Sure, once corporations are regulated properly and prevented from contributing unnecessarily to emissions, I will stop taking leisure flights. That's a promise I know I can make because I will never have to keep it. Until then, I don't see what the point is and I actively refuse to make changes when the entities most responsible for emissions, corporations, are allowed to do nothing and go on about their polluting ways. Nothing I do will make a difference. The plane I gave up my seat on will still fly and still use about as much fuel. My not flying on said plane will not prevent thousands of other planes from, for example, delivering tomatoes from the other side of the world when there are plenty of local ones. Pass legislation addressing the 80% of the problem (corporate pollution) and then ask individuals to address the other 20%. Doing things in reverse is not only dumb but quite ineffective.
How about nationalize all Uranium on planet Earth thereby resolving fuel costs only to the cost of extraction, and building 1000 CANDU heavy-water reactors in Northern Ontario in a 10x100 grid - building only 3 variations (proven models) with very simple designs, and then simplifying the fuel cycle process dramatically.<p>The French do 85% of their Electricity on Nuclear because they built a bunch of identical plants at the same time thereby saving massively on costs.<p>And then repeat in the Nevada desert.<p>Costs have a lot do do with 'insurance' 'fuel' massive overhead of bureaucracy. It's like building a tunnel in Boston - massive soft corruption, stupidity etc.<p>The actual, bare-bones costs of a nuke plant should not be that high.<p>Do 1000 at once, as an 'international project' ...<p>And then coordinate with major economies to do likewise: China, India, Europe & Africa (built in Sahara), Middle East (built in Saudi Arabia defended by American troops), Argentina.<p>Built in regional pricing mechanisms (i.e. guaranteed x% to Iran, Pakistan, Egypt, Vietnam, Brazil etc.)<p>And 15% goes directly to atmospheric CO2 capture.<p>Now there's a 'Marshall Plan'.
Or stop consuming so much.<p>Traveling, especially without airplanes (which is perfectly possible in lots of parts of the world -- vacationing to a train/car-accessible country that is), is trivial compared to industrial production of crap.<p>Making advertising illegal would decrease needless consumption (and pollution) by a ton, plus all the benefits for our quality of life.
Telling people to please stop doing things that are profoundly enjoyable, in opinion columns, seems like the stupidest possible idea for how to solve the climate crisis.
Or perhaps shrink the size of the military industrial complex, which makes up 29% of the country's energy usage: <a href="http://www.truth-out.org/news/item/3181:the-military-assault-on-global-climate" rel="nofollow">http://www.truth-out.org/news/item/3181:the-military-assault...</a><p>That's probably not something the Washington Post is likely to advocate for though. Their relationship to the military industrial complex is eerily close, especially now that they're a big customer of Bezos: <a href="http://www.accuracy.org/release/cia-cloud-over-jeff-bezoss-washington-post/" rel="nofollow">http://www.accuracy.org/release/cia-cloud-over-jeff-bezoss-w...</a>
I live without a car. I work remotely. I barely showered for nearly 6 years (cough... while homeless).<p>No one wants me as a role model.<p>Note how the guy lecturing you to cancel your plane tickets went to Morocco with his wife. He has a genius award. He is an award winning author. You generally don't get there by keeping your butt at home.<p>This is so very "Do as I say, not as I do." If this is such a great thing, why did you speak at the conference in Morocco? Why didn't you turn it down instead of bringing your wife and then calculating the total damage?<p>Edit:<p>Ah, a downvote. How ironic. "We don't want you as a role model and also shut up. No one wants to hear your opinion either. "<p>Weirdly validating.
I disagree, here's Mark Twain's quote on the matter:<p>"Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry, and narrow-mindedness, and many of our people need it sorely on these accounts. Broad, wholesome, charitable views of men and things cannot be acquired by vegetating in one little corner of the earth all one's lifetime."<p>― Mark Twain, The Innocents Abroad
I cringe a little when people on Twitter keep posting their FOO(plane->)BAR statuses about their many trips, like it's something to be proud of.<p>Sometimes there is no reasonable alternative to flying for a very important trip, but some people seem to not consider the problematic aspects at all.
Instead of trying to reduce options for people, why not put your energy toward something positive, like this? <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KkpqA8yG9T4" rel="nofollow">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KkpqA8yG9T4</a>
"According to former U.N. climate chief Christiana Figueres, we have only three years left "<p>Oh, give it a rest. You've been playing the "only x years left" routine for at least 25 years now.<p>As I recall, Manhattan was supposed to be under water by now.