8 LISTENER SEPTEMBER 7 2019
BULLETIN FROM ABROAD
“It’s not really about that,” one of
our crew of holidaymakers, who works
in the film industry, insisted, arguing
against Thunberg’s critics. He’d flown
from Berlin for this holiday. “It’s the
symbolism. It’s making us think.”
“But what’s our alternative,” asked
another sailor, a translator who’d
taken a plane from Paris to be here.
“And how much difference can one
individual’s actions really make? It’s
the system.” Travelling here by train
would have taken at least two days,
she pointed out, and it was more
expensive.
“We don’t have a choice,” con-
cluded a sociologist, who’d flown
from Austria. “We must give up our
mobile lifestyles.”W
e all recognised the hypoc-
risy, of course. We weren’t on
any kind of carbon-neutral
holiday. We had gin and tonics, and
a throbbing diesel engine.
Most people you talk to here
all agree they should fly less- but then they rationalise
their next trip. And being
so far away, New Zealand-
ers obviously have better
justification for flying than
anyone.
But it does make you
wonder: is this European
summer of flight-shaming
already over? Was it just
another trend, like coconut
sugar or poke bowls? And,
finally, when it comes to the
environment, will we ever
act on our better impulses –
or will we just talk about it? l
T
hey call them “Generation
easyJet”. For those unfamiliar
with the joys and tribulations
of travelling on Europe’s budget
airlines – mostly easyJet or Ryanair- the tagline comes from a clever
marketing campaign. And for quite a
while, it also seemed like a cute paean
to European unity and its multicul-
tural youth: the kids who grew up
in Paris, studied in Italy, got a job in
Brussels and holidayed in Croatia.
But this European summer, “Gener-
ation easyJet” could also be construed
as an insult, because flight-
shaming became a thing.
By 2037, global aviation
networks will be carrying
about 8.2 billion passengers,
roughly double what they’re
doing now. Low-cost airlines
play a big part in that, flying
about 30% of all airline pas-
sengers in 2017. In Europe,
their market share is even
bigger, about 41% in 2018,
and rising. Forecasts suggest
that in eight years, budget
carriers will account for half
of European flights.
When a two-hour flight
often costs less than a taxi
across town, maybe that
shouldn’t be surprising.
Ryanair regularly promotes
flights for less than €15.
So you sit there, tempted,
It may be just a
passing phase, but
carbon shame is
being heaped on
air travellers.
Flight of the emitting hordes
We weren’t
on any kind ofcarbon-neutral
holiday. We hadgin and tonics,
and a throbbing
diesel engine.A
N
TH
O
N
Y^
EL
LI
SO
N
wondering if it might be nice to go to Malta for the
weekend, and at the same time thinking that the
cost seems crazily low.
That’s probably because it is – especially if we’re
talking about environmental concerns. “Direct
emissions from aviation account for about 3%
of the EU’s total greenhouse gas emissions,” a
statement from the European Commission notes.
Earlier this year, Ryanair even made it on to a list of
Europe’s top-10 carbon emitters. The others on the
list were coal-fired power plants.
Not everyone is flying off in these glorified
long-distance buses, though. Although Europeans
usually take their summer holidays in August,
Swedish teenage climate activist Greta Thunberg
was busy sailing to New York on a solar-powered
racing yacht (without a proper loo), because she
wanted to make her journey there carbon neutral.
But after word got out that other crew members
would fly to New York anyway, to bring the boat
back to Europe, Thunberg was harshly criticised.
When I heard the news, I was also on a boat –
except it was a far cheaper charter yacht (with a
proper toilet) anchored in the sunny Adriatic.CATHRIN
SCHAER
IN BERLIN
Cathrin Schaer is editor-in-chief
of Iraqi news website Niqash.
org, based in Berlin.“If I can’t have Greenland, get me another
country – one easier to spell than ‘Nambia’!”