Can we visit the world without destroying it?

Some facts on flying

The view over Da Nang, Vietnam on a sunny day. Yes, that is pollution! Photo MM
A walk in the rain forest in Borneo
Photo/LTS

I’ll be up front about it: I am a very imperfect environmentalist, and the worst damage I do to the planet is traveling in planes. (Anyone I know on Facebook is well aware of this!) I have always wanted to travel, ever since high school when I started studying a lot of French and Spanish. I worked for an airline and travel agencies. Now I’m retired, and one of the main things I want to do is travel! But there is no doubt it is bad, as we see in the news every day. Here’s today’s update on global heating. Anyway, this blog is the result of much guilty thought and research .

The ocean absorbs much of the extra heat from climate change. Hotter oceans kill coral, among other things. More on coral bleaching and photo credit :
https://www.cnn.com/2017/04/10/asia/great-barrier-reef-coral-bleaching/index.html.

In this blog I am going to try to find some basic facts about greenhouse gas and other emissions from travel, and look at some ways to mitigate the damage. I’m trying to be brief here, so there will be links to articles with more detail – for those who want it. But there are some big issues here, so the blog may be longer than usual!

The first part is easy to figure out. Biking and walking don’t create greenhouse gases. It’s that simple. We should walk and bike as much as possible – which will be very different for people in different circumstances. However every bit counts, as this article points out. But it won’t get you to Europe from North America!

Bikes are good once you get there, though! Photo/Flickr

Note: New research is showing how damaging particulate air pollution is for city dwellers – you can monitor air pollution where you live with this app, (highly recommended!) This article shows that you can substantially reduce exposure by taking side streets and going through parks.

Emissions from flying are much harder to calculate (See this academic article for principles) due to differences in plane models, what’s on the plane at takeoff, how many passengers share responsibility for the emissions, the flight path, even the weather, and possibly who runs the site you get your data from. But here are some basic facts (I hope!) and links.

Photo/NYPost/Shutterstock

Flying requires huge amounts of energy – which we tend to forget because it’s so common. Think about this: two or three people can push a car out of a ditch. They can move it! Now think about how many (very tall!) people it would take to lift a 767 full of people, bags and fuel, etc. You burn a lot more fuel, and the emissions go directly into the upper atmosphere, where they do the most damage.

This, from the BBC online magazine Science Focus, gives a decent comparison:

A Boeing 747 uses 7840kg of aviation fuel for the take-off, climb and descent portions of the flight and these account for about 250km. For journeys longer than that, the plane will use 10.1kg for each additional kilometre under typical cruising conditions. So to fly from Heathrow to Edinburgh (530km) uses 10,668kg of fuel, which releases a little over 33 tonnes of CO2.

Whereas a Ford Mondeo 1.8 TDCi emits 151g of CO2 per km and covers 650km to reach Edinburgh. That works out to be 98kg for a single passenger, compared to 79kg per person for the Jumbo, assuming it carries its full complement of 416 passengers. But you could drive 336 cars to Edinburgh for the same CO2 as one plane.

https://www.sciencefocus.com/future-technology/how-many-cars-equal-the-co2-emissions-of-one-plane/

Again, tons of variables. Even electric cars can be better or worse, depending on the source of your electricity. (Niagara Falls or a coal-fired plant?) But the 336 cars they mention in the quote could each carry four or five passengers, with much less emissions per person .

Here is a comparison, showing emissions per passenger per kilometer traveled (BBC):

  • Short haul flight 254 g per passenger per kilometer
  • Long haul flight 195 g
  • Car, 1 passenger 171 g
  • Bus 104 g
  • Car, 4 passengers 43g
  • Rail 41g
  • Coach (long-distance?) 27g
  • New high speed train 6g

That is a huge difference! Here’s a Guardian overview of the issues, showing that one trip London – New York – London would add more than 10% to one Uk citizen’s annual emissions. The trip would also emit more greenhouse gases than an average citizen of Paraguay (or 55 other countries!) would in a year. The world has 100 000 flights a day, a number which is increasing rapidly. Not good.

Airports OFTEN look like this!
https://www.insider.com/hacks-that-will-help-you-get-through-airport-security-quicker-2018-4

What should those of us who travel or want to travel do?

Some ideas

  • Stay home. Make home a place where you want to be more, building community, cleaning up, finding exciting things to do in your home city. Pledge to be flight free.
  • Fly less. And get governments to force the aviation industry to invest more in creating electric planes and generally reduce emissions. They have done very little towards that.
  • Take the train. See everything you could possibly need to know about train travel anywhere here. Or take a bus. The Site Rome2Rio shows pretty much every mode of transport anywhere.
  • How to get to Europe from North America (or vice versa): Unfortunately cruises tend to be vacations and aren’t useful for getting from point A to Point B. The Queen Mary does a regular Brooklyn to Southampton trip, but it’s 7 days, very expensive, and formal wear for dinner! Fly, then take the train when you get there, even though internal European flights are unbelievably cheap. ( I thoroughly checked freighters and repositioning cruises, and found nothing remotely useful for just getting from North America to Europe.)
  • Flying anyway? Research flights at Skyscanner and it can show you flights that have lower emissions. Take a non-stop because taking off and landing is by far the the most fuel-intensive part of any trip. Once you’re across the ocean, Rome2Rio can help you get to even the most remote place by bus or train.
  • Calculating emissions or footprint Here are some of the many sites that help with this.
  • Offsets? There are lots of companies that will calculate your emissions, and offset them. It would be important to do some research on that one to be sure they actually do the carbon capture, tree planting, etc . If you do the comparison research, do tell me how the different sites compare!
  • Other offsetting I wanted to offset our recent trip by donating to green organizations I knew something about. When I was in Malaysia, I asked around a bit and found a local organization working to stop rain forest destruction from the creation of palm oil plantations, and made a donation. (Here’s their info on why you should be boycotting palm oil.) I also donated to a fantastic organization called Treesisters. I heard about them in the issue of The Guardian shown below. Its main article on the benefits of tree planting is here. I also donated to Rainforest Action Network.
I first heard about Treesisters in this Guardian issue here.
  • We need more trees We should all be planting all the trees we can, in person or by donation. In the Toronto area, an organization called LEAF gives advice and subsidies for backyard tree planting. There will be similar organizations in many cities.Tree planting does seem like one of the best things we can do in the long run. And we should be harassing our governments to do more of it. And of course reducing our carbon footprint so entire continents may be less likely to burn!
  • Greta Thunberg and George Monbiot have made an excellent short video about preserving nature, suggesting what we can do. In short: protect and restore nature, fund things which protect and restore nature, and stop funding things like the fossil fuel industry. Worth watching! You’ll find it here.
We ALL need to speak for the trees, not just the lorax! National Review Image

Conclusions

It is so tempting to find excuses, and leave it to someone else to reduce carbon emissions. It’s not my fault that the world is in a climate emergency, we think. But of course we do bear responsibility here. So we have to take action . And we have to get other people talking about these issues so that changed attitudes spread. Flygskam, or flight shaming is important enough in Sweden that in 2019 there was a drop in the number of people traveling through Swedish airports, unlike in other countries. We can do this too!

I’m not going to lie – I am not stopping all air travel right now. But writing this has forced me to see the urgency of these issues, and to follow some of my own advice. I’m not cancelling all planned trips, but I won’t travel by plane once I get to Europe in September… And I see a train trip to Vancouver in my future! Also – more donations to environmental organizations in addition to the regular ones I make already.

PS. Here’s a link in case you’re wondering what a tonne of carbon emissions looks like, as I was! And thanks for taking the time to read this to the end! MM

Back for more environmental action!

I’ve been away travelling, but I am back – for more environmental action this week. And yes, I confess, I took planes – I’ll be doing a blog about flying, its effects on the planet, alternatives and offsets soon.

The environment just looks worse in Southeast Asia, in a very in-your-face way. You may not be happy with what you see around you in a rich Western country, but you really see the planet (and the people!) suffering in poorer countries, where being green just seems to be too expensive – either that or a government may be lining its pockets instead of dealing with environmental problems. (Of course, that is also a problem in the rich countries!) Here are a few of the things I saw.

The best of times...

Lush rainforest – incredibly green ancient rice terraces – huge plants that only grow in pots back home – take a look at the massive ficus tree at the bottom left – and then zoom in on the bottom right, where Tim is visible, giving you a sense of the scale of this massive tree

But also the worst of times…

Paving over paradise – motorbikes prevailing and polluting in cities with no public transit – bird’s eye view of a sunny but polluted city – a normal beach with the usual amount of garbage washed up by the tide -barnacles on a water bottle

The world is not doing well

No one country is to blame, though richer countries have contributed much more to the problems. And of course we all have a stake in preserving the planet in a livable state – and for taking action on the climate emergency . Plastic washed down storm sewers in Toronto will end up in the ocean. The air quality was so bad that for much of the trip I had to wear a pollution mask!

Another chance to add your voice to a major demonstration for climate action this week

The September demonstration had an amazing turnout, in Canada and around the world: over 7 million people demonstrated for the planet that week. You can see on this map that people on every continent joined in. And quite a few readers and followers of this blog showed up too!

But no one said that one demonstration would be enough. Governments around the world are avoiding any real action on climate heating – possibly excepting New Zealand. Clearly it’s going to be difficult to get the Canadian government to do enough. We all need to get out on the street to demand action, write letters, and support activist groups. Let’s do this!

P.S. I have volunteered, and been trained to be a marshal on Friday. Hope to see you there!

Why should you be a climate activist?

This picture shows one reason! Image/South Bend Voice

We often hear about “Saving the planet”, but when you really think about it, that can seem impossible and inaccurate. (Here’s the UN’s IPCC special report on the situation, in case you haven’t seen much on it.) Even so, every small thing you do literally does add up. Also, it’s easy to forget how it adds up when you make that change for the rest of your (hopefully long!) life. Plus, working with other people to do more and influence others can be HUGE!

Tiny changes might seem insignificant. But they are how we save the planet.

Title of article by Peter Beaumont, The Guardian
Click here to read rest of article

There are some very good examples of how small endeavors with a few people grew, and are making a real difference. The organization TreeSisters was founded by two friends after a tree saved one of their lives. Starting with small monthly donations from friends, they have grown to the point where they plant 2.2 million trees a year in a program which is “local, community-based reforestation with native trees in the tropics.” Their story is part of this article on reforestation as a major way to fight climate change.

No one is too small to make a difference –Greta Thunberg

  • One small person in front of Swedish parliament a year ago… Image/Guardian
  • …4 million people marching for the planet 20/09/19 Image/Flickr

Greta Thunberg is another person whose efforts have made a huge difference, with something like 4 million people marching for climate action last Friday. For an overview of last week’s Global Climate Strike check here.

Of course, there is still not much real change in sight yet, but this is a start. We’ll be watching the UN Climate Conference to see how things go. But change is definitely in the air. Here’s the (UK) Guardian on how well the Canadian Green Party is doing in the run-up to the election. Nice to get an outside perspective focusing on the important issues! And we have seen in the past how quickly things can change, like the NDP Orange Wave in Quebec a few years ago. There is hope, but we have to do more than just hope!

We can must do it!

Right now we have the opportunity to take part in a second massive global climate strike this Friday. Plus, there’s an election on here in Canad! And doing it along with other people is more effective, and more fun! So I hope lots of people reading this are planning to join the Climate Strike, wherever you are. (Sorry if I’m preaching to the converted!)

To join me in Toronto, along with friends and familyâž¡

Meet me the Ontario Firefighters Memorial at the north east corner of College and University, near Queen’s Park subway station. Spread the word, talk about it with people. Friday, September 27th, at 11:00 am. Thanks to Sheree Tams, I will have buttons like the two below for everyone, but bring your best slogan on a poster!

Here are some links about the Climate Strike and the groups organizing and supporting it, plus info on strikes in other places:

I think this might be the beginning of more such actions, so this is not our last chance to get involved. And, of course you can also support the strike by donating to a group.

If not us, who?

If not now, when?

Hillel the Elder, First century BCE

No time to to think? … MAKE some time to think!

Image Pixabay

We are all busy – super busy, crazy busy, whatever. No wonder we have problems making ourselves sit down for a few minutes and really, deeply think about the climate crisis – to the point where we feel we must do something serious about it. There are so many aspects of the problem that just prompt us to turn away and avoid taking action. A New York Times article reported that:

In 11 experiments involving more than 700 people, the majority of participants reported that they found it unpleasant to be alone in a room with their thoughts for just 6 to 15 minutes.

New York Times

Thinking about the climate crisis could definitely contribute to that! But we have to make the effort to deal with this before it’s too late. Today, I’m asking you to sit down and really THINK about this invisible climate crisis. (And I know there are some of you who are already thinking about this and taking action…good work!) Greta Thunberg is eloquent on this:

Greta Thunberg speaking to U.S. Congress, 18/09/19 Image/Al Jazeera

We are facing a disaster of unspoken suffering for enormous amounts of people and now is not the time for speaking politely, or focusing on what we can or cannot say. Now it’s the time to speak clearly. Solving the climate crisis is the greatest and most complex challenge that Homo sapiens has ever faced.

The main solution however is so simple that even a small child can understand it. We have to stop the emissions of greenhouse gases. And either we do that or we don’t. You say nothing in life is black or white but that is a lie, a very dangerous lie. Either we prevent a 1.5 degree of warming or we don’t. Either we avoid setting off that irreversible chain reaction beyond the human control, or we don’t. Either we choose to go on as a civilization or we don’t. That is as black or white as it gets.

There are no gray areas when it comes to survival. Now we all have a choice. We can create transformational action that will safeguard the future living conditions for humankind, or we can continue with our business as usual and fail. That is up to you and me.

Greta Thunberg, speaking to World Economic Forum, 25/01/19

Maybe we don’t know how bad things are?

Again, I challenge you to read some of the hard facts, and not turn away. And not skip the stats! Greta states the basics of the problem very clearly:

And why is it so important to stay below the 1.5 degree limit? Because that is what the united science calls for, to avoid destabilising the climate, so that we stay clear of setting off an irreversible chain reaction beyond human control. Even at 1 degree of warming we are seeing an unacceptable loss of life and livelihoods.
So where do we begin? Well I would suggest that we start looking at chapter 2, on page 108 in the IPCC report that came out last year. Right there it says that if we are to have a 67 per cent chance of limiting the global temperature rise to below 1.5 degrees Celsius, we had, on 1 January 2018, about 420 Gtonnes of CO2 left to emit in that carbon dioxide budget. And of course that number is much lower today. As we emit about 42 Gtonnes of CO2 every year, if you include land use.
With today’s emissions levels, that remaining budget is gone within less than 8 and a half years. These numbers are not my opinions. They aren’t anyone’s opinions or political views. This is the current best available science. Though a great number of scientists suggest even these figures are too moderate, these are the ones that have been accepted by all nations through the IPCC.

Greta Thunberg, speaking to U.S. Congress 18/09/19

What matters right now?

I would argue that the biggest thing anyone – and everyone – should do right now is turn out for the General Climate Strike. This will be part two of the Global Climate Strikes, and a real chance for us to be heard, in Ottawa and in solidarity with the world. In Canada, this matters a lot, with a federal election soon.

  • Friday, September 27th
  • Queen’s Park, 11:00 am to 2:00 pm
  • You can meet me and friends at the Ontario Firefighter’s Memorial, north east corner of College and University
  • I’m planning to have a sign based on one Sheree’s buttons:
Buttons available from me, (in person) – suggested minimum donation $2 Thanks, Sheree!

Why are Canada’s major climate strikes a week later than most countries’?

Grassroots activism at work – not everyone is doing the same thing.The Toronto Star explains it here.

The Youth Climate Strike of September 20th

The youth strike on Friday, September 20th looks to have been a big success. (Check out more photos and videos from around the world here.) But it didn’t happen that way because people thought it was enough for other people to show up. We need everyone to show up and be counted!

My plan is to persuade all of you to act like our house is on fire – because it is! (As the much-quoted Greta says.) I’ll be writing more blogs this week in the lead-up to the Climate Strike. I am getting more informed so I can inform you!

I expect to see you there!

-Marjorie

Which side are you on? … Planet or profit?

Climate justice demonstrators from Our time/350.org at City TV, at the beginning of the Canadian leaders’ debate, September 12/19 photo MCM

Climate justice demonstrators from Our time/350.org at City TV, at the beginning of the Canadian leaders’ debate, September 12/19 photo MCM

Well, it really felt like the election was on when I went out to demonstrate with the youth climate action group ‘Our Time’, last week. These youth are so determined, so energetic and so creative in their demands for a Green New Deal. Here are the photos I took, as (most of) the leaders arrived for the debate.

  • Leading the group: No more coal! No more oil! Keep that carbon in the soil!
  • Elizabeth May came right over to the climate emergency group, though she was waylaid by a reporter.
  • Andrew Scheer was loudly booed, with lots of ‘thumbs down’.

Just over a month until we have to vote. I personally am having trouble with this. I want to vote for the planet, but I also don’t want to vote for a local candidate with no chance of winning. (We really need proportional representation!) Here’s my front yard. I just hope that polls and protests will force parties to be more serious about this climate emergency.

Green, NDP and CBC sign! /MCM

This election really matters! We are about to choose a government which will be in charge for nearly half the time we have remaining to completely turn around our unsustainable lifestyle!

What can we do? Make some noise!

We need to make politicians listen. And great numbers of people doing things seems to be the best way to be heard – demonstrating, writing letters, and giving whatever money we can to groups who represent our ideas on action.

Our best opportunity: Greta’s Global Climate Strike

Just weeks before the federal election, we have a chance to be heard by the world – and by our governments. Here’s the link to the Youth Climate Strike, Friday, September 20th. For non-Toronto locations (these demonstrations are everywhere!) check here. Here’s about the general (all-ages, Toronto) strike Friday, September 27th:

More info here.https://www.facebook.com/events/480239066116595/

Time for your first (or twenty-first!) demonstration

Everyone counts, everyone needs to be there. My next blog will be to remind you of how urgent the planet’s situation is, and why we can’t wait for someone else to do this for us.

I will be there…..Join me!

That’s me on the right, in case we haven’t met!

And I hope you, and your friends and your family will meet me the Ontario Firefighters Memorial at the southeast corner of Queens Park. Spread the word, talk about it with people. Friday, September 27th, at 11:00 am. Thanks to Sheree Tams, I will have buttons like the two below for everyone, but you should bring your own sign. RSVP!

This is a possibly once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to stand and be counted for the future of the planet. Join the early-adopters of a climate-friendly campaign! (Ask anyone who disagrees on this what it is that is more important right now than fighting climate change!)

And just do the right thing! It feels good!