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Flight costs the Earth

BOTS

There are a lot of posts on travel destinations and what architectural gems to visit.

As those with an interest in architecture, and that architecture can only be really experienced by physically occupying the space, what cost do you put on air travel to achieve your architectural experience?

Maybe that cost is higher than you thought.

easyJet's own figures currently estimate these external costs - climate change, noise, local air quality, habitat loss and so on - being in the region of €52 each time that one passenger flies 1000km.

The amount of travel by air within the UK increased from 2 to 8.5 billion passenger kilometres between 1970 and 2002 , but this still accounts for only 1% of total passenger transport.

The no-frills carrier easyJet has accepted the legitimate public concern about the impact of flying on climate change and said it would welcome a dialogue with green campaigners.

The chief executive, Ray Webster, said he would not object to a fuel tax linked to carbon emissions being imposed as long as it was fair and did not "price the industry out of existence".

His comments come amid mounting frustration among environmental activists that jet fuel is not taxed in the way that petrol is for road vehicles. There has been speculation that airlines could be targeted for protests by green groups.

... and remember walk or move around as much as you can on your flight to help prevent deep vein thrombosis. As cabin air is very dehydrating, drink plenty of water to help you keep hydrated on your flight. Avoid alcohol at all costs - its effects are stronger at altitude.

 
May 27, 05 7:07 pm
stephanie

i didn't realize how much flight effects the environment until i took the global footprint quiz

May 27, 05 7:13 pm  · 
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BOTS

thats a good link -if everyone lived like me you would need 1.5 planets!

May 27, 05 7:18 pm  · 
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Devil Dog

4.1 planets.

May 27, 05 7:29 pm  · 
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stephanie

BOTS, that is very commendable!

i'm 2.6

May 27, 05 7:35 pm  · 
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vado retro

this is unfair i drive 80 miles a day for work 6.6 freakin planets. where i live there is no public transportation. time to go to mickey d's then off to walmart for the big memorial day sale.

May 27, 05 7:38 pm  · 
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vado retro

take away the driving and its two planets. unfair cuz i didnt have a car for 15 years. jeesh i should get credits or something.

May 27, 05 7:41 pm  · 
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polipop

cool website! i´m 3.8

May 27, 05 8:12 pm  · 
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Tectonic

11 planets

May 27, 05 8:25 pm  · 
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Tectonic

Disclaimer: I live in LA

May 27, 05 8:26 pm  · 
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TED

Im 2.9 planets but promise to get better...

May 27, 05 8:33 pm  · 
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sameolddoctor

wooo hooo
3.1 planets and i live in LA....woo hoooo

May 27, 05 8:46 pm  · 
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sameolddoctor

look at me...

May 27, 05 8:47 pm  · 
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check out http://www.climatecare.org/ It's kind of a way of buying emissions credits... The Guardian newspaper donates to this every time one of their employees air travels.

May 27, 05 9:22 pm  · 
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3.9 - seems mostly because i live in a single family house! don't i get any credit for the fact that it's over 100 yrs old?

May 27, 05 9:35 pm  · 
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BOTS

Where you live plays a big part. I live in an appartment in the centre of a city and work down the road. Everything is on the doorstep. My car does 60mpg when I occationaly use it. It all helps.

It would intersting to know the varriable calculated for geographical location.

May 27, 05 10:53 pm  · 
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BOTS

stephanie - I take no praise, 0.5 planets too much, and that is if everyone in the world lived like me.... in Wales...

May 27, 05 10:54 pm  · 
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evilplatypus

if everyone lived like you we would never advance - look, you cant destroy the earth. We are living the "learning curve". Only by depleting our resources will we be forced to develop new ones. Conservation of fossile fuels only ensures our reliance on them for longer since there is no critical demand to find other sources. Burn them away people, it may sound twisted but its the truth. Also - can anyone actualy confirm how much energy is stored as carbon/hydro carbon deposites in the crust of the earth? No. Its foolish to think you can.

May 28, 05 12:24 am  · 
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vado retro

evil can you spare a planet?

May 28, 05 12:41 am  · 
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WonderK

6.3

it's not my fault i travel for work. and i would walk to work everyday if i didn't live in the ghetto.

May 28, 05 1:23 am  · 
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nervoussystem

1.3

May 28, 05 8:30 pm  · 
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rogerc

1.0 planets.

no electricity, no water, immobile, practically starving, no job.

this is outrageous.

outrageous.

May 28, 05 8:48 pm  · 
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le bossman

3.2 planets

May 29, 05 9:56 am  · 
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le bossman

i don't know, i screwed with the figures and i think it would be impossible for me to get down to 1 single planet unless i never drove, didn't have any electricity, and never ate any meat.

May 29, 05 10:00 am  · 
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LenaV

2.2

I walk or bike cause im in a city, but my meat eating and electricity and need for an ipod apparently killed my planet.

May 29, 05 10:10 am  · 
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driftwood

3.3

What's most interesting is the breakdown:

CATEGORY GLOBAL HECTARES

FOOD 3.1

MOBILITY 0.8

SHELTER 0.8

GOODS/SERVICES 1.2

TOTAL FOOTPRINT 5.9


As a meat eater, my food footprint is ginormous!

May 29, 05 4:00 pm  · 
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Medit

2.5 planets

May 29, 05 4:07 pm  · 
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sharpie.

No lies Rogerc. 1 Planet, TOTAL FOOT PRINT- 0.7 and i`m happy

May 30, 05 1:19 am  · 
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BOTS

I wake up this morning and this is a major news story. For fuck sake BBC, get with the times, there is more sense on Archinect!

old news as current affairs

Sep 21, 05 3:58 am  · 
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Carl Douglas (agfa8x)

2.7 planets.

Sep 21, 05 4:29 am  · 
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1.8 cuz i am a good boy. to get to 1 planet is impossible without a severe lifestyle. wonder if the numbers are real or exagerated for effect. and how does bill mcdonough do?

Sep 21, 05 5:05 am  · 
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Oana S.

1.6 planets

Sep 21, 05 8:09 am  · 
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pinstripeprincess

this quiz is rigged.

there is absolutely no way that i take up 4.1 planets. i subway to work (used to walk to my old place), i don't eat meat at home, don't a single vehicle (so question #13 is a highly irrepresentative), fly once a year at most, and can't control where i get my electricity from.

Sep 21, 05 9:09 am  · 
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hotsies

I think its funny how some of you are upset by the results of the quiz and proclaim "its not my fault..." or "this isnt fair, because i live in...." or "its not my fault i have ot drive...."

the point of the results is that whether you justify your results or not.. they still exist.. and if everyone lived like you, pinstripeprincess, we would need 4.1 planets... even if you do rid ea subway.. sorry. get used to it.

im 3.7, by the way. terrible.

Sep 21, 05 9:40 am  · 
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pinstripeprincess

all i'm saying is that this is a highly irrepresentative way to calculate your footprint as it refuses to acknowledge details.

i don't claim to be 1 planet, or even 2, but all their suggestions on reducing my footprint have pretty much already been done... so what's left?

Sep 21, 05 10:56 am  · 
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3 planets. largely because of food.

i know it counts against me that i live in a freestanding single family house, but does it not help that it's over 100 yrs old - embodied energy and all that?

Sep 21, 05 11:06 am  · 
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hotsies

Its not verty detailed.. youre right. but it was prob put together just to give people an idea.. which im sure most people dont know at all what their footprint is..this helps people get that.

and you guys are forgetting that one questions was where you live, im sure by being in the US a lot of our infrstructural features are averages into the score as well. so US/european citizens will have somewhat highers baselines, than someone living in costa rica would...since we use more resourcres just to have the things and level of life we have.

Sep 21, 05 11:46 am  · 
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job job

hmmmmm I seem to be the champ at 7.2 planets.

but I don't own a car and walk to work - what the hell? yes my beer comes in bottles dammit, I don't brew in the tub...

who wants a shot at the title???

Sep 21, 05 12:44 pm  · 
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BOTS

All this worry and concern, very noble.

If you are American I think you can rest easy as you don't really have any substantial environmental global comittments like the rest of the planet!

Sep 22, 05 4:17 am  · 
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3ifs

i am very ashamed to say i came in at:

4.1 Planets

but fuck it, i am an american and deserve my lifestyle.

Sep 22, 05 12:50 pm  · 
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dia

5.9, but my country average is 8.7.

Sep 23, 05 12:26 am  · 
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e

3.8. probably because i live in a single family home and eat meat almost daily.

Sep 23, 05 12:59 am  · 
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Alana

3ifs, you "deserve" your lifestyle because you are american?

*barf*

it sounds like what you deserve is....

no, never mind

Sep 23, 05 1:14 am  · 
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BOTS

3ifs - i'm sure you meant to say " but fuck you, i am an american and deserve my lifestyle"

Sep 23, 05 4:02 am  · 
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upside

this sucks, i got 4.9 planets which sounds about right but the average in australia is 4.1, which is crap because i dont even have a licence, let alone own a car, whereas almost everyone alse in this city drives a v8.

Sep 23, 05 4:57 am  · 
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mdler

3.4, and I live in LA

Sep 23, 05 5:37 pm  · 
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doberman

Shit...2.3 PLANETS. There is stuff in there i don't get though.

Sep 23, 05 6:00 pm  · 
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Dazed and Confused

With inflation factored in, I'd say it costs the same to visit the pyramids as it cost to feed one worker a drop of wine during their construction.

Sep 26, 05 12:29 am  · 
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Dazed and Confused

PS . . .

BOTS still RULES!

Sep 26, 05 12:31 am  · 
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BOTS

D&C I'm feeling the love.... still!

Sep 26, 05 7:57 am  · 
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