Remember when the jet set was synonymous with glamour? When it seemed almost everyone aspired to travel by air to some distant land? Not so these days. Not only is most air travel decidedly unglamorous, today airlines and frequent fliers regularly stand accused by the environmental movement of making unnecessary contributions to global warming.
Groups such as the David Suzuki Foundation and Friends of the Earth Canada encourage people to think twice before boarding an aircraft; when possible, they say, vacationers should travel by train and business travellers should switch to video conferencing. The website http://www.lowflyzone.org even urges individuals to make a solemn pledge to avoid flying for a year.
Still, that's not stopping most of us. According to Beatrice Olivastri, CEO of Ottawa-based Friends of the Earth Canada, the number of airline passengers is projected to grow by 200 to 600 per cent by 2050. For all those travellers, there are still ways to reduce greenhouse gases:
FLY NEW
Canadian passengers are in a good position because Air Canada and WestJet have relatively modern, fuel-efficient fleets - one of the reasons they haven't been caught flat-footed by rising fuel prices like so many U.S. airlines. When considering other airlines, a little research into the age and size of their aircraft can help you make a "clean" choice.
PACK LIGHT
Airlines have adopted the practice of charging for checked bags because they cost money to handle and, more importantly, because the additional weight consumes more fuel. Limiting yourself to a carry-on will save you luggage hassles and reduce your carbon footprint.
COUNT YOUR CARBON
The International Civil Aviation Organization, the UN's air transport body, launched an online carbon calculator last month (http://www.icao.int) that the organization says will help travellers choose the best option to offset the impact of their trips. According to the calculator, someone flying from Toronto to London Heathrow in economy class will send .94 tonnes of CO2 into the atmosphere, whereas someone in a business- or first-class seat - which make less efficient use of aircraft space - will produce 1.78 tonnes.
PAY YOUR WAY
Many airlines now sell carbon offsets so passengers can pay to ease their guilt. Air Canada has partnered with Zerofootprint, while WestJet works with Offsetters.ca. As of late May, Air Canada passengers had bought $140,738 in credits since the program started a year earlier, which the carrier says offset 8,796 tonnes of CO2 and led to the planting of 1,759 trees.
But some passengers are skeptical. Ken Hamer, a Vancouver-based frequent flier, says that works out to more than $80 a tree. "That seems to me to be tremendously bad value," he says. "I'm pretty sure that I can go to any nursery and purchase a shrub tree for less than $10."
And some early carbon-offset projects actually harmed the environment, says the World Wildlife Fund-U.K.'s head of transport policy, Peter Lockley, which is why the WWF International brought other climate groups together to create the Gold Standard (http://www.cdmgoldstandard.org), a non-profit organization that recognizes genuinely beneficial offset programs.
Even so, Lockley worries that offsets may send the wrong message. "The danger is that the mentality becomes 'I can offset that and it's okay to fly.' "
TAKE THE PLANE
But that's exactly what the International Air Transport Association (IATA), whose membership comprises some 230 of the world's leading airlines, is saying: It's okay to fly.
Airlines drive the world's economy but produce only 2 per cent of global carbon emissions, delegates were told last month at the IATA's annual conference in Istanbul.
In fact, the IATA believes that criticizing the industry, its members and its customers is unfair in light of the importance it attaches to environmental concerns.
Late last year the association named Paul Steele, a former chief operating officer of the World Wildlife Fund International, to direct its environment initiatives.
"It's important we go out and say this industry has improved its record," Lufthansa CEO Wolfgang Mayrhuber said at a session on the environment challenge. "This is the only industry that shows a road map aimed at carbon neutral growth."
