?Flight Shame? Comes to the U.S.?Via Sailboat

Also making its way to the New World, as evidenced in the coverage of her carbon-neutral trip, was a concept that in just a few years has swept Europe: flight shame, often hashtagged in the original Swedish, #flygskam.It didn’t start with Greta, but something about her passion for the issue fed her countrymen’s unease over carbon-spewing vacations to Thailand. While Greta inspired youth strikes across the world, took the train to Davos to berate world leaders and was nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize, Swedes changed their behavior.Domestic-flight passengers were down 8% this year through July, compared with the same period in 2018, according to Swedish airport operator Swedavia, while international passengers fell 3%. So far, flight shame and train brag have been largely a European phenomenon, in part helped along by factors like carbon taxes that increase the cost of flying. Some people need to fly for their jobs or for their families and we will not be shaming them,” said Ms. Hogue, “Corporations need to take responsibility and provide alternatives to travel,” she said.For anyone committed not to fly, myriad obstacles quickly pop up, even if no ocean crossing is involved.Roger Tyers, an environmental-sociology researcher at the University of Southampton, had pledged not to fly this year or next when he won a scholarship to study Chinese attitudes to sustainability. 87990cbe856818d5eddac44c7b1cdeb8Many Swedes have heeded calls from 16-year-old climate activist Greta Thunberg to fly less.