MemeMachineGo!

When citing the things I do personally with a high environmental impact in How Many Earths? (yes, the self-reference keeps on coming), plane travel featured prominently. Well, it's worse than I thought.

The average jet pumps around a tonne of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere for every passenger it carries from London to New York. One return flight to, say, Miami, and you're responsible for more carbon dioxide production than a year's motoring.

It's a British article, so their idea of a year's motoring is probably very different from an American's, but still...

I do love being able to attend events, visit people, and see places all over the contintent. All of my family is on the East Coast. I enjoy rail travel and have crossed the whole country by train, and would love to take the train for all of my domestic travel... were it not for a day job and finite vacation time.

So the big question is what weight am I willing to put on my obligation to leave the Earth in as good shape as I found it vs. my enjoyment of my economically privileged ability to be a jet-setter? (It took some effort to write that without invoking the word 'sacrifice', with all its connotations of giving up something that is my right.)

(Thanks, Kate!)