Counting

Someone else is keeping count for me.

I’ve written before about how I like to keep track of where I’ve been and what we did.  All my friends know what an obsessive record keeper I am and they provide me with plenty of material to support my habit (addiction?)  I didn’t really expect British Airways to provide a similar service, however!

This morning, whilst updating his passport information in preparation for our up and coming road trip, Mark spotted this new feature “My Flightpath” and of course, knew that I would love it. But good grief, 408 hours in the air and nearly a quarter of a million miles flown.

And that’s only on British Airways.

Ooooer.  The words “emissions” and “carbon footprint” spring to my mind, closely followed by the word “offset”.  Maybe I’d better investigate.

First of all, some sums to do.  Visiting one or two websites (like this and this) and rounding up one or two figures, it would appear that our return flights will emit around 1.5 tonnes of carbon dioxide per person, though how accurate or up to date that information is, I’m none too sure.  Taking that one step further, there seems to be a general consensus that 6 trees are needed to offset one tonne and yes, of course, there are plenty of websites for organisations who will gladly assuage our guilt and accept our money but how effective they are in making a real difference, I have no idea.  Reading articles like this one doesn’t really help.

So, what to do?  Should I send twenty pounds to some organisation and have them plant the required number of trees for me so that I can go on holiday with a clear conscience?  Or should I learn what I can about the subject and do my best to continue to offset my air travel with other, environmentally friendly actions in my everyday life?

Maybe I should drive a hybrid car?