In this time of Climate Emergency, more and more people are becoming aware of, and trying to reduce their carbon footprint.
Among these wide scale behaviour changes, the term "flight shaming" has emerged and become a hot topic in the media. But what is flight shaming? Our Community Champion Paul has written the blog below to explain the term, and discuss how you can reduce your carbon footprint when you travel. Rather than feeling guilty about flying, we think people should feel empowered to make their holidays more sustainable. Individual action is important, but employers, governments, and transport companies also need to get on board to provide incentives and make sustainable options more affordable and convenient.
Flying is the most carbon intensive form of travel. Choosing not to fly is a great way to reduce your carbon footprint. That's why the Swedish concept of "flygskam", or "flight shame", which describes the unease about flying experienced by environmentally conscious travellers, has become increasingly popular.
Those winter blues get many people thinking about booking a summer holiday. More and more people are becoming conscious of their individual carbon footprint and how this impacts the environment. Getting to your dream holiday destination isn’t as easy as just looking at the cheapest flight options.
With competition amongst airlines fierce, flying has become cheaper than ever. There’s also a convenience factor to flying. Not flying is no easy choice.
That's not to say you shouldn’t go on holiday, but what's the alternative? After all, going on holiday is important for our health and well being. A great way to disconnect from everyday life, and reconnect to those who matter most in our lives.
The flygskam movement is taking to the rails, they’ve even come up with a name for it. Tagskyrt – train bragging – has become all the rage on social media.
Train travel accounts for 14 grams of CO2 emissions per passenger mile. When compared to air travel, (285 grams per mile) or car journeys (158 grams per mile), train travel is by far the greenest way to travel.
Governments are getting on board with sustainable travel, with Germany announcing a 10% cut on long distance rail fare prices at the start of the year.
The more people that jump on board with the sustainable travel movement, the more governments will be incentivised to decrease rail fares. Train journey may well take longer than flights, but as Ralph Waldo Emerson once quipped, ‘it's not about the destination, it's about the journey’.
For your next trip, don’t just choose the cheapest flight option. Think of alternatives, because the journey is an experience in itself.
Blog by Paul Abela
Community Champion
Read more from Paul at www.transformatise.com