I think that you really are a bit inconsistent here. As in any experiment, where you always try to get rid of the most important source of noise first, we should get rid of the most important CO2 emitters first. And if flights are currently at around 2% (I think, not sure) then we ignore them, until they become the major pollutant. Besides, ships for example, are currently emitting more that flights are and are also predicted to grow explosively. Undeveloped world is growing at extremely high pace and is likely to eclipse any CO2 savings you might make. So it is not clear at all which of these is going to be major in the future (a non inconceivable fluctuations in the oil prices in the next 20 years might change predictions completely). Bottom line is that flying less makes you feel better, but you really don't make much difference. But to be a really good person, you should try to make a difference, rather than feel better...Antony Lewis wrote:It's true flights are currently responsible for a small fraction of the total. But aviation is expanding rapidly, aviation fuel is untaxed, and emissions are not included in any carbon trading schemes. For the small fraction of the population who fly far more than the average (I think about two flights per person per year in the UK), flights are a major component of their carbon footprint. That's many of us (myself included!).
(By the same token I disagree with many UK charities, fair trade and organic food, but this exceeds this topic)
I think that this anti-flying campaigning stems from, in my view fallacious, thinking in terms of emissions per person. What the distribution of emission per person is doesn't matter at all, what matters is the overall emission. For example, as a clever physicist you could invent a good process innovation that would allow to cut emissions in some plant in underdeveloped world by half. Surely, if developing this innovation (or maybe developing it quicker) would require flying around the world 5 times, you would still be justified to do it, right? By the same token, you should identify the currently major pollutant *in the world, not UK* and invest your time in improving that by lobbying, thinking about technology, etc...