This is definitely a case of being hoisted on your own petard! When I presented the Channel 4 programme "God is Green" last year, I challenged Richard Chartres, the Bishop of London, to sign up for the "no fly" pledge. He had, after all, been the clergyman who had been responsible for the "flying is sinful" headlines earlier in the year. So as he gave me the pen back, without thinking, I also signed up for the pledge. A whole year passed without any visits to Heathrow, Gatwick or Stansted. I went to Dublin by train and boat, but that was the limit of my foreign excursions.
Confession: I have been on one plane since the pledge year ran out. That was last December to Madrid (a trip that cost me next to nothing as I used convenient air miles which for years have been linked to my Mastercard account!). But as from January, since taking up work with Operation Noah, I have been happy to shun the airports. It's mainly a credibility thing. Standing at public meetings and beating the drum for leadership doesn't sit well with frequent flyer trips to all ends of the earth, does it? It would be like working for the NSPCC and privately being a corporal punishment demon with your kids at home.
So this year's holiday takes in Scotland and Cumbria by train. Will I ever see the inside of an airport again, I wonder??
How about you? Are you ready to take the pledge to give up flying for a year? (We'll allow an exception for family emergencies.) If you are ready to take the plunge, follow this link to make your own pledge.
Then please come back here and leave a comment telling us about your experience and motivations. Will making a pledge not to fly for a year entail a major change of lifestyle for you? Are you adjusting your holiday plans to accommodate your commitment? Are there joys and pleasures you have discovered because you took a form of transportation other than flying? Would you recommend this to others? We want to hear from you! Leave your comments and stories below.
Comments
we should be able to reduce
Travel by bus
Forget about the hassle of hanging around in an undistinguishable airport (they all look the same!) hours before the flight leaves - travelling by bus is much simpler: The coach station is usually near the centre of a city and check-in procedures are minimal. Once aboard you see the changing landscapes and get a feel for the distance between places. If your journey requires a change of bus (travelling London to Sibiu, Romania,there was a change in Cologne; London to Gothenburg, a change in Brussels and Copenhagen), the connecting bus waits if the first bus is held up. The cost is a fraction of the train fare - it can even compete with the ridiculously priced air fares that take no account of environmental damage.
As leader of the Education Group of the European Christian Environmental Network, I have travelled to ECEN Assemblies and meetings of the Enabling Team in Minsk (via Bosnia, Bulgaria and Romania - though that included a few trains, for example through Ukraine), Brussels, Budapest, and Skara (Sweden). I'll admit I was defeated when trying to get to Volos in Greece by bus or train - it was going to take too long and involved hanging around railway stations in the middle of the night. And in over a year's time I may be involved in educational visits to China and to Paraguay. But at least let's cut out the short haul flights within Europe - that really is unnecessary carbon into the atmosphere!
Ruth Conway
I know what you mean about
I know what you mean about being hoisted on the petard, as following a conversation based on George Monbiot's Heat, my husband announced on the radio that we wouldn't be flying any more. Well, we're still married and about to take the obligatory train trip to Dublin for our wedding anniversary. What with small children plus the radio soundbite I haven't flown in four years after years and years of frequent flying, and I have survived. Haven't missed airport queues with 3 small children but have reclaimed calmer holidays, am more in tune with nature and the seasons, and feel a bit less guilty about car use (1 return trip to US = family car for a year, in emission terms, I believe). Instead, I have hired a sunbed and read endless international literature - ok it's not the same as smelling the rock Churches in Lalibela or seeing icebergs from the air.
Looking on the activities of friends, colleagues and church members, I am increasingly shocked at their assumption that they 'deserve' / 'need' a foreign holiday regardless of the consequences. But my change in behaviour has been noticed, and some are apologising to me or taking less frequent or longer trips away.
Heather Whicker