Every day on this planet, there are people flying all over the world, visiting here, visiting there just because they can.
They are called tourists.
In many cities around the world, tourism is a double edged sword. Governments and many businesses love the revenues tourism brings in. Inhabitants hate the crowding and the pressure it brings on services and resources. Some cities and locations around the globe are now considering, or have already put in place means of restricting the daily numbers of tourists.
In the Antarctic for example, the main tourism restriction here is the number of passengers and boats. Any boat carrying over 500 passengers is not be allowed to dock in the region. Only one boat is allowed to dock in each dock and only 100 passengers are allowed on shore. Today visitors have to travel through operators and organizers who have been approved by their national authorities. Don’t expect to spend too much time in this pristine environment as your time both on-shore and in water will be closely monitored by officials.
Every time a person flies from where they live to somewhere they want to go (not where they HAVE to go) that one person generates more than 20% of the greenhouse gas in that one flight than their internal combustion car emits in one year. This number is based on a North American based average.
Keep in mind, even if you own an electric car, you are still generating greenhouse gases, this gas created through the manufacturing of your vehicle and from the generation of the electricity used to power the car, particularly if this electrical power is generated by coal or natural gas powered power-plants. Even hydro electric dams create greenhouse gases through their building process. Materials like concrete, earth moving machines, trucks, portable generators, burning, etc.
According to some estimates, there are roughly 20,000 planes in use around the world, serving three billion passengers annually. By 2040, more than 50,000 planes could be in service, and they are expected to fly more often. The total worldwide ocean cruise capacity at the end of 2018 was 537,000 passengers and 314 ships. Annualized total passengers carried worldwide was 26.0 million passengers (a 3.3% increase over 2017) and almost 6 times the population of New Zealand or equivalent to the population of Australia.
However, I digress. My curiosity for lack of action among many people was aroused by what I perceive to be disinterest among a majority of people in the dire warnings of impending climate doom by climatologists, environmentalists and scientists from all around the world.
People who choose ignorance seem to fall into 5 categories with regard to warnings of future global calamity for the last remaining hominoid race on this small planet:
People who just choose to ignore these warnings as not having credibility. IE Climate change deniers.
People not wanting to know about bad news or pretend that everything really is OK.
People frightened of these warnings and choosing not to believe them, therefore denial.
People who believe an invisible man (a god) who lives in the sky who is going to save the pure of heart and thought so why bother doing anything.
The wealthy and famous who selfishly just want to enjoy all the earth has to offer with little to no thought of their effect on the planet; IE cruise ships, constant overseas vacations, unlimited consumerism, huge vacation mansions.
Most people in the western world are very comfortable in their own little worlds. If retired and with money in the bank, they think very little of the environmental ramifications of the cruises they go on or the extended travel trips to exotic parts of the world they undertake.