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The Real Costs of Plane Emissions

by Dave Luna (RSS feed) on May 1st 2007 at 2:02PM

There are a lot of things I think about when I board a plane. For example, if I get stuck in a middle seat, I expect to be flanked by two lumbering people who smell of hot dogs and failure. The only aspect of the trip that I don't consider is the environmental cost.

Well, hey. That won't happen anymore. The Real Costs project forces a traveler to see what he normally takes for granted. The Real Costs is a plug-in for Mozilla Firefox, and it waits patiently until you plan a trip on a website like US Airways, American Airlines, or Orbitz. After you enter your depart and arrival points, The Real Costs presents you with a bar graph comparing the amount of carbon dioxide produced by that flight and alternative modes of transport like buses and trains. The project creators note: "Think of it like the nutritional information labeling on the back of food... except for emissions."

I tried The Real Costs while planning a round-trip flight from Philadelphia, PA to Munich, Germany. The graph predicted the flight would produce about 11,206lbs of CO2 which requires 203 "tree-years" to convert back into oxygen. There were even 203 little tree icons below the graph to drive the point home. Wow.

The goal of the project is to "increase awareness of the environmental impact of certain day to day choices in the life of the Internet user." The group hopes to expand the plug-in to support driving directions, parcel shipping, and car rentals.

(via MAKE: Blog)

Filed under: Activism

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keith May 1st 2007 6:18PM

Dear Dave, are you wanting to be adopted by al gore?
What is this crappy article?
Drink a cup of herbal tea and lay down. trust me, It will be alright. In the future, try to get worked up over issues that matter.

phojo11 May 1st 2007 6:19PM

Wow, that's a knee-jerk reaction. I don't recall him mentioning Gore, or even global warming for that matter. Is the fact that trees turn CO2 into oxygen the part of the article that you find "crappy"?

You've made your loyalty to political BS clear, though, unless you somehow have a better understanding of our current climate situation than the vast majority of the scientific community.

Personally, I don't care who politically backs an idea; I'm going to side with science every time.

Marilyn Terrell May 3rd 2007 11:02AM

Whether you believe global warming is caused by man's activities or not, it still doesn't hurt to reduce our dependence on fossil fuels. This calculator helps you decide whether to fly or take another (less polluting) means of transportation.

Dave Luna May 3rd 2007 11:29AM

Thanks for the input, everybody.

Marilyn -- very well put!

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