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diff --git a/content/entry/flygskam.md b/content/entry/flygskam.md index 4f6f5d3..2a90748 100644 --- a/content/entry/flygskam.md +++ b/content/entry/flygskam.md @@ -26,7 +26,7 @@ Some airlines offer carbon offsets. It's debatable how effective these are in ac # Covid-19 Now you might be wondering how practical it actually is to just not fly on planes. Can society function with far less air travel? Luckily the Covid-19 pandemic has given us a clue. -Because of Covid-19, [airlines cut up to 95% of their trips in April of 2020](https://www.pri.org/stories/2020-04-03/coronavirus-has-changed-how-we-transport-goods-and-ourselves-will-it-last). Now I don't know how sustainable that 95% is. But it at least shows that, no matter what the airline industry says, it's feasible to cut back massively on air travel. Another way of putting that is a lot of air travel going on right now is non-essential. And Covid-19 may have helped many of us frequent fliers realize that we don't actually need to fly and there are alternatives to flying. So take that into consideration next time you think about flying. +Because of Covid-19, [airlines cut up to 95% of their trips in April of 2020](https://theworld.org/stories/2020/04/03/coronavirus-has-changed-how-we-transport-goods-and-ourselves-will-it-last). Now I don't know how sustainable that 95% is. But it at least shows that, no matter what the airline industry says, it's feasible to cut back massively on air travel. Another way of putting that is a lot of air travel going on right now is non-essential. And Covid-19 may have helped many of us frequent fliers realize that we don't actually need to fly and there are alternatives to flying. So take that into consideration next time you think about flying. # Freedom and Privacy But maybe the environmental reason isn't good enough. After all, flying makes up less than 3% of total carbon emissions. Well if you live in the United States, I have one more bonus reason for you to avoid flying. That is, all the changes made to airports since 9/11. I'm agnostic with respect to how much this applies to other countries. But for the TSA, I recommend Bruce Schneier's blog post on [Reassessing Airport Security](https://www.schneier.com/blog/archives/2015/06/reassessing_air.html) where he spells out many good reasons that the airport security implemented since 9/11 is mostly a futile waste of everyone's time and money. @@ -37,7 +37,7 @@ Now you might be thinking "So what if airports waste money on security. What doe The last time I flew, I felt like I was being interrogated by the TSA. They asked me questions which I can't imagine were relevant to their job. They also left a nice little note in my luggage letting me know they snooped through all my stuff and I didn't feel any safer for it. Actually, it made me feel less safe. It was a pointless charade of security theater. ## Boycott Flying Movement -So if you want to avoid your privacy being invaded, being under suspicion to thwart a threat that is one-fourth as likely as getting hit by lightning, then boycott flying. Again, I'm not the first person to think of rejecting flying because of freedom and privacy reasons. My Political Science instructor was the one who first put the idea in my head. After some research, I also found a post on Axis Of Logic calling for people to [boycott flying to preserve their freedom](https://axisoflogic.com/artman/publish/Article_57976.shtml). I'm not promoting Axis of Logic, but I do respect this particular article. The Boycott Flying link is dead, but you can still view the site archived by [the Wayback Machine](https://web.archive.org/web/20100826093256id_/http://www.boycottflying.com/). +So if you want to avoid your privacy being invaded, being under suspicion to thwart a threat that is one-fourth as likely as getting hit by lightning, then boycott flying. Again, I'm not the first person to think of rejecting flying because of freedom and privacy reasons. My Political Science instructor was the one who first put the idea in my head. After some research, I also found a post on Axis Of Logic calling for people to [boycott flying to preserve their freedom](https://axisoflogic.com/artman/publish/Article_57976.shtml). I'm not promoting Axis of Logic, but I do respect this particular article. The Boycott Flying link is dead, but you can still view the site archived by [the Wayback Machine](https://web.archive.org/web/20100826093256if_/http://www.boycottflying.com/). # Conclusion Whether you're a climate activist or you just care about your own personal freedom, you now have several good reasons to avoid boarding that next flight. For me personally, I care about the environment and my own personal freedom and privacy. I find both points of view individually convincing. So as I said before, I'm quitting flying altogether until the climate crisis is averted. If and when the climate crisis is averted, I'll probably avoid flights to places that I can reach by land until the TSA stops groping passengers. |