Greening Air Travel
By Karina | November 26, 2007
By the time you read this, I’ll be sitting pretty in Georgia. I may even be heading for the Atlanta airport to fly back home from my family Thanksgiving down south. And I know that flying is not an efficient way to travel - I just read an article on cnn.com that says:
The air travel sector now carries the label of “the world’s fastest growing source of greenhouse gases” according to Friends of the Earth (FoE), with airplanes pumping out more than 600 million tons of carbon dioxide (CO2) every year. That’s nearly as much CO2 as the African continent annually expels.
Wow! it’s amazing to think that one small portion of the transportation sector can have an impact equal to that of AFRICA.
But on the other hand, let’s face it: the world is a big place. People live further apart from each other now than ever before. And sometimes you just need to fly in order to spend a timely vacation with a loved one. So this year for Thanksgiving, I flew down to Georgia to see my Aunt and Uncle, cousins, and Gramma.
Of course, I am still concerned about the impact of my flight on the atmosphere. According to the TerraPass flight calculator, I learned the following about my round-trip flight:
Your emissions: 670 lbs CO2
Miles flown: 1,489 miles
Personal fuel use: 34 gallons
In April I flew to Japan for a lovely two-week vacation. And I was concerned about the impacts of the flight over there - so I looked into offsets then and grouped together a few flights. I included the trip to Japan, a trip I’d taken to Tennessee in October 2006, and an anticipated flight to Georgia. That resulted in about 6500 lbs of carbon dioxide that would require an offset. So I ended up purchasing the “intercontinental” for $36, which is much less expensive than I’d expected. And, it’s more carbon offset than I need so I’ve still got another 1000 lbs in reserve to play with in case I make another flight in the near future.
And now I am cashing in on the trip to Georgia, and am able to fly happy with the knowledge that I did SOMETHING, at least, to mitigate the carbon emissions from my flights. And what is that something? According to TerraPass:
Your purchase of a Flight TerraPass results in reductions in carbon dioxide emissions elsewhere, by funding industrial efficiency and renewable energy projects such as wind farms.
Renewable energy from wind reduces carbon dioxide emissions by displacing power generated from fossil fuels. And industrial efficiency projects reduce carbon dioxide emissions through conservation.
In this way, your Flight TerraPass results in a guaranteed reduction in carbon dioxide emissions, balancing out the global warming impact of your flying.
Have you purchased off-sets? List the companies in the comments section!
Related posts:
- Buying Carbon Offsets
- Carbon Offsets
- Adventures with Travel Mugs: Part 2
- Tiny Choices Q&A: How much carbon is in 1kW?
- Greening Tater Chips
- Choosing Box Wine
- Easy Peasy Tip: Skip The Hair Dryer!
Topics: Transportation |
Thanks for the post Kari! I’ve been looking forward to this conversation about offsets as I too have some long distance travel plans. After looking at the supported projects by TerraPass, I am a bit torn though. In addition to wind power, TerraPass also supports Methane capture in the Dairy and Landfill Sectors. While I think it is important for greenhouse gas control in these sectors, I question who should be financially responsible for these programs. There are large landfills that are required by regulation to install mechanisms for landfill gas control and capture, and many do capture the methane for fuel, reducing their fossil fuel use. My understanding is that greenhouse gas credits can be given to other landfills who do these things voluntarily and not because they are required to do so by law.
Should we subsidize these programs through purchased off-sets, or should the costs be born on the facilities and the producers of the waste, so we understand the true environmental costs of landfilling? Should these controls be mandatory and regulated for all landfills? What would that mean and how long would that take?
Similarly, as published in the UNFAO report last year, animal industries like dairy
are responsible for a considerable portion of global methane emissions. Should methane controls in agribusiness be voluntary or regulated? Should the full cost be paid by by the industries and consumers, or partially supported by voluntary off-sets purchased by folks like us?
By purchasing off-sets benefiting these sectors are we helping green these industries, or helping subsidize ungreen industries?
Thoughts?
businessweek had some of the same criticisms of terrapass earlier this spring - and to counter the claim that landfills were doing this stuff anyway (i.e., was terrapass really adding anything to the situation? they call it “additionality.”)
terrapass wrote about it on their blog here (including a link to the businessweek article) and got a panel of experts to evaluate the landfill in question, posting all about it here. I will admit that I haven’t read the evaluation webpage but it’s on my list of things to look into!
my feelings are that regardless of actual CO2 offset, if you’re financially able to, it’s worth buying offsets because you’re showing the general public and politicians that this is an issue you feel strongly about and that they should be addressing. you’re putting your money where your mouth is and in the good ol’ USA sometimes that’s the only way to convince policy makers that this is an issue that should be addressed.
Buying carbon offsets is like buying medieval indulgences. spending a little money to make us feel better for the harm we are doing.
But what about when offsets are purchased in addition to the other green ways we live our lives? Not used as a greenwashing tactic, but really as a last resort, I’ve done all I can to avoid this situation (flying, driving, etc) but I must forge ahead with it, so I’ll buy offsets in order to mitigate some other damage somewhere, in at least some small way? ‘Cause I think this is how Karina implements them in her own life– man, if I were lucky enough to have a 90+ year old gramma to visit I would fly to see her too. And then I’d buy offsets, because, you know, flying is massively bad. Tiny choices, every one…
I would also argue that regardless of the good we’re doing, we are making a case to policy makers that we feel strongly enough about this issue to pay for it, and therefore, they should get off their duffs and actually do some big-picture overhauls to reduce greenhouse gases.
it’s one of my tiny choices. Jenn’s right - I do what I can.
i agree with Karina, that with our shrinking earth, we are able to offset our travel, and contriversial as it may be, we are doing something. it is not a perfect world, but we are trying to make it better.
Here is a price survey comparing different offset providers:
http://www.ecobusinesslinks.com/carbon_offset_wind_credits_carbon_reduction.htm
in choosing among different sectors (forest restoration, renewable energy, methane capture, industrial efficiency), i’m interested to know more about specific projects and transparency/accountability.
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