One of the the most fun part of parenting is introducing your child to the rest of the world, whether it’s the beaches of Maui, the palm trees of LA, the streets of New York City, or simply taking them back to your hometown so they can get used to the places you grew up in.
But air travel also threatens the future of our children. Flying accounts for 2.5% global CO2 emissions and is expected to increase to 5 percent by 2050. Air travel is activities that use a lot of carbon an individual can do. That’s why some families vow to hang on and give up flying for the future of their children, and the future of children around the world.
As we begin to rethink the way we travel for our future, one of the first things many of us consider is how it will affect our families, whether it’s a change of holiday, breaking with tradition, or missing out on seeing family members living abroad. These three families gave up flying and share it for them — the good and the bad — and what their vacation is like now.
Katherine Leswing, 36 years old, New Hampshire
Katherine Leswing was sitting in an airport in France with her 5-month-old son, waiting to catch a flight home, when she started thinking about giving up flying because of climate change. “I read a news story about Greta [Thunberg] sail across the ocean to New York. ” Leswing, a 36-year-old mother of a toddler, says she has always been concerned about the environment but has never considered the impact of her “flying habits.” “Greta sailing made me look at it realistically for the first time,” she says. By the time Leswing landed, she knew she needed to fly less; “I was shocked when I learned that flying accounts for most of my carbon footprint.”
One of the biggest challenges is that her family has relatives in Michigan, which is a short plane ride away but “has to be reached by car.” Exactly 14 hours with a small baby. Even so, Leswing and her husband decided to take the drive and turn it into an adventure. “We stopped at Niagara Falls on the way back and stayed in a hotel,” she said. The trip had an unexpected effect: Katherine’s father-in-law, after discussing with Leswing about in-flight emissions, decided to buy an electric truck. “He’s from the most conservative town in Michigan,” Leswing said. “He’s going to be the frontrunner.”
Leswing says one of the best decisions she made was to exchange her Southwest Airlines credit card for an Amtrak credit card. “That started a whole new stream of thinking, like ‘where can I go on Amtrak?’” Living on the East Coast means Leswing is close to many tourist destinations: Boston, New York, Washington, DC. Now, Leswing regularly takes trains to nearby cities, including taking her 2-year-old to New York City. “He ran up and down that train 20 times, so I was exhausted but he had a great time,” she said. For family road trips, they stick with adventures nearby, such as a week on the coast in Maine, a visit to an aquarium in Boston, or a hike in the mountains.
As a travel enthusiast, however, giving up flying is a huge transition; “I love to travel. I feel like this is part of my identity gone forever?” Katherine says she didn’t tell herself she would never fly again, she was just asking herself if she needed to take a particular flight or was there a more climate-friendly way to get the experience she was looking for.
Valerie Milner-Brown, 69 years old, Scotland
For Valerie Milner-Brown, giving up flying has come with a heavy price. The 69-year-old grandmother, who lives in Scotland, regularly flies back and forth to Los Angeles, where her daughter and grandchildren live. Now that her children are grown, she also hopes to make annual trips to Ghana to meet family there and learn more about Ghanese culture to pass on to her grandchildren. “It hurt a lot,” says Milner-Brown. “But my conscience cannot allow me to travel the world as if all that matters is satisfying my curiosity and my desire for adventure.”
Instead of traveling the world, Milner-Brown focused on exploring her native Scotland and taking train trips through Europe. She loves coming to London to walk around the city and spend time in Hampstead Heath and other parks. She said: “I am very grateful to see the beauty around me and the architecture that is a testament to human creativity. “There is life after stopping flying.” After Covid, Milner-Brown hopes to explore Scotland, Devon and Kent and is planning a group trip with friends across the UK.
