One thing that attracted plenty of wrath is flying and Im part of the problem.
Private jets are bad, mkay?
By we he means you.
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They wont have to binge-watch Game of Thrones in the middle seat.
They are laughing at you.
During the event, New Orleans-area airports hostedmore than 800private aircraft for the game.
If this isnt a blatant disregard for the climate, then I dont know what is.
Is it time to stop business flying?
Ok, the bigger issue is, should we stop business flights altogether?
Politicians, in general, are big fat hypocrites.
Thats a lot of meetings that could have been an email.
Yes, I am a frequent flyer
I am guilty of being a frequent flyer.
In 2019, I took about 20 flights.
The vast majority were work trips where I attended conferences on behalf of publications.
I hung out with some amazing devs, startups, companies, hackers, and general tech nerds.
But I also got to visit my family in Australia (which took six flights altogether).
Travel to Australia is expensive and time-consuming.
(Dont do your interviews in cafes, folks.)
You dont know desperation until you see a horde of tech journos fighting for calamari at a press event.
Or amusement until you see an American pitching anal sex toys to a room full of VCs.
You just dont get this stuff on a zoom call.
But its not only these weird interactions that we miss without travel.
Getting up at 3 am to watch a funeral online back in Australia wasnt a great experience.
The luxury of time vs. money
You often see articles where people pledge to stop flying.
One thing these people have in common who pledge low-fly commitments is the luxury of time.
Theyre usually not American, in jobs where you get 14 days annual leave a year.
Or from Melbourne, 30 hours door to door to get to Berlin.
In case you are wondering, I looked up traveling by boat to Australia (legally).
From the Netherlands,it takes about 42 days.
If you want me to write about this, donations are welcome!
Is it time for a tax on flying?
There isno tax on jet fuel the only fossil fuel banned from being taxed by international treaty.
One idea from a campaign calledA Free Rideis to tax frequent flyers (yep, that includes me).
These are the 15% of flyers who take over 70% of all flights.
The usual suspects get a mention in their action plan:
These are great ambitions.
I wanthyperloopsandVTOLs(hydrogen and electric) developed.
But I also want investment in rail in general, includingbullet (maglev) trains.
Story byCate Lawrence
Cate Lawrence is an Australian tech journo living in Berlin.
