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Travelling without flying....Frances from Penzance works all over the UK and Europe but avoids flying, the most damaging form of travel to the climate. Why they are doing things to help the climate.... Frances is taking personal responsibility for the amount of carbon that her day to day activities result in. She recognises that as individuals we all need to take steps to reduce the amount of carbon we produce to reduce the threat of climate change. She is working to reduce her personal ‘carbon footprint’ – this is a measure of the impact our activities have on the environment in terms of the amount of carbon dioxide we all produce. It provides a measure of how we personally impact climate change. What they are doing.... Frances works all over the UK and Europe and she often has to attend meetings and events as part of this. She has decided that to Why it’s important….. Each one of us is a cause of climate change, but we can make choices to change the way we live to protect our climate. The solutions are in our own hands. Government and businesses are already taking steps to tackle climate change, as individuals we also need to take action. Only by working together will we stop the worst effects of climate change. We all need to travel, but flying is one of the most damaging forms of transport for the climate. By using alternative forms of transport we can dramatically decrease the amount of carbon that is emitted. Part of the reason flights are so bad for the climate is that they put carbon dioxide high into the atmosphere where they have an increased global warming effect. They also release other greenhouse gases and create disturbances such as condensation trails which increase the global warming effect. Air travel is also rapidly growing which means the contribution that this form of travel makes to climate change is increasing. In their report ‘Aviation and Global Warming’, the Department for Transport estimated that by 2020 aviation emissions will increase by another 50%, which will be three times their level from 1990. By 2040, even after allowing for an improvement in aircraft fuel efficiency, they estimate emissions will double from the present level which will be four times the level from 1990. One in four flights in the UK is business related. By actively choosing not to fly, whenever possible, we can reduce the threat of climate change from this form of travel. This could be through taking the train or boat instead of a plane, using video-conferencing instead of attending a meeting in person or just reducing the number of flights you take each year. We could also do more to reduce the impact of flying for holidays, by choosing destinations or forms of travel that don’t require short haul flights. If you can’t avoid flying then you could consider off-setting the carbon your flight is responsible for – this is not a solution to climate change, but can help to slow it down as a last resort. For an overview of carbon offsetting and companies that offer this service visit the Defra website. Carbon Footprints Further information.... For general information on air travel and the environment visit the Government's Environment & Greener Living website The BBC has also recently produced a programme questioning if we should carry on flying. You can find out more from their website. If you do need to travel within the UK or internationally you can use this website to see how you can travel overland comfortably and affordably. This will dramatically reduce the carbon emissions you are responsible for. A new website called flight pledge encourages people to limit their flying. So far 1240 people in the UK have pledged to fly less or give up flying to help protect the climate. For a detailed analysis of how aviation impacts the climate, look at
Predict and Provide by Oxford University Environmental Change Institute. For more information on carbon footprints and carbon calculators visit the Green Choices website. To get an overview of how carbon is generated by our current consumption patterns look at the Carbon Trust report referred to above. There are many carbon offsetting companies that provide an opportunity to off set your carbon on a per flight basis. Many of these provide a carbon calculator to show how much carbon dioxide your flight will lead to and then show you the cost of offsetting this amount of carbon. For one example visit Climate Care.
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get to these meetings she will no longer take a flight and instead she uses the train, which results in much lower carbon emissions and therefore reduces the personal impact she has on the climate. She also finds train travel much more relaxing, having the time to take in what is often spectacular scenery, and says it is generally much easier to work on the train because you have more space than a plane and a table to work at.
Emissions from UK aviation have more than doubled since 1990 while emissions from all other UK activities have fallen by about 9% (source: Oxford University Environmental Change Institute). In terms of aviation emissions, after the US, the UK is the world’s biggest carbon dioxide culprit. One in five international flights uses UK airports. 