays with the evolution on the technology, you don’t really need to move physically for most of the dealings, because videoconferences may substitute the ancient way to have meetings, for example. You may work together with people all around the world thanks to technology.

I think that is not that difficult to find other ways to travel, some European capitals are full of bicycles instead of cars, the same could be with trains. In some countries, like German and Sweden, these ideas have been lately popularized by Greta Thunberg, but it’s been years since they appeared, at 2005 Plane Stupid, a group of protesters against de planes, was already founded. https://www.facebook.com/PlaneStupidUK/

Like always, everyone has his own decision, but electric planes are far from arriving, and the climate change is getting worse. Is not a final prohibition, just moderation, because flying is clearly an unhealthy activity for the nature.