Pack Less, Fly Direct, Stick With Economy: Greener Flying Tips from Terrapass

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By now it is pretty well known, at least within the TreeHugger community, that there are issues with aviation and climate change. While the exact contribution that flying makes to the climate crisis remains the subject of fierce debate, it seems certain that any such energy-hungry activity will remain carbon intensive for some time to come. While some progress is being made towards greener flying, it seems that taking the train, vacationing closer to home, or teleconferencing (despite its associated drawbacks) will continue to be the environmentally preferred options for the forseeable future. However, there are things you can do, besides offsetting, that can reduce your emissions when flying is unavoidable.

When this author purchased offsets from Terrapass for a recent business trip, he received a letter outlining tips for reducing aviation emissions. Alongside the obvious ideas, of the ‘stay at home’ variety, a couple jumped out as being less than completely obvious to those who haven’t put too much thought into their energy consumption – firstly, fly direct wherever possible (take-off and landing are the most polluting parts of any flight). Secondly, avoid the temptation of business class. (Extra legroom means less seats. Less seats means more fuel burned per passenger mile.) Thirdly, pack less stuff (every lb of luggage means additional fuel burned to get it to its destination). While none of the above suggestions are going to remove the problem of aviation emissions entirely, they do make sense in terms of harm reduction. Congratulations to Terrapass for using their position to not only offset emissions, but to educate their consumer base on reducing their impact at source. ::Terrapass::via customer communication::