People think of planes bringing them to distant loved ones, forgetting that flying in general makes them far away in the first place, relying on planes to fix the problem that planes created.

When I look back at the few times in my 75-year old life that I've flown, most of those times were really for entertainment, disguised as "cultural enrichment". These travels didn't make me a happier person in the long haul; giving my energy to the place I live and love does that for me!

We can't “individual” our way out of the #ClimateEmergency, but once one truly understands the real nature of the emergency, reducing or eliminating jet travel is simply something one has to do…I've been involved in climate activism for some years now, and as a member of ScientistRebellion.com, I've engaged in non-violent direct actions for climate justice including the recent campaign against private and luxury jet travel.

I stopped flying in 2008 after looking at my individual carbon footprint! This clearly was the biggest change I could make. “Living Lightly” as we happily call it has also led to all sorts of other changes and usually increasing joy.

I won't fly in 2023 because of the climate crisis. A long time ago, back in 2014, I resolved not to fly unless “truly necessary” and then found to my shock that none of my flights, neither for work or family or pleasure, turned out to be strictly necessary.

Parke Wilde is an academic who co-founded Flying Less, an initiative focused on reducing academia’s carbon footprint: https://sites.tufts.edu/flyingless/