
Ask HN: Could you give up flying? - harwoodleon
Let&#x27;s just assume flying is bad for the environment (regardless of the mounting evidence). But, could you give it up? Disclaimer:I have asked this in a previous thread I know. I just want to know if people think they actually could.
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nandemo
I suppose the question is better phrased as "would you give it up?". Anybody
who says "I can't give it up" will probably change their mind if the tickets
cost 10x more.

I live over 18000 km (well over 10k miles) away from my home town, and I like
to visit my family from time to time, and 25+ hours of air travel is bad
enough as it is so traveling by ship is out of question. So I probably
wouldn't give up flying altogether, as long as the price isn't too high.

However, I'd be willing to refrain from taking domestic flights (but then I
normally use the trains anyway) and cut down on non-essential international
travel.

Ultimately, the main factor in changing people's habits will be economic e.g.
via a tax that captures the negative externalities.

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harwoodleon
I agree with the tax argument, but it is such an economic disadvantage that
any country adopting it would lose out to those that didn't.

Any government imposing a tax like that will be hugely unpopular.

I don't think it will ever happen at a govt level. It really is s case of each
individual taking the choice.

Smoking could be a good analogy here, with regulation coming into place. But
that took 50+ years.

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Piskvorrr
Could I give up transporting myself on planes? Yes.

Could I give up air _freight_? Uh-oh. Despite overland transport options,
despite New Panama, removing air freight would hurt, a lot, directly and
indirectly. But yeah, I guess I would get used to the new, planeless world
economy - even though it would be a very different world from today's JIT
industrial one.

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harwoodleon
Yes, local manufacture/fabrication is the only thing that may make a dent in
this.

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Piskvorrr
The whole shipping industry would move an order of magnitude slower though:
bulk container freight still moves via ocean, but inland? Rail could become
much more valuable.

