Part of why flying is so polluting (relatively) is that growth is so big due to convenience and low price. If you price most of this use out of people, then they will think twice about being there at all and figure out alternatives like teleportation (I’m kidding). I am sure London-Barcelona daily commutes might become a thing of the past then.

The root of the problem with transportation is that we subsidize so much of the wrong transportation infrastructure (airports, roads, ATC) and not enough of the right one such as rail.

You are right it would be unfair to raise taxes on the airlines directly and just shifting people into cars isn’t an answer. What we need to do is raise taxes on all forms of fuel and/or emissions, sort of a carbon tax. This way consumers will shift their choices towards the method of transportation that is best for the environment because it will also be better for their wallets, or choose alternatives like electronic meetings where possible. In the meantime, we must earmark those additional taxes to go to investments in improving alternative energy. Other than a few left-wing radicals, the masses won’t choose a transportation method purely on environmental reasons, we must make it a financially attractive option to be aligned with sustainability. This will also lead us towards a path of more energy independence, but that is a topic for a different blog.

BTW – Higher fuel taxes will hurt the economy but our economy is too strong for it to have dire consequences like some people are proposing. Europe seems to be doing just fine with fuel prices that have been double our prices for decades.

I do find it ridiculous that people fly short “commuter” routes like LAX to SFO when a European or Japanese style high speed train could accomplish the task more efficiently and probably faster given modern airport delays. For anything under 1000 miles I’d prefer the train given my experiences across the pond.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fuel_efficiency_in_transportation

Basically, the fuel usage in liters per passenger mile is similar for fully-loaded planes as for fully-loaded cars, but when you look at how much less efficient kerosene is than diesel or (non-ethanol-mixed) gasoline, and the fact that so many passenger miles are on regional jets and inefficient old planes, I’d bet the plane stats are overly optimistic.

Of course, the one solution you recognise but fail to expand upon here is to improve the rail networks in America and Asia, and start seeing air travel as a long-haul-only sport. This would reduce the reliance on highly inefficient regional jets, not to mention cars.

I couldn’t agree with you more. For the record, I am not an environmentalist, I work in the financial sector and both my business and personal consumption decisions are driven by the bottom line. That being said I do my part by recycling and where economicically viable I make ecologically sensitive choices but I refuse to pay more for that choice. I.e if the grocery store gives free plastic bags, I wont pay for a reusable bag. I do however reuse the plastic bags.

While I think it is a noble move by the airlines to offer voluntary participation in carbon ofset programs I fear the reality of it becoming a manditory “tax”. An aircraft will fly whether I am on it or not and my flying on any particular day will not contirute any more or less to the decline of the environment. Cranly, you are 110% right that it is not the responsibilty of the airline or the passenger to shoulder the costs of environmental impact of their current fleet of aircraft. They just bought the best equipment that was available. Greening should start with the manufacturer and they should be encouraged to design green with various incentives.

On a related note, I am noticing that car rental companies are starting to offer a voluntary carbon ofset charge – why???

In terms of perception, sure there is a huge problem. But in terms of actual progress on this issue, I do not believe there is. Both airlines and the manufacturers who build for them already have plenty of incentive to create more fuel efficient aircraft. And aircraft today already are 70% more fuel efficient than the aircraft of 50 years ago. USA Today recently reported that during 2001-2006, aircraft emissions were down 13% — despite an increase in traffic during that time period.

The big problem is perception. Certainly airlines in North America (and other stakeholders) do need to step up a bit on that.