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Flying green air

Maybe you’re already driving a hybrid or a Smart car. Maybe you bring your own cloth bags to the grocery store, bike everywhere you can, replace your appliances with energy savers at every opportunity, and weather-strip the hell out of your home.
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Maybe you’re already driving a hybrid or a Smart car. Maybe you bring your own cloth bags to the grocery store, bike everywhere you can, replace your appliances with energy savers at every opportunity, and weather-strip the hell out of your home.

Still, you may be guilty of generating tonnes of excess greenhouse gases every year, simply by getting in a plane and flying somewhere.

The most recent report on the impact of air travel was tabled by a group of scientists at the Tyndall Centre for Climate Change Research in the U.K., appraising that country’s serious efforts to curb greenhouse gas emissions. According to the report, commercial aviation will account for two-thirds of the U.K.’s total C02 emissions with annual increases of airline emissions of 12 per cent.

“We could close every factory, lock away every car and turn off every light in the country,” wrote Mark Lynas in the New Statesman, “but it won’t halt global warming if we carry on taking planes as often as we do.”

The rise of budget airlines, globalization of business and growth of tourism are credited for the increase in flights, with the number of flights increasing on average nine per cent per year for the past 40 years. I would add a few things to that list from my own personal experience — the fact North Americans take shorter vacations (thereby ruling out train travel), government subsidies to airlines at all levels that make tickets artificially cheap, the fragile economic state of the budget airline industry that makes it impossible to impose regulations on the industry without destroying it, and the slow adoption of technology — just as e-mail has actually increased the amount of paper used by offices as workers print out every message they get, business travel is increasing despite the ready availability of video and VOIP conferencing. Business still places too much emphasis on face-to-face sales, and the personal touch.

I fly back to Toronto ever year or two to visit family and friends, a round trip that according to one carbon calculator produces 740 kilograms of C02 — not to mention significant amounts of nitrogen dioxide and water vapour, which also have an impact on global warming. That’s the equivalent of burning roughly 385 litres of fuel, enough to fill my small gas tank about eight times.

Flying is still slightly more efficient than driving to Toronto and back, and you can’t beat the convenience, but a long-distance round trip to Europe or Asia from Vancouver would easily match or beat my fuel consumption for an entire year.

To help ease the conscience of air and road travelers, several companies have set up programs that let you offset your vehicle and airline carbon output. These companies use a variety of methods — buying carbon credits, preserving rainforests, planting trees, or replacing Third World C02 generators like kerosene ovens with low emission alternatives — with varying degrees of success.

Some environmentalists are currently lobbying the airlines to offer a “carbon neutral” option to customers, allowing people to pay a surcharge to offset their emissions, but they have not yet embraced the idea.

However, some airlines are doing some work to reduce their own fuel consumption — partly because of rising fuel costs — and are refitting planes with lighter materials. Other airlines and airports are working to reduce the amount of time that engines are idling on the tarmac by making take-offs and landings more efficient.

KLM airlines of The Netherlands, the only airline so far subject to Kyoto Protocols, has managed to reduce fuel consumption to an average of 28 km per litre of fuel per passenger — better fuel efficiency than driving alone in most cars.

And several new developments are on the way. The new Boeing 787 will be partly constructed of composite materials, lowering the weight enough to reduce fuel consumption by 20 to 30 per cent.

Billionaire Richard Branson of Virgin Atlantic Airways has also invested $1 billion to develop a clean burning airplane fuel, which he says could be available in a year’s time.

In the meantime, several companies make it possible to offset your carbon emissions.

Before you fly anywhere drop by www.chooseclimate.org or www.co2balance.com to see how much carbon you’re producing. The second site also offers carbon offsets. Other sites include www.atmosfair.com , www.NRDC.org/thisgreenlife , www.carbonneutral.com , and www.carbonfund.org . Canadian organizations include www.treecanada.ca , www.cooldrivepass.ca, and Vancouver-based www.offsetters.ca .

You probably want to do a little reading (starting with www.davidsuzuki.org ) to decide what program is the best for you, and do a little research on the organizations themselves to see how effective they really are.

The good news is that it’s affordable. A round trip to Toronto will cost about $10 to offset through certain programs, while you can compensate for an average year’s worth of driving for around $50. A small price to pay for peace of mind.