Numerous flights cancelled after climate activists gain access to tarmacs at Hamburg, Dusseldorf airports, glue themselves to ground, local media reports - Anadolu Ajansı
Commercial aviation is one of the biggest CO2 emitters.
But point that out to all the travel obsessed millennials who want to brag about their Prius and their composet pile... and they tell you what an awful person you are. lol
A 4 hr train trip vs a flight is about a 1000x difference in CO output.
I don't travel much because it's one of the most environmentally destructive things any single average person can do. Not traveling is way more green than buying a Prius/EV. But it seems to be the #1 social status marker among the under 40 set. Esp among young women.
Aviation is responsible for around 2% of emissions, but it's also the global connector. While we should refrain from flying when possible just counting on individuals to take the best behavior won't work.
What should be done:
ban private jets
end all the tax perks for aviation, which allow for insanely cheap tickets that promote senseless flying
ban short over-land flights
simplify ticketing and reduce prices on international trains in Europe, it's almost always too expensive to cross borders by train in Europe, it makes no sense.
We need aviation, but we also need it to be sensible in a warming planet.
Or, hear me out, make it unnecessary to travel distances beyond a day of walking. Work from home was a blessing during the Pandemic, why can't we make it the standard?
From a per-distance standpoint a flight is hardly any worse than driving alone. Cars are just that bad for the environment (and have fewer inspections for compliance and can afford to dump more particulates into the environment).
The single most environmentally destructive thing that people can do is drive. Fortunately, it's also the single most lethal thing that people can do. Even more fortunately, it's also insanely expensive to do. Even more more fortunately, a lack of car-based development allows for greater density and thus reduced mobility needs in general.
In working papers released over the past two years, Sivak has attempted to overturn the conventional wisdom: His main recent finding is that the average energy intensity of driving is about twice that of flying, a conclusion based on the current average on-road fuel economy of cars, pick-up trucks, SUVs, and vans (21.6 mpg).
Left leaning groups these days have an uncanny ability at turning people off of the very causes that they are trying to promote.
There was that incident in the US where a bunch of wackos blocked an entire highway and wouldn't get up. There was a guy there in his car pleading with them because if he missed his parole meeting for any reason, he would get thrown back in jail. They still wouldn't move.
And there are all the endless other incidents involving PETA which are so purposefully abrasive.
It is no wonder why even after seeing how corrupt and incompetent Right leaning politicians are, many societies around the world are still shifting to the right because Left groups are just so bad at communicating with the general public. They are so bad at connecting with average Joes and yet so damn good at turning those average people off.
How do you define causing more harm than good? To our species? The people who can afford overseas vacations? The economy? And surely, it's not foolish to think that destroying our planet has no consequences. 😊 What do you think people should do to protest? They have been protesting for years with proper permissions and official support, and guess what? Nobody cared. I'm not defending their actions, but I can understand why the situation is escalating. Depending on where you live, tensions rise in more than one sense. It's difficult to witness the world deteriorating. You can choose to ignore it, of course, but ultimately it won't matter. We are all facing consequences, whether from nature, our own species' actions, or social and economic inequalities. Perhaps it's a combination of all these factors. Who knows? XD - The next chapter in our civilization will indeed be interesting, as in one way or another, change remains the only constant in life.
I would imagine OP meant in terms of CO2 emitted by those particular planes. I have no sources, but recall hearing that due to the relative inefficiency of the engines at taxi speeds, a large percentage of the fuel required for a flight is consumed driving to/from the runway. However, how much extra emissions were made highly depends on how they did stop the flights and/or announce their presence on the runway - if the planes never left the gates, the extra emissions would be close to 0 for instance.