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TAFF
I've been asked if I'd like to be a candidate for TAFF and I'm seriously considering it.
It's an odd situation for me as I haven't flown since 2001 (I used to go regularly to US conventions and I went to Eclecticon in New Jersey shortly after 9/11 because I was damned if terrorists were going to stop me visiting my friends in America)
Not long after that, I became aware of the carbon footprint of a typical flight - and I made the decision to give up overseas travel.
However, in the case of TAFF, someone is going to go in any case, so the carbon footprint does not change if I go instead of someone else.
I have mixed feelings about TAFF, largely because it involves people flying. On the other hand, it's the only way I'll ever see America again. (having looked into carbon offset schemes, I concluded that a lot of them were pure greenwash and none of them could actually absorb carbon here and now. Trees are all very well, but if you plant trees now, it'll take them around thirty years to absorb your carbon - and a lot of damage will have been done in that time.)
Should I stand? Am I betraying my principles by doing so?
It's an odd situation for me as I haven't flown since 2001 (I used to go regularly to US conventions and I went to Eclecticon in New Jersey shortly after 9/11 because I was damned if terrorists were going to stop me visiting my friends in America)
Not long after that, I became aware of the carbon footprint of a typical flight - and I made the decision to give up overseas travel.
However, in the case of TAFF, someone is going to go in any case, so the carbon footprint does not change if I go instead of someone else.
I have mixed feelings about TAFF, largely because it involves people flying. On the other hand, it's the only way I'll ever see America again. (having looked into carbon offset schemes, I concluded that a lot of them were pure greenwash and none of them could actually absorb carbon here and now. Trees are all very well, but if you plant trees now, it'll take them around thirty years to absorb your carbon - and a lot of damage will have been done in that time.)
Should I stand? Am I betraying my principles by doing so?
no subject
With respect… that seems a pretty weak argument. Someone who really cares about reducing carbon emissions would surely be trying to talk other people out of applying for TAFF, not joining them in it.
"Someone else would have done it if I hadn't" can be used to attempt to justify all sorts of immoral behaviour, but I don't think it really stands up.
(NB of course what your principles are, and how you choose to stick by them, is none of my business… but you did ask, so I'm answering in the abstract.)