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Air Travel Pollution
Topic Started: Jun 30 2006, 07:00 AM (175 Views)
mozart8mytoe
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According to the International Civil Aviation Organization, international air travel went from 88 million passengers in 1972 to 594 million in 1996, and is supposed to get to 1.6 billion passengers by 2020. That is good news for the airlines. Not so great for the environment.

The Royal (UK) Commission on Environmental Pollution estimates that the amount of damage air travel is currently causing the environment will quadruple by 2050. Passenger airliners are the fastest growing source of greenhouse gas emissions. A single transatlantic return flight emits about half the CO2 emissions that most people produce by all other sources in an average year. The Natural Resource Defense Council says that the nitrogen oxide and water vapor that modern airliners emit at 30,000 feet have twice the global warming effect as the carbon dioxide that is also released by the airplane.

To put it in a more personal perspective, a single passenger on a return flight across the United States (New York - Los Angeles) uses 1090kg (2,403lbs) of CO2. I recently flew from New York to Vienna and back, using 1910kg (4,211lbs) of CO2. A single passenger from London to San Diego uses 2530kg (5,578lbs) of CO2. I would like to go to China some day. A return trip from New York to Beijing uses 3270kg (7,209lbs) of CO2.

In my lifetime I will have contributed over a million pounds of carbon dioxide, and twice as much nitrogen oxide into the air we all breathe. And I am only one of hundreds of millions of people who fly every year.

This cannot be good.

However, lest this be a doomsday post, there is good news. All of the destruction I (and the rest of you international travelers) do can be changed. It does not require extra taxes. It does not require more regulations on the airlines. It requires something low tech and incredibly simple.

One tree offsets the carbon dioxide emitted per passenger by a single airplane traveling 4,000 miles. Two more trees offset the greenhouse effect caused by the nitrogen oxide and water vapor. Three trees for every 4,000 miles.

I live in a place where there are really not that many trees outside of Central Park. But that does not matter. There is plenty of room for trees in other places. The best part is that I do not have to personally plant the trees. Manual labor is not really my forté. There are plenty of organizations that are more than happy to plant a tree for you. Just a few are International Tree Foundation, Arbor Day, Tree Givers

I admit that I have come to this a little late in the game, and it will be a while before I have caught up. But I am at least starting to reverse some of the damage I have caused over the years.

How about you?
Nurse, I spy gypsies. Run.
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maccascruff
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When I owned houses, I planted trees at each one. Does that help?
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mozart8mytoe
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It couldn't hurt.
Nurse, I spy gypsies. Run.
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maccascruff
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Thanks, Mozart. Now, I'm in an apartment, but I have a nice big tree in front of my patio.
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