Lesson Twenty-Three: Airplanes — Narrative of Climate Change

May 3

May 3 Lesson Twenty-Three: Airplanes

Annie Constantinescu

People

CCSS+-+Blog+Post+-+Icons.001.jpg — How they’re causing pollution to skyrocket

TRAVELLING BY PLANE

In the last two decades, air travel has become more accessible and affordable - causing an increase in demand.

In 2000, airlines carried 1.6 billion passengers.

In 2019 that number increased to 4.5 billion passengers.

2037 is predicted to have 8.2 billion passengers.

In 2019 alone, almost 40 million flights departed from airports worldwide. That’s the same as roughly 100,000 flights a day.

CARBON EMISSIONS

Flights produce greenhouse gases - mainly carbon dioxide (CO2) - from burning fuel. These contribute to global warming when released into the atmosphere. An economy-class flight (there and back) from Toronto to Barcelona emits an estimated 0.72 tonnes of CO2 per passenger.

But how much is 0.72 tonnes of CO2? Although it is a gas, we can equate the weight of it to approximately 1592 pounds of CO2/person. Let’s use a fun relative unit of measurement here, a Golden Retriever.

Your round trip flight would be the same as putting 24 Golden Retrievers into the atmosphere of CO2.

Assuming everyone flew economy, one standard Boeing 787 with a max capacity of 318 passengers would emit 7,632 Golden Retrievers. SO 👏 MANY 👏 PUPS 👏

WHAT YOU CAN DO

#1: Fly Less
COVID is redefining “essential travel” but once all this is over, critically think about how you get to your destinations. Driving from Toronto to Montreal with 3 ppl in your car is ~100 KG less carbon intensive than flying.

#2: Offset Your Carbon
It means you pay a voluntary amount based on the carbon you emit that goes towards sustainable developments (eg. planting trees to recycle CO2).

There are a few options out there. I prefer less (a Canadian company). HOWEVER some global companies are more comprehensive and give you more control over where your money goes like the Swiss company, MyClimate.