Ecosovo: The plane and the planet

It’s not a great environmental decision. But if you’re someone reading this newspaper who was not born in Kosovo, you’ve probably made a similar decision about reaching Pristina – very few of us arrive here by coach, car or train. I have many lines of argument designed to make me feel better about my air travel, but very few of them work.

The exact amount of carbon dioxide generated by a journey is dependent on so many factors that it is impossible to say precisely how damaging air travel is. It will depend on the efficiency of the engine (of the car or the coach or the plane), the number of people travelling, and thus (in the case of trains, coaches, planes etc) the efficiency of the company operating the transport. I can never actually know how much of that costly carbon going up in smoke on my way from Gatwick is really my responsibility. But plenty of science and mathematical modeling has gone into having an educated guess.

For example, the International Civil Aviation Organization (a body unlikely to be exaggerating the carbon cost of air travel) tells me that a round trip Pristina-London generates 203kg of carbon dioxide. I try to imagine weighing out 203kg of CO2, something like 203 kilogram bags of sugar, but bulging with greenhouse gases… it means nothing.

For me it’s more important to understand what the alternatives are.

At www.transportdirect.info, for example, I can type in the distance I want to go and calculate the differing environmental impact of different modes of travel. For instance, the carbon footprints for travelling the 1454km to Vienna and back are 249kg of CO2 if travelling by plane, 93kg in a small car (a large car more than double that), and 44kg for the journey by coach.

And what is represented by that 205kg (82%) difference between the earth-friendly coach trip and the planet-bashing plane journey? The website explains - it’s the same carbon cost as powering my fridge for a year and five months. So I can travel to Vienna by coach or I can go by plane, and give up ice trays and uncurdled milk until July 2012.

That doesn’t seem very likely; both air travel and fridges are probably going to continue to be a part of life for the next few years. But I’m still feeling bad about it; what can I do?

There are some basic strategies that minimize the environmental impact of a plane journey: Travelling light – whatever books and bottles of shampoo and pairs of boots I take with me will use up fuel as extra weight on the aircraft; Travelling in economy rather than business class (yes, I know, the thought had sadly never crossed my mind) – because planes of economy passengers carry more people in the same space; Travelling direct – even if the ticket is slightly more expensive (both reducing connecting flights, and making sure I land at the nearest airport to my destination to reduce the need for longer road travel when I get there).

And then there is carbon offsetting. The informal way of doing this is the deal you make with yourself to compensate for the damage your plane journey has done – whether it’s taking action as extreme as not running a fridge for 17 months, or some other modification you make to achieve a more earth-friendly lifestyle: recycling more? Reducing electricity consumption at home? Making fewer car journeys in a week?

Buying local products? Alternatively, there are companies happy to make the deal for you – many online travel agents offer offsetting together with the ticket you buy. They will charge you a sum calculated to achieve the equivalent of what you wasted on your journey, and invest it in tree planting, alternative energy generating (supporting wind farms, for example) or other initiatives to promote a healthier environment, many in developing countries. There’s a good analysis of 17 different carbon offsetting companies on the which.co.uk website (go to their ‘environment and saving energy’ tab where there is a link to ‘carbon off-setting’).

You might consider arranging something similar closer to home and donating money to support an environmental initiative in Kosovo or the country you’re flying to.

None of these is as good for the planet as simply staying here and holding the meeting by teleconference, or taking your holiday in a homestay in the beautiful Kosovan countryside rather than somewhere abroad; but none of these is as bad for the planet as making a plane journey, feeling guilty, and then feeling powerless to do anything about it.

‘The pilot has now switched on the Fasten seatbelt sign, so please turn off all electronic equipment…’ I see my first carbon offsetting opportunity, and I close the laptop lid…

Elizabeth Gowing is a founder member of The Ideas Partnership, a Kosovan NGO working on educational, cultural and environmental projects. She can be reached at theideaspartnership@gmail.com