FF USA Co founder Ariella Granett with Bhima Sheridan enduring wildfire smoke in the SF Bay Area
flight free usa’s first anniversary
“Flying is the most greenhouse gas intensive activity we commonly do.”
I co-founded Flight Free USA, a year ago, to raise awareness about the climate impacts of air travel and to urgently challenge people and systems to take real climate action - to ditch fossil fuels. Flying is the most greenhouse gas intensive activity we commonly do. For the past year we have been organizing a collective Flight Free action in partnership with 10 Flight Free groups worldwide. By last spring over 25,000 people had pledged (of those, 437 Americans from 30 states) to not fly for 2020 for the sake of the climate - as a way to call on our communities, businesses and government for immediate climate solutions. Then COVID-19 hit. Not surprisingly, this new disease rapidly grew to a world pandemic due to regular daily air travel, the "usual" 100,000 daily flights all around the world.
flight free in the era of a pandemic
“3.5 billion people will be suffering unliveable heat within our lifetime. Still yet, most people are in denial about the climate emergency.”
Does the Flight Free campaign matter any more? Yes it does. People have reduced their flying but for the wrong reason. When COVID-19 was declared a public health emergency I hoped people would remember that global warming is also a public health emergency. Signs of accelerating climate change are everywhere - the month of August alone has brought hurricanes, wildfires and a derecho, Arctic temperatures have hit 100F this summer. The climate emergency is dire: 3.5 billion people will be suffering unliveable heat within our lifetime. Still yet, people are in denial about the immediate system changes and lifestyle changes needed to solve the climate emergency.
When we stopped flying and driving with shelter in place restrictions I hoped that we might learn to appreciate and adjust to a local lifestyle - telecommute, move permanently closer to family, quit the jetsetting wanderlust. Worldwide this year compared to last year, carbon emissions have temporarily dropped by 8%. Due to the climate emergency, we can't afford for emissions to bounce back. The UN has declared that emissions need to drop 8% year after year in order for us to avoid climate chaos. We need to continue to pressure governments to fund a green new deal rather than subsidize fossil fuels, and build high speed rail rather than bail out airlines. Flight Free USA was a cosigner to this letter demanding climate regulation on airline bailouts.
…and a revolutionary time
“White privilege is systemic and so is carbon privilege”
The Black Lives Matter movement has been an enormous groundswell of change, possibly the largest movement in US history. White privilege is systemic and so is carbon privilege - Oxfam's report on Carbon Inequity states that the world's richest 10% account for 50% of lifestyle consumer emissions and the world's poorest 50% have only contributed to around 10% of lifestyle consumer emissions. The world's poorest are most vulnerable to the deadly impact of global warming. As the NY times reports about the flood across 1/4 of Bangladesh, "Those who are least responsible for polluting Earth’s atmosphere are among those most hurt by its consequences. The average American is responsible for 33 times more planet-warming carbon dioxide than the average Bangladeshi". Understanding that flying is the most polluting activity we do and that only 20% of the world has ever been on an airplane really highlights the environmental and social justice inequities. In the US it is the poorest communities that experience more heat and pollution.
Going forward
What's next for Flight Free? Vote like our lives depend on it- and then we are rolling out a new campaign for 2021 called The Infrequent Flyer's Club. We've learned that Americans are more constrained to choose Flight Free than Europeans and so we want to broaden the call for action and inspire more people to fly less. I've chosen to not fly for the sake of the climate - I'm not waiting for climate policy to tell me this or tax me this. Many of us are ahead of the cultural and system change that needs to happen and we have good stories to share!
/Ariella Granett
Want to join the Infrequent Flyer’s Club already now? Write us a few lines with your Infrequent Flyer story, we’d love to hear about it!