Friday, March 29, 2013

Climate Change and Island Fever

Thanks to Chuck Burrows for sharing a link to an article in Grist magazine about the high carbon cost of flying (link). In sheer CO2 emissions, one flight mile emits just under 1 pound of CO2. A vehicle that averages 22 MPG would emit CO2 at the same rate. The global warming effect of airplane emissions, however, may be 2-5 times higher than from a car.
For those traveling cross-country, taking a train or even driving the family sedan may seem like the better alternative. Those of us in Hawaii have little choice but to fly; and going anywhere means 2500+ flight miles.
I do my best to keep my carbon footprint low. My wife and I average 3000 miles/yr driving. We don't use the window-unit A/C in our condo. We eat a lot of fresh produce, have CFLs throughout the house, and put our computer and entertainment electronics on power strips that are turned off when we're not using them. Even our 3-yr-old turns off our 16-yr-old TV by switching off the power strip. Despite that, we average about 1 trip/yr to the mainland US to visit family, most of whom are on the East Coast. I make at least one additional trip overseas or to the US mainland for work. While that helps with our frequent flier perks, it doesn't help our carbon footprint. In fact, more than half our footprint is due to flying. My guess is a lot of Hawaii residents are in the same situation.
What are we to do: suffer through island fever and "visit" family and colleagues exclusively on Skype? Even if we decided to do that, living in Hawaii is from a GHG emissions standpoint an attractive nuisance; we've had more visitors here than any place we lived on the mainland US.
It's not a fair choice, really. However, it does highlight the kinds of big choices we make about not just how we live our lives but where. Perhaps the environmental catch-phrase of the 21st century should be "Think global (warming), live local." Investing our lives in our local communities enriches us in ways that world-hopping simply cannot. Staying connected to family, friends, and the world around us is important, but the everyday enounters and daily interactions are what mattter the most to our well-being. Fortunately, telecommunications advances have rapidly made keeping in touch remotely much easier and richer. Face-to-face interactions are still invaluable and necessary in life and work, but if we spent a bit more time building community locally, we would probably find less desire to hop on a plane to Vegas or San Francisco to get away from it all.