The holiday season is coming up, which means that more people are traveling to far places. Air travel is the most convenient way of transportation in this case, so everyone is going to be on airplanes at the same time. First of all, air travel is bad for the environment. Not only are they so dependent on energy, but they also emit greenhouse gases and form clouds that have especially harmful effects. That includes carbon dioxide and nitrogen oxide, which both have long atmospheric lifetimes, and the artificial clouds that form from the exhaust of the airplane are called contrails. Contrails can become a long-lasting cirrus cloud, especially in extremely humid conditions. This is not good because they trap heat in the atmosphere, and it can be even more significant than carbon dioxide emissions. Contrails are an additional burden to the climate. When millions of people are traveling over the holidays, it only adds more to this problem.
Now, most people don’t want to give up traveling during the holidays. However, if they think about all the environmental challenges and consequences they can contribute to, they are most likely to change their minds. Only approximately 5% to 10% of the global population flies in any given year, and the consequences can affect everyone. With the continuing rise of emissions from planes, the consequences are only getting worse. Carbon dioxide emissions increased by about 32% from 2013 to 2018. In 2025, emissions are expected to increase by 6.8% for aviation. The warming of the Earth is a given, and there’s also air pollution from the release of pollutants, noise pollution, and all of the resources airplanes need to work. Avoiding just one flight is like avoiding a car for a year, which makes the decision for people to be so significant.
It is so much simpler for people to go for the better decision of avoiding that one flight that they don’t necessarily need. If it’s such an important trip, but they have the choice to take a flight with no stops, it is going to reduce the potential carbon footprint they could have gotten. Although there are other solutions airlines are planning, such as electric aircraft designs and the use of biofuels, it’s still under development. In order to prevent further disruption of the climate, it is in the people’s hands to decide whether that one flight is what they really need.
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