Flight Risk: Why Climate Conscience Man Is Flying Less

Climate Conscience Man loves flying. The thrill of take-off. The stitched-together clouds. The thump of wheels touching down. It has never stopped exciting him - that little-kid magic of zooming through the sky to somewhere new.

He’s done a lot of it. Too much, if he’s honest.

But the thrill for Climate Conscience Man is increasingly being cancelled out by the truth. Deep down, he knows that if we’re serious about a safe future for our kids and Country, we have to talk about flying. Not to shame it out of existence. But to right-size it. Radically.

Because right now, it’s wildly out of whack.

Planes are fast, convenient, and - let’s be honest - kind of addictive. But they’re also high-emissions machines that dump CO₂ straight into the upper atmosphere, along with contrails and other gassy bits that warm the planet even more than the carbon alone.

Climate Conscience Man has seen the numbers and feels deeply uncomfortable. Aviation belches out over 950 million tonnes of CO₂ per annum. That’s about 2.5% of global energy emissions. And when non-CO₂ impacts are factored in, it’s closer to 3.5%. In Australia, domestic flights are back to record highs post COVID. And international ones don’t even count in our national totals - they get logged as something called “bunker fuels.” As if the climate reads spreadsheets!

And despite all the shiny press releases, clean flying tech is miles away.

Sustainable Aviation Fuel? Still less than 1% of total fuel use.

Hydrogen planes? Maybe in the 2040s.

Electric aircraft? Possible, but mainly for short hops.

The rest? Mostly smoke, mirrors, and PR.

One promising fix, smarter flight planning, could reduce contrails. But it’s rarely used. Why? Because it’s invisible, unregulated, and doesn’t win points at the check-in counter or in Parliament.

Climate Conscience Man also keeps thinking about fairness. Because flying isn’t equal. Globally, about 1% of people cause more than half of all passenger-flight emissions. That’s not mobility. That’s luxury in the sky, leaving contrails across everyone else’s future.

So what can Climate Conscience Man do?

He’s not swearing off flying forever. He’s got family. Friends far away. He knows remote communities rely on planes. And he loves travel. But Climate Conscience Man knows business-as-usual at 10,000 metres can’t go on. Not if we’re honest about the science.

So these days, Climate Conscience Man tries to:

• Cut flights, not connection. He has more online meetings. He takes fewer quick trips. And he bundles up reasons for when he does travel.

• Shift mode. If there’s a train or bus, he takes it. (Yes, Australia makes this hard.)

• Fly smarter. He takes direct and economy flights. And he chooses newer planes. He even asks airlines about contrail-aware routing (they don’t love that).

• Back real change. Climate Conscience Man supports sustainable fuel mandates, frequent-flyer levies, and taxing private jets like they should’ve been decades ago.

And he’s walking (well, riding) the talk. For AlterCOP Australia this year - a no-fly event - Climate Conscience Man plans to cycle from Canberra to Brisbane. Not to be a martyr. Just to show what’s possible. And to start more of the conversations we need to have.

Climate Conscience Man is not trying to ruin anyone’s holiday. He just doesn’t want the thrill of flight to write our children’s climate story.

Until clean flying is truly scalable, flying a lot less is one of the most honest climate actions he can take.

Climate Conscience Man considers the impacts of flying. He knows he needs to fly less.