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NEWS & CULTURE

Is it Wrong to Fly? – Glad You Asked S1

Vox | April 15, 2025



Air travel is a quintessential product of the fossil fuel era: It’s both highly convenient and difficult to replace with alternatives. Now as the impacts of climate change are becoming more urgent, a growing “flight shame” movement is prompting consumers to question their air travel. Glad You Asked host Joss Fong explores the ethical implications of flying in a world on the brink of crisis.

Key Sources:
Myclimate flight emission calculator
https://www.myclimate.org/fileadmin/user_upload/myclimate_-_home/01_Information/01_About_myclimate/09_Calculation_principles/Documents/myclimate-flight-calculator-documentation_EN.pdf

Observed Arctic sea-ice loss directly follows anthropogenic CO2 emission
https://science.sciencemag.org/content/354/6313/747

Greenhouse Gas Emissions from a Typical Passenger Vehicle
https://www.epa.gov/greenvehicles/greenhouse-gas-emissions-typical-passenger-vehicle

Carbon Footprint Calculations for Average Americans
https://externalassets.cooleffect.org/lib/content/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/05172819/CarbonFootprint_AverageAmerican.pdf

Share of airplane trips by American adults
https://theicct.org/blog/staff/should-you-be-ashamed-flying-probably-not

Technological, economic and environmental prospects of all-electric aircraft https://www.nature.com/articles/s41560-018-0294-x

Maps of Greenland Ice Sheet
http://nsidc.org/greenland-today/

This is how global warming is reshaping Greenland
https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2019/05/greenland-struggles-with-global-warming

Contrail cirrus radiative forcing for future air traffic
https://www.atmos-chem-phys.net/19/8163/2019/

Hydrocarbon combustion
https://energyeducation.ca/encyclopedia/Hydrocarbon_combustion

The year in aviation: Billions of passengers, two high-profile accidents
https://www.usatoday.com/story/travel/columnist/cox/2018/12/26/aviation-review-record-number-passengers-flights/2375060002/

Boeing CEO: Over 80% of the world has never taken a flight.
https://www.cnbc.com/2017/12/07/boeing-ceo-80-percent-of-people-never-flown-for-us-that-means-growth.html

As Billions More Fly, Here’s How Aviation Could Evolve
https://www.nationalgeographic.com/environment/urban-expeditions/transportation/air-travel-fuel-emissions-environment/

According to the annual Airlines for America report, 48 percent of travelers in the United States flew on an airline in 2017.
https://www.travelpulse.com/news/airlines/here-s-how-many-american-travelers-flew-in-2017.html

Climate change in the US will hurt poor people the most, according to a bombshell federal report https://www.cnbc.com/2018/11/26/climate-change-will-hurt-poor-people-the-most-federal-report.html

Flygskam
https://www.independent.co.uk/travel/news-and-advice/flygskam-anti-flying-flight-shaming-sweden-greta-thornberg-environment-air-travel-train-brag-a8945196.html

Pipistrel Alpha Electro
https://www.pipistrel-usa.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/Pipistrel-Alpha-ELECTRO-Information-Pack.pdf

Air Transport Action Group
https://www.atag.org/facts-figures.html

0:00 Intro
1:12 Flying High
2:30 Our Carbon Footprint
9:45 Flight Shaming
12:10 Electric Airplanes
16:42 Batteries Vs Fuel

Written by Vox

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