Three years ago, Nathan Poirier asked me to write an essay for a book on Critical Animal Studies that he would publish, about why I have decided to live a childfree life. I asked him if I could also write why I have decided to live a flightfree life. He accepted. And I am happy I did that, because when the book got published he said that he would not fly again, after reading my essay.
Since the subject of this essay can be painful to read for people who have already procreated, I have decided to publish now only the part on aviation, as a kind Norwegian vegan guy who I met some months ago in Sweden said to someone who “shamed” him for having had kids, when he brought up the subject of traveling by plane, that “I had my kids years ago, and now I am changing what I can change”. It’s true, that many people procreated before becoming aware on the severity of the predicament of the human civilization, due to the polycrisis that we are going through currently.
In order to be able to write this essay, I took part in an (online) educational seminar organized at that time by the Austrian organization Stay Grounded, and thanks to this seminar I managed to collect all the necessary sources and scientific information to write this piece. I have to say that the information I gathered in this seminar was extremely disturbing, and writing this part of the essay was very hard mentally. Because essentially through this seminar I understood that there is no sustainable aviation and there will never be as long as I am alive at least.
None of the authors in this book were paid to write their essay and neither were the editors. This book is intended to promote some revolutionary and radical ideas, and its purpose was to further open the horizons in the field of Critical Animal Studies.
So, here is the part on aviation:
In 2017, research showed being childfree or at least having one less child is the best thing someone can do for the environment, since every additional child accounts to an average for the so called “developed” countries of 58.6 tones CO2-equivalent (tCO2e) emission per year (Wynes & Nicholas, 2017). Following that, 1.6 tCO2e is the carbon footprint of a single roundtrip transatlantic flight while eating a plant-based diet saves only 0.8 tCO2e per year (Wynes & Nicholas, 2017). However, other carbon calculators estimate that a long-haul return flight accounts to 3,4tCO2e (Atmosfair, 2022) and that’s because burning kerosene at high altitude also generates contrails, induced cloudiness and NOx derivatives that altogether contribute substantially more to global heating than all the accumulated aviation CO2 to date (Stay Grounded fact sheet 2022). The fact is that aviation emissions are currently warming the climate at approximately three times the rate of that associated with aviation CO2 emissions alone and this is a statement backed by 21 scientists prominent in the field who conducted a reassessment taking into account the Effective Radiative Forcing (ERF) of non-CO2 components (Lee et al., 2021). Thus, a flight’s CO2 impact must be tripled in footprint calculators, in GHG reporting systems and in national emissions inventories (Stay Grounded fact sheet 2022).
Aviation
Aviation has been proved to be the most climate damaging form of transport (Cohen et al., 2016) while interestingly, less than 10% of the world population have ever set foot on an aircraft (Scott et al., 2012). In addition, a more recent study, published in 2020, estimates that only 2% to 4% of the world’s population had the opportunity to fly internationally in 2018 and it concludes that just 1% of the global population (e.g. wealthy frequent flyers) are responsible for half of commercial aviation emissions (Gossling & Humpe, 2020) while the top 10% of global income earners use 75% of air transport fuel (Vox, 2020).
Thus, flying less is a matter of environmental and social justice.
In 2018, aviation accounted for 5.9% of all human-caused global heating, when including non-CO2 impacts, while CO2 emissions alone are 2.9% in total when including CO2 emissions from the production and distribution of jet fuel, while for years, the aviation industry claimed that the sector was responsible for only 2% of man-made carbon emissions (Stay Grounded fact sheet, 2022).
Aviation is one of the fastest growing sources of greenhouse gas emissions (Stay Grounded position paper, 2018) and the most dangerous fact is that none of the following reporting systems or regulations account non-CO2 impacts: the national greenhouse gases (GHG) inventory submissions to the UNFCCC; the Carbon Offsetting and Reduction Scheme for International Aviation (CORSIA), nor the EU Emissions Trading System (ETS) and this leads to a public perception of aviation being a relatively small problem (Stay Grounded fact sheet, 2022).
Biofuels, e-fuels, hydrogen & Carbon offset – just Greenwashing
The aviation industry works hard in creating “green” advertisements which mislead people who care about the environment. Airline companies claim more and more that they work towards becoming eco-friendly through the type of fuel they use and their future aircrafts, while the truth is, sadly, way far from it being true.
Everything starts with greenwashing. As put by Climate Social Science Network, Greenwashing is “an umbrella term for a variety of misleading communications and practices that intentionally or not, induce false positive perceptions of an organization’s environmental performance” (CSSN,2021). This is the case for all the alternatives presented as “green” solutions by the aviation industry because they all have problems, adverse side-effects and limits.
Biofuels
First of all, when it comes to Biofuels, although the industry is claiming that they are not using biofuels from crops, in reality crop-based agrofuels aren’t ruled out and waste products have very limited availability globally (Stay Grounded ‘Greenwashing fact sheet series’, 2021). In addition, crop-based biofuels come from monoculture fields which often are linked to high rates of deforestation (Transport & Environment, 2019), their cultivation increases the use of fertilisers, pesticides and herbicides and they are proven to cause very serious environmental and social impacts such as biodiversity loss, rising food prices and water scarcity (Stay Grounded ‘Greenwashing fact sheet series’, 2021). Finally, biofuels still produce very high carbon emissions – sometimes even higher since for example the climate impact of biodiesel from palm oil has been found to be three times that of fossil diesel (Transport & Environment, 2019) – and non-CO2 emissions will only be partially eliminated by using them. At the end of the day, less than 0.01% of jet fuel is biofuel currently (Stay Grounded ‘Greenwashing fact sheet series’, 2021) so it’s not even worth to bring it up in the conversation.
A case-study in Paraguay: Indigenous territories violated; environmental destruction & beef industry involved in Biofuels production
Regarding the social impacts of the crop-based biofuels, there is a very disturbing case-study on Omega Green biofuel refinery, the first so-called advanced biofuel refinery in South America. It has been conducted in Paraguay, by Heñói, the Paraguayan study centre for the promotion of democracy, human rights and socio-environmental sustainability and it was commissioned by Stay Grounded together with Biofuelwatch and the Global Forest Coalition.
In Villeta, Paraguay, the first aviation biofuel refinery is built and it’s a foreign project (‘The current investment portfolio includes interests in companies that generate fuels from renewable raw materials such as BSBIOS, R.P. BIO SWITZERLAND SA, ECB GROUP PARAGUAY and ECB GROUP BRASIL’) owned by a 43-year old Brazilian businessman, with political ties between the former president of Brazil, Jair Bolsonaro, and Paraguayan president, Mario Abdo. He is a son of Brazil farmers and known as ‘the king of biodiesel’ who aspires to become the third largest producer of biofuels in the world by 2030. This person also owns the company ECB Group which has been reported to the Federal Public Ministry in Brazil for undermining the interests of the Brazilian people for some of its businesses.
However, the land where the project will run is owned by another company (El Arreglo SA corporation) whose members of it are unknown, and the technology will be handed by a US company. The raw materials that Omega Green is going to require, according to its own environmental impact report, are oilseeds from the Ayoreo peoples’ territory who live in voluntary isolation (the plan is to actually plant 125,000 hectares (50 million trees) in the Carmelo Peralta area, in the Paraguayan Chaco, territory of the Ayoreo people), animal fats from the beef industry, vegetable oils, recycled vegetable oils and biodiesel waste.
This project affects the livelihood of a community who lives there and it has 11 families, about 50 people in total. Locals say that depopulation takes place because the community is isolated ever since the foreign companies went there to start running the project as the access is privatized by the owners of the land, El Arreglo SA. Health emergencies and even a death occurred due to the fact that locals lost their free movement ever since (Stay Grounded case-study, 2022).
Who wants to fly on planes which use biofuels with such a nasty background? Ethical vegans and plant-based environmentalists surely must ponder on that. Besides, when people and non-human animals still starve, it’s unacceptable to consume biofuels from crops for some privileged people to keep flying, even if the whole project on the first biofuel refinery in South America wasn’t violating human rights and having such a big local environmental impact.
E-fuels
E-fuels are synthetic fuels made from electricity. They can actually be produced by combining hydrogen with carbon to create a liquid hydrocarbon. In order to minimise emissions, hydrogen must be extracted from water by electrolysis using renewable energy; and carbon must be extracted from the air using a process called ‘Direct Air Capture’ (DAC). These can then be combined, to form a hydrocarbon fuel using Fischer-Tropsch (FT) synthesis. The latter processes must also be powered with renewable energy (Stay Grounded fact sheet series, 2021). If all jet fuel used today was to be replaced by e-fuels, it would require two and a half times the renewable electricity that was available globally in 2019 and e-fuels cost six to nine times the price of kerosene in 2020 and would still cost 2 to 3 times more in 2050 [(Stay Grounded, (2020), calculations based on IEA data of oil and electricity production in 2019 (https://bit.ly/3UNYyB7) and Clean Sky 2 JU and FCH 2 JU 2020 (bit.ly/3GFsL19)].
So, who will have access to this type of flights? As it seems, it will just be a precious commodity available only to the more privileged out of the privileged 10% who have flown so far.
Hydrogen
Hydrogen would only be suited for regional and short to medium haul flights and would not be suitable for long haul flights which contribute about one third of aviation emissions. According to a report by the European Commission, hydrogen would not economically compete with synthetic fuels before 2050 and by then aviation industry plans to rely upon biofuels and e-fuels. Furthermore, Airbus stated that neither a medium-haul aircraft would be available before 2050 while Boeing isn’t following and engine manufacturers have expressed their reservations towards it (Stay Grounded fact sheet series, 2021).
What’s important to understand as well is that hydrogen can be produced by methane or coal too (named “grey” hydrogen) or with carbon capture and storage (this method combined with grey hydrogen gives “blue” hydrogen) while only the “green” hydrogen comes from water via renewable electricity through electrolysis. In 2018, the vast majority of the hydrogen production was “grey”, accounting for 2% of total global carbon emissions while only 0.5% of the production was “green” and a tiny amount was “blue” (Stay Grounded fact sheet series, 2021). In any case, renewable energy is scarce and should not be wasted for flying. There are other sectors, more important, that should be operating on renewable energy, such as hospitals and housing.
Hydrogen planes are like unicorns as very well said by Stay grounded: much discussed but mythical! And the only green airplane is indeed the one that stays on the ground.
Carbon offset
Carbon offset is a reduction or removal of emissions of carbon dioxide or other greenhouse gases made in order to compensate for emissions made elsewhere. Carbon offsetting, however, is not a solution because although land-based offsets (capturing carbon through forests and soils) are good for the environment, they should be considered just as a removal. They should not be seen as an offset to justify further fossil fuel emissions, as this won’t help to stabilize temperatures or reduce the amount of emissions released into the atmosphere. In other words, we can’t keep digging up, extracting and burning fossil fuels whilst thinking that we will remove these emissions by planting trees, because this doesn’t actually reduce atmospheric emissions or atmospheric concentrations over a millennia. When we take up extra carbon through the planting of trees, this stays in the fast carbon cycle (continuous carbon cycles between the atmosphere, ocean and land), cycling back into the atmosphere and it doesn’t return to geological storage on time scales relevant to humans — meaning that the process of carbon moving from the fast carbon cycle to the effectively permanent geological reserves (e.g., fossil fuel) doesn’t happen in anything less than a thousand of years, as Kate Dooley explains, a research fellow at Melbourne University’s Climate & Energy College, with policy expertise on forest governance, climate change and carbon accounting (Brinknews, 2021 & 2022).
So, carbon offset can’t sugar-coat the selfish need of flying to exotic locations. Carbon-offset actually feels like eating “humanely slaughtered” animals, after having decided to go vegetarian. As there is no way to slaughter humanely anyone who wants to live, there is no way to travel by plane without harming the environment.
All these “green” alternatives are only making people thinking it’s O.K to keep flying around because the companies work on becoming eco – friendly and the majority won’t ever look into how biofuels are made or what actually is a carbon offset. Greenwashing is turning people into the wrong direction through very convincing ads that only sceptikal people will want to dig into and investigate over the truth of what’s narrated in these ads.
Bullshit flights & Ghost flights
Some flights are unavoidable while some are even lifesaving, in other words, they can be considered as legitimate. For example, when an animal advocate flies somewhere to escort rescued non-human animals to their home or to a sanctuary/rescue centre. For the latter, sometimes, when it comes to wild animals, it’s not even necessary for a person to escort them, but the transportation itself is based on air travel for the sake of the rescued individuals, in order to minimize their distress. Other legitimate flights can be ones for emergency reasons (disaster relief), safe escape routes for refugees, or visiting family in another continent for a considerable amount of time (when there is no alternative transport mode).
However, more often than not, people book tickets for so-called “bullshit flights”: “Analogous to the concept of bullshit jobs – jobs that are meaningless and harmful for society, bullshit flights are unnecessary, frivolous and unfair” (Stay Grounded, 2021).
Disclaimer: The term ‘bullshit’ is speciesist and it should rather be ‘humanshit’ because bulls and their faeces have nothing to do with our wrongdoings.
Examples of such flights are the ones booked for weekend trips (and especially domestic flights), the use of private jet, incredibly cheap international low-cost flights etc. (Stay Grounded, 2021). Of course, this term would annoy the majority of people, as these spontaneous trips are giving birth to feelings of excitement and fun, but at which cost? Aren’t they other ways – more environmentally friendly – to have fun? As the relevant article of Stay Grounded network rightfully expresses: “The idea is to link [the notion of bullshit flights] with the institutional and societal structures behind them – with the economy and power relations that lead to bullshit flights. The power of the aviation industry exists both through a broad consensus that flights are fun, or could be fun if one could afford it, as well as through state subsidies, effective lobbying and greenwashing. It exists due to a lack of alternatives to travel, due to globalized trade, and a growing gap between rich and poor.” (Stay Grounded, 2021).
Therefore, the problem is, at its core, systemic. Not many people have the practical ability or can even afford slow travel (travel by other means) as grind culture has people overworking and only able to take a couple of weeks off, twice a year. In a way it’s even romanticized and glorified through the mentality “go big and don’t go home”, especially among Millennials.
Nevertheless, it is still surprising how often and how easily, plant-based environmentalists and ethical vegans use airplanes.
Another astonishing type of flights, which isn’t known by many, is the called “Ghost flights”. These flights are defined as those with no passengers, or less than 10% of passenger capacity. Their reason of existence is due to the fact that airlines must normally run 80% of their flights, empty or not, to retain their landing slots (…). For example, an average of 500 climate damaging ghost flights left the UK each month in 2021 (The Guardian, 2022). A parliamentary petition was set up in 2022, calling for an end to such flights taking place and it has been signed by 16,968 people. The governmental response was the following: “The Government continues to provide alleviation from normal airport slot rules to prevent airlines from operating environmentally damaging ‘ghost’ flights during the COVID-19 pandemic.”
Ghost flights and bullshit flights are the epitome of human greed and selfishness.
For whoever wants the references, please contact me, because it’s quite hard to add them, separately with the ones I used for the part on procreation.
P.S: I am making this post while in Hamburg, after having taken a bus, a ferry and 3 trains already, on my way back to Sweden, from Greece. Still two trains left in order to arrive home….Last time I entered an airplane was in 2018. As long as I can avoid it, I will do so.
Elisabeth Dimitras