Even though the airline industry has let us down many times, we still keep flying
This opinion piece was written by Regina resident Kelly Liberet.To find out more about CBC’s Opinion section, please see the FAQ.
The other day, I went to the airport to see my mom off on her way to see family. At that point, her flight had already been late four times. At 5 a.m., we were already in the middle of a large group of people who moved slowly.
Given how many problems there were with air travel over the holidays, I was surprised to see so many people still flying—hordes of people willing to put their trust back in an industry that is not only unreliable but also bad for the environment.
After living abroad for a few years, I stopped flying about 20 years ago. At that point, I thought I’d be fine if I never had to get on an airplane again or deal with lost luggage, flight cancellations, or not being able to get in touch with an airline to get answers.
When I was younger, I had a lot of chances to fly to other countries, learn about other cultures, and see that there are different ways to live. This kind of travel is very valuable and makes you a better person.
But we now take air travel for granted and use it for things like destination weddings and business trips that don’t need to happen. Many of us get away from our cold homes for warm vacations where tourists never meet the locals or interact with the community. Instead, they fill the pockets of a few resort owners.
Help the earth, and don’t move
Years ago, I started to lose my love for flying. It happened slowly, which is often how we come to big realizations in the end.
A picture that went with an article about travel and the environment was a key part of this progression. It showed a person holding a sign that said, “STAY PUT if you want to help the earth.”
I was shocked. Since then, I haven’t flown.
About 2% of CO2 emissions around the world come from air travel. If aviation were a country, it would be one of the top ten polluters in the world. Even worse, aviation emissions are growing quickly, and the number of passengers is expected to double to 8.2 billion by 2037, which makes things even worse.
- 5 ways to make flying more eco-friendly
Anyone who has been to an airport has experienced the ear shattering noise and that terrible, thick diesel stench — a pollution that never stops, day in and day out, as thousands of flights circle the globe.
Unfortunately, because governments keep cutting train and bus services, air travel has become the main way to get around even in our huge country. Different governments have given the airline industry too much power by making travel in Canada a monopoly.
- As customers asked for refunds, Air Canada got more than $400 million to help pay its workers.
People like my mother, who would rather take a bus or train than a plane, have no choice but to take a plane.
I don’t regret that I haven’t flown in the past 20 years. It’s been good for me to get my feet back on the ground, both literally and figuratively, and focus my energy on my friends and family who live close by. Maybe one day I’ll want to visit family members who live abroad, but for now I think it’s more important for each of us to make a sacrifice for the environment.
Everything we do either adds to the problem or helps to fix it. When you realize that, it’s much easier to say no thanks to all that air travel.
When it comes to fixing environmental damage, there may be more important things to do. But this is something that each of us can do by ourselves. Maybe if we all tried to fly less and asked for high-speed train service and the return of public bus services, we could eventually travel with less stress and help the environment at the same time.
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