People who fly do it for themselves and end up hurting others. People who avoid flying do it for others and end up helping themselves.

November 11, 2021 by Joshua
in Nature

The title says it all: People who fly do it for themselves and end up hurting others. People who avoid flying do it for others and end up helping themselves.

When someone explains why they have to fly, it’s a reason that helps themselves. They may say they fly for family, work, or to be a good citizen, but it comes back to themselves. They benefit. They hurt the rest of the world: the people and wildlife displaced to dig the oil, the ten million a year who die from breathing polluted air, those hurt from sea level rise and climate change, those who suffer from noise pollution near airports, and so on.

When someone says why they don’t fly, some sense of stewardship and service to others motivates them. As much as they do it for others, they benefit in prioritizing life by their values, simplifying life, and so on.

I think both groups expect the opposite: the flyers expect they’ll help others through their service and the non-flyers expect they’ll lose out somehow but benefit others.

If you normally fly and haven’t tried a year or two without, it’s growing. You might find you enjoy it more than you think.

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