Episode 19

On The Green Fence: Is it time to rethink air travel?

SUMMARY

In this episode of The Carbon Connection, we are exploring the climate impact of flying with hosts Neil King and Natalie Muller.

The airline industry is responsible for 3.5% of greenhouse gas emissions. If trends continue, airlines could contribute 25% of CO2 emissions by 2050. And the fact that more than 80% of the population has never been on an airplane, emphasizes that flying is a privilege. For the 20% of us who have flown this carbon belongs to us. 

16 million planes take off every year– and the number is expected to increase year over year. So it is unlikely humans will stop flying. What, then, are the solutions?

Our host Neil King explores this issue with Thomas Fowler the director of sustainability at Ryan Air, Lauren Riley the director of global environmental affairs at United Airlines, Magdalena Heuwieser, a campaigner for the Stay Grounded Network to promote alternative transportation, and Dietrich Brockhagen, the CEO and founder of Atmosfair, a carbon offset program. 

From these varied viewpoints, we learn about the airlines’ strategies to minimize their impact– including the use of alternative fuels and more efficient planes; a campaign to encourage people to find alternative, less polluting transportation; and a non-profit that helps passengers offset the carbon from their flights while funding renewable energy programs.  

This episode is a must for anyone considering air travel in the near future.

CONTRIBUTORS

Special Acknowledgment: 

Neil King and Natalie Muller, hosts of On The Green Fence, in association with Deutsche Welle.

Episode Producer: Katherine Palmer

Editor: Tania Marien

Production Team: Lori Anding, Manon Doran, Mary Paffard

Senior Producer: Tania Marien

Supervising Producer: Jennifer Myers Chua

Music: Cool Carbon Instrumental, Paul Russell, Musicbed

Episode Art: Jennifer Myers Chua

Network Voiceover: Olabanji Stephen

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Carbon Almanac

When it comes to the climate, we don’t need more marketing or anxiety. We need established facts and a plan for collective action.

The climate is the fundamental issue of our time, and now we face a critical decision. Whether to be optimistic or fatalistic, whether to profess skepticism or to take action. Yet it seems we can barely agree on what is really going on, let alone what needs to be done. We urgently need facts, not opinions. Insights, not statistics. And a shift from thinking about climate change as a “me” problem to a “we” problem.

The Carbon Almanac is a once-in-a-lifetime collaboration between hundreds of writers, researchers, thinkers, and illustrators that focuses on what we know, what has come before, and what might happen next. Drawing on over 1,000 data points, the book uses cartoons, quotes, illustrations, tables, histories, and articles to lay out carbon’s impact on our food system, ocean acidity, agriculture, energy, biodiversity, extreme weather events, the economy, human health, and best and worst-case scenarios. Visually engaging and built to share, The Carbon Almanac is the definitive source for facts and the basis for a global movement to fight climate change.

This isn’t what the oil companies, marketers, activists, or politicians want you to believe. This is what’s really happening, right now. Our planet is in trouble, and no one concerned group, corporation, country, or hemisphere can address this on its own. Self-interest only increases the problem. We are in this together. And it’s not too late to for concerted, collective action for change.