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“There are frequent debates about the importance of individual action vs. system change. For me they are clearly two sides of the same coin. I wouldn’t be able to show up for one without the other.”
We are a grassroots, part time, volunteer group. If you have a passion for environmental justice and climate action then please volunteer. All hands on deck! Contact info@flightfree.org Read on about 10 ways to help.
In 2019 Aviation accounted for 9% of California statewide and 11% of SF Bay Area greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions; 7% of Washington state and 14% of Seattle Metro area GHG emissions, and are on track to increase. People in airport communities face disparities in health outcomes, health risk factors, and resources. Here are three campaigns along the west coast fighting airport expansion and environmental injustice.
Stay Grounded recently published a sharp expose on Frequent Flyer Programs, a topic at the heart of the Flight Free Campaign. We ask people to pledge Flight Free to reduce emissions, change the fossil fuel norm, and support strong climate policy. Frequent Flyer programs do just the opposite- they increase air travel and global warming emissions, they normalize and reward climate destruction, and are an enormous public subsidy to airlines that no one voted for. Policy to ban frequent flyer programs and/or eliminate the regressive credit card banking mechanism that feeds these airline programs are vital to social justice and fossil fuel de-growth.
Our allies at Flying Less have launched a new travel petition. This petition/pledge has four elements, addressing four types of decision-makers. It includes both institutional and personal actions. They are welcoming support from anybody who self-identifies as “academic,” including faculty, students, and staff in a university or research institution.
“While I am sure airlines and my local airport will not be happy with me, something has got to give. We have to stop talking about climate and start acting. I will keep taking Amtrak.” Rep. Curt McCormack
Despite the climate emergency, the Oakland Airport is planning an expansion to add 17 new gates to accommodate what they anticipate is a widening demand for air travel in the Bay Area. If you are in the California please consider signing onto this opposition letter to be delivered June 6th, 2021.
Individual action “vs” system change - it is the latter we need, urgently - and we fully believe in individual choices and actions as a given part in that.
Professor Robert Frank’s studies of “behavioral contagion” support this idea.
A new report carried out by Unearthed, Greenpeace’s investigative arm and The Guardian “found that although many forest projects were doing valuable conservation work, the credits that they generated by preventing environmental destruction appear to be based on a flawed and much-criticised system, even though these credits were being used to back up claims of “carbon-neutral flying” and net-zero commitments.”
Reading the 2019 report from Stay Grounded: “Degrowth of Aviation” we are reminded that envisioning what kind of future we want is a crucial part in any work towards change we are doing.
Interesting #FlyLess news from overseas to accompany our Saturday morning coffee - a bid to close Sweden’s third largest airport, and a proposed ban on short-haul flights in France. Happy weekend everyone!
A great conversation between horticulturalist Poppy Okotcha, Black Geographers founder Francisca Rockey and Flight Free UK team members Sunita Soundur and Armelle Ferguson on privilege, climate justice, the conflict between wanting to see your family abroad and the actual worry that your homeland will disappear into the ocean and much much more. A must-listen, if ever there was one.
“When it comes to climate change, air travel is a uniquely damaging behaviour, resulting in more emissions per hour than any other activity bar starting forest fires. This paper shows that it is also uniquely iniquitous. Everybody eats. But only the privileged few fly.”
Exposure to loud noise has long been linked with hearing loss. But the ruckus of planes and cars takes a toll beyond the ears. Traffic noise has been flagged as a major physiological stressor, second to air pollution and on roughly equal footing with exposure to second-hand smoke and radon.
The organization Media Matters for America’s report on how the news outlets ABC, CBS, NBC and Fox News reported on the climate crisis in 2020 confirms what we all already knew - the climate is pretty much left out of the story, even when reporting on climate-related disasters.
“Will travel ever go back to normal? Perhaps it shouldn’t” writes travel journalist Rosie Spinks for this article in Hothouse Solutions. It’s well worth a read - and features an interview of Flight Free USA co-founder, Ariella Granett. Please let us know what you think!
The Flight Free campaign is a people-powered campaign. By sharing our stories we inspire change in each other, and when many people join together important shifts become possible. Join our campaign today, and let the world know why you choose to stay on the ground!
“Why do we, and our governments, act as if businesses have some sort of “right to wreck” our life support system? Do the wealthy have a right to continue using resources at rates that science says will cause vast future suffering? In effect, this pits existing rights against each other: pursuit of happiness by unlimited consumption interferes with the right to life of others.”
For someone living in the UK, a trip to The Big Apple might seem like the ultimate celebratory thing to do. Anna Hughes at Flight Free UK learnt differently.
A great podcast episode from SustainabiliGuy - about the cancelled airport plans at Charles the Gaulle, and the impact of individual choices.
Over 7000 people around the world have signed the Flight Free 2021 pledge - and we want more people to join in on this collective movement to change the travel norm, for the climate’s sake!
The bottom line is: aviation growth is not sustainable and does not satisfy the actions required to avoid catastrophic climate change.
A collection of a few of the Flight Free 2021-stories we have received so far - each and everyone an important piece of the beautiful puzzle that is collective change!
Ellen Petry Leanse, an author, teacher and technology pioneer from California, tells the story of why she decided to toss out her bucket list and enjoy the wonders of the world at a distance, rather than traveling to them.
Join Flight Free USA in an advance screening of this already acclaimed documentary:
RSVP here to receive link to stream I AM GRETA for free. After viewing the film, join us over Zoom to celebrate the launch Flight Free 2021 and share your reactions to the film. Email us at info@flightfreeusa.org with any questions.
This is a people powered campaign- Sharing our stories is a powerful tool to inspire change. Contribute a story/ quote (up to 300 words) about going #FlightFree. The more personal the better! What led to your decision to pledge to be flight free in 2021? Share your thoughts about what it might be like this year or recommend flight travel alternatives.
We were momentarily thrilled in 2021 to see that Google Flights started listing passenger emissions with sorting options that allow users to compare carbon emissions when booking their trips- that is until 2022 when the calculation methodology changed, due to industry pressure. At the start, Google Flights included non C02 warming impacts, which contribute 2-3 times the warming effects of C02 alone. Unfortunately, these warming effects are no longer included in the calculations and flights now appear to have much less warming impact than before. See this article, “Google 'airbrushes' out emissions from flying, BBC reveals” to learn more. Thank you to NPR for featuring Flight Free in their 10/06/21 article about Google Flight Searches, stating that some people are now shunning air travel all together, not just shopping for less polluting flights.