A colleague of mine at the Daily News recently made flight reservations for a trip to New York to cover the Bernie Madoff plea hearing.
Megan used Cox Travel, the in-house agency that handles travel for our company, to book the flight. Along with the usual flight information, her itinerary included a mileage count and the estimated pounds of carbon dioxide created by each segment of the trip.
On the 1,035 trip to New York, Megan’s plane will produce an estimated 362.25 pounds of the Earth-warming greenhouse gas.
I’m concerned about the environment, no doubt about it, but could this be a case of TMI (too much information)?
We take planes to speed us along the way to vacations, work and more. It’s reasonable to limit one’s air travel to what is basically essential, but I don’t want to be on a “guilt trip” every time I book a flight. Well, at the least, perhaps being cognizant of the amount of carbon dioxide produced by a flight will spur travelers into doing something to offset their carbon footprint.
If you have a sprawling estate with lots of grass but few trees, maybe you should call your landscaper before booking your next flight.
Trees produce oxygen and offset some of the damage we do while traveling in the modern age.
That’s something I’ll chew on, aside from the biscotti and chips, during my next excursion by air.