Summer Holiday Dreams

Guest post by Green Christian member, Edward Gildea
I imagine many of us are thinking about booking our summer holidays, with dreams of sunny beaches as we slog through this freezing January. With that in mind I went to the Adventure Travel exhibition in London. So many exciting adventures to choose from, exploring God’s wonderful planet, and all claiming to be sustainable… except for the flights to get there!
Unfortunately (although we can’t attribute it to fortune!), flying is usually by far the cheapest, quickest and most convenient option, not least because aviation fuel is tax free. So how can we square a concern for the environment with our holiday plans?
Solutions should focus on the greatest polluters. Private jets should be taxed out of existence. They only serve the egos of their owners. After that, just 1% of the world’s population cause 50% of the emissions. If you can afford to be a frequent flyer, flying half a dozen or more times a year, then you can afford to clean up your pollution – and more!
A frequent flyer levy across Europe would raise €64 billion* without any cost to the vast majority of people. Everyone would be allowed a dash to the sunshine with their children free of tax, but a progressive tax would be charged to frequent flyers. First class travellers should surely feel comfortable about paying extra too!
As wildfires continue to rage in Los Angeles, wrecking lives and causing hundreds of billions of dollars of damage in an almost medieval image of hell, it is high time the “polluter pays” principle was applied, starting with the biggest polluters.
As a member of the “time rich” generation I was delighted to discover a ferry route from Holland to Norway, for a holiday I am dreaming of there. I also discovered railway journeys I didn’t know existed. Low carbon lifestyles can be exciting and full of surprises. A Victorian sense of travel is surely going to connect us more deeply to humanity and God’s creation than an airport security queue!
* New Economics Foundation Oct 2024
Find out more and take the Flight Free Challenge
Edward Gildea writes magazine articles for his local church, St Mary’s, Saffron Walden in north west Essex, each month. He has kindly given permission to anyone to re-edit for your own parish newsletters. Please credit him and his church website.
Next: Why protest about protest
Previous: A New Year’s Resolution
Leave a Reply