Reducing Air Travel and Private Jet Expansion

Air travel is the least efficient mode of transportation per passenger mile. Of that, private jet travel is the worst. While vacation travel is good for seeing the world and different cultures, we could save emissions by having longer but fewer trips per year. Cruise ships are also resource hogs because of the pools, casinos and other amenities on board. We could charge more for private jets but they are currently tax exempt as "business" expenses, even when used for personal vacation travel. Of course degrowth is more than just reducing carbon emissions. However, in that area, we could electrify everything that is easily electrified, green the grid, and reduce consumption in some high demand areas. There was discussion about what areas to reduce, such as the military, advertising and fast fashion and across the board reductions in production, while focusing on providing more in the area of basic human services. Massachusetts prides itself on its carbon emissions reduction, yet it doesn't count emissions from Logan airport, claiming it is too complicated to measure. In reality, the emissions that Logan airport is responsible for is very easy to measure - it is the emissions generated by the fuel they sell to the airlines. The political issue around that might be that the actual emissions may be released elsewhere than in Massachusetts, yet Massachusetts needs to take responsibility. The emissions of the military are also not tracked, and the military are used to defend the wealth of high income individuals in foreign investments, regardless of labor rights and environmental impact. Many countries are trying to reduce emissions in some area of their economy, but each country has its own challenges.

links: CommonWealth Beacon Article on Private Jets and Hanscom Airfield, University #flyingless initiative (flyingless.org), StayGrounded.org