## 07 Limit Air Travel ? 

I did a poll on Mastodon to find out how many flights everyone had made in his life. 45% of the panel had made more than 10 travels. 67% more than 5 trips…Only 6% had never took a plane. The problem is that not everyone has the same age, and the panel was very French or European. But it gives a good idea of the way we travel today. Another survey asked how many times a year we took plane. Many took 1 to 4 times/year and 80% less than 1 time/year. Mastodon users are often older than 35...

Why these surveys ? Because recently, some specialists of the ecological transition, in order to fight global warming, came up with the idea of limiting air travels in a lifetime. I have tried to find out how many people in the world took a plane at least once. Europe and north America use the plane a lot; more then 80% have used the plane at least once. And it's growing in Asia, with for example China at approximately 60% now. After the SARS-CoV2 crisis, the plane travels are growing again. We must admit that it's quicker, it's often cheaper than train, car, bus. BUT it's more polluting than the other means of transport (except cruise ships ? ). In our modern world, it's one of the most difficult change of behavior for a better future.

For my own case, I have used plane to travel 7 times to go outside Europe and 2 times to go within Europe, and 2 times to go within a country. For «within a country», I had no good alternative with very old and slow trains, bad roads for busses and not much time. That's a fact that many countries have stopped developing railroads or busses network. It's changing slowly again and now, I see than I could try faster trains in the same countries, or maybe in less than 5 years. In France, I have never taken a plane to travel iwithin the country. But in Europe, it's difficult to find a good alternative between countries. I took plane to go to England before the opening of the Channel Tunnel. And I took plane to go to Germany for 3 days because there are no regular trains to go to Bavaria in a short time. I know people coming from French Antilles, from Reunion Island who have to go back often to see their families. They had to go to France to find jobs because there's a lot of unemployment in these French Islands
. How do you tell them to limit Air Travel ? It's often easier to find solutions for business travels with remote meetings, etc…

I had travelled by air for tourism and to visit family far from France. Is it really necessary? It's a question that many tourists have to answer. Environmental associations are struggling to combat this habit (1). For families, it's always difficult, even with videoconferencing and smartphones. And in tourism, as in many things, time is the key factor. You always want to do as much as possible in as little time as possible. That's not always good for discovering a country, but time is money. I once used an internal flight during a trip to save a day... I don't remember much... On the other hand, I do remember the other parts of the trip by train and bus, and for good reasons, because it was easier to meet people, to discuss. But when I hear my colleagues or friends talk about their travels, I don't like it. They don't want a taste of adventure, they want to have been there, to have seen the maximum of the tourist spot, to show it on their "wall" or on whatsapp. That's not my definition of tourism, but I'm i
n the minority. 

What about you? Have you found good alternatives? The problem is that if you don't use the alternatives, they will disappear. That's one of the ideas of the low-cost airlines : to kill the alternatives and the big companies, after killing the costs (and sometimes the unions, the workers' rights). Flying was a luxury for many people in the 60s and 70s, but not anymore. It's always hard to give up what you have. But if we don't, we will lose so much more than a travel.

2Dɛ

Links: 
=> https://vert.eco/articles/les-associations-font-feu-de-tout-bois-contre-lavion-toujours-plebiscite-par-les-francais (1) Article in french
 
 => mailto:icemanfr@sdf.org Comments by mail
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