May 29, 2007
Voluntary "carbon offsets" are an abysmal way to deal with the ecological damage done by air transportation
The release of carbon into the atmosphere by passenger-carrying airplanes is increasingly feared to be an important cause of global warming. Numerous commentators have recently claimed that cars and planes are the world's second-fastest-growing source of CO2 emissions.
So what should we, as responsible travelers, do? More and more, it's suggested that we purchase so-called "carbon offsets" when we buy an air ticket, like contributions to funds that plant trees swallowing up the CO2 created by our travels. Last month, Delta Airlines announced that starting this summer, passengers who book their seats on www.delta.com would have the option to contribute $5.50 per round-trip domestic flight and $11 per round-trip international flight to a conservation fund planting trees throughout the world.
How real are the results of such programs? It's obvious that when 10 or 20 passengers on a jumbo jet make a voluntary gesture to offset environmental damage, that 300 or so less-conscientious passengers are causing far greater emissions through their decision to fly. Unless the contribution is mandatory among all passengers, the environmental benefit is minor. And even then, there seems a limit to the number of trees that even a universal program of "off-sets" is capable of planting.
One airline -- the expensive Silverjet flying business-class-only seats from New York to London -- has in fact required a mandatory extra-charge environmental donation from all its passengers. It boasts it has therefore become the world's only "carbon neutral" airline. The notion that all the world's airlines might be willing to follow its lead seems fanciful.
A far better way to offset the carbon emissions of air travel is to replace as many of those flights as possible with train transportation. Already in Europe, more than 70% of the persons traveling between London and Paris make that trip by train, especially aboard the high-speed Eurostar; and numerous airlines are beginning to cancel their London/Paris flights. On the continent, air travel between Paris and Brussels has virtually ceased.
When will the United States awaken to the need for replacing our own jam-packed highways and short flights with reliable, comfortable, rail service -- trains that also eliminate the giant carbon emissions of the airplanes they replace?
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So what should we, as responsible travelers, do? More and more, it's suggested that we purchase so-called "carbon offsets" when we buy an air ticket, like contributions to funds that plant trees swallowing up the CO2 created by our travels. Last month, Delta Airlines announced that starting this summer, passengers who book their seats on www.delta.com would have the option to contribute $5.50 per round-trip domestic flight and $11 per round-trip international flight to a conservation fund planting trees throughout the world.
How real are the results of such programs? It's obvious that when 10 or 20 passengers on a jumbo jet make a voluntary gesture to offset environmental damage, that 300 or so less-conscientious passengers are causing far greater emissions through their decision to fly. Unless the contribution is mandatory among all passengers, the environmental benefit is minor. And even then, there seems a limit to the number of trees that even a universal program of "off-sets" is capable of planting.
One airline -- the expensive Silverjet flying business-class-only seats from New York to London -- has in fact required a mandatory extra-charge environmental donation from all its passengers. It boasts it has therefore become the world's only "carbon neutral" airline. The notion that all the world's airlines might be willing to follow its lead seems fanciful.
A far better way to offset the carbon emissions of air travel is to replace as many of those flights as possible with train transportation. Already in Europe, more than 70% of the persons traveling between London and Paris make that trip by train, especially aboard the high-speed Eurostar; and numerous airlines are beginning to cancel their London/Paris flights. On the continent, air travel between Paris and Brussels has virtually ceased.
When will the United States awaken to the need for replacing our own jam-packed highways and short flights with reliable, comfortable, rail service -- trains that also eliminate the giant carbon emissions of the airplanes they replace?
Add a comment about this post.
Labels: airlines, environment
Fifty years ago, 
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