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roxolotl 2 days ago

Fly less. Is waiting a week for a package really that big of a deal? Is traveling less really that much to ask?

It’s totally ok to be skeptical of the claims. I can’t make a judgement on them as I know even less than you might. But that’s not a reason to doubt that human’s environment impact matters and that maybe part of the solution is for those of us with access to 2day delivery for everything and cheap flights live a teeny bit more like those who don’t.

harddrivereque 2 days ago | parent | next [-]

It is easy to suggest to fly less but it is going to be impossible to convince society where core values include agressive "extra" consumption, which in turn is the backbone of the world's current economy. Flying is one of top "extra" consumption types out there. I know many people are trying to convince people of that, but the society is moving in the opposite direction - bigger cars (both us and eu), more travel. Maybe arguments used currently are not convincing enough? I mean, sure, keep trying and you will obviously reach a certain 0.00x% of the population, but that's not really going to make any difference

JKCalhoun 2 days ago | parent | next [-]

The general way to affect public habits (whether it works or not) is to apply a "sin tax" to that activity.

mavhc 2 days ago | parent | prev [-]

Just tax everything the amount it costs to clean up the pollution it causes, then use that money to clean up the pollution, now everything will have the correct price including externalities

nephihaha 2 days ago | parent | prev | next [-]

There is a big anti-tourism movement being built up across the world which is also being pushed by mass media. In Barcelona and Venice this has turned physical in a few instances. Flying is going to be made more expensive in the near future, I've no doubt of it. The environmental lobby will call for it.

By the way, I have not flown for over a decade. I can't stand airports...

zamalek 2 days ago | parent | prev | next [-]

> Is traveling less really that much to ask?

I'm currently on dating apps and the amount of people who define their personalities by their travel habits is staggering.

chrneu 2 days ago | parent [-]

lol thanks for saying this. "Travel" and "dogs" make up a crazy amount of dating profiles. Like 60% maybe? It's nuts. It's really weird.

then you look at most of their profiles and it's the same handful of tourist photos or them paying to take a photo, basically. travel is just another status symbol thing to a lot of people. they do the same things they see on social media. it's weird. it's just another way of showing how much money you can spend on frivolous* stuff. "30 countries by 30" and stuff like that.

the dog version of it is huskies. every one has a husky in their apartment. there are like 3-4 breeds that every woman in a city/urban area has. so weird.

*not saying travel is frivolous. I'm saying the modern stereotypical version of it is very conforming and repetitive.

the annoying thing is if someone were to ever say, in the real world, that maybe this version of travel isn't worth the damage to the environment, they would most likely get labeled an asshole or something. a "downer" or someone who is a "hater", or they are "ruining the vibe". more and more often "the vibe" is just an excuse to engage in crazy excess consumption that we label as "self care".

lol sorry to go off on this. it's just so weird how we've twisted these things around as a culture/society.

counters 2 days ago | parent | prev | next [-]

The general point here is that your individual behavior as a consumer likely doesn't impact this mechanism. An aircraft doesn't skip a flight just because you waited a week to go on vacation. Aviation infrastructure is something of a fixed-cost which would likely only respond to systemic changes in travel demand, economic impacts on maintenance or fueling, or possibly some other form of regulation (e.g. a penalty for inducing contrails).

nQQKTz7dm27oZ 2 days ago | parent | prev [-]

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