Jet trails in a blue sky. Photo: By Kum on Unsplash.
Staying grounded: Sue Hampton makes a climate case
‘The more warmly I feel towards that friend, the more bruised I am.’
Eighty per cent of the people in the world have never been on a plane, yet in the UK most of us feel entitled to do just that. But flying is a question, and symbol, of climate injustice. That’s hard to tell friends, including Friends, who talk casually about parts of the world that someone should see, as if a long-haul flight needs no further justification. Years ago I began, for my own protection, ‘unfriending’ people on Facebook who posted photos from exotic locations. The more warmly I feel towards that friend, the more bruised I am. If I bump into her on the high street, we’ll chat, and embrace. But from April to September, people in my town use their holiday as a conversation staple. ‘We really needed it,’ I’ve been told. As if blowing any personal carbon budget is necessary for our health. Yet the idea that it’s damaging to our planet and to humans suffering in this climate crisis is not new to the people I know, who are aware of my climate activism.
