Welcome to the July newsletter of Stay Grounded!
This is a holiday season like no other. While some countries are recovering from Covid-19, the pandemic is increasing in others, with new outbreaks in some. Air traffic is still enormously affected by the situation and the industry has used it to further water down its climate rules – as we feared.
However, there are also many positive things: many people have found new ways to connect, work and travel in recent months. What once seemed utopian is now becoming a serious alternative. We describe a few of them in this issue of our newsletter. Also, our movement has gained strength and the aviation’s dirty business became more visible for many.
We would like to ask you for something this time: many of us stopped flying a long time ago, for some of us the pandemic was an impulse to do so. Let us stay on the ground for the climate and our future – and take the Let’s Stay Grounded pledge to make it visible!
This is our last newsletter before a short summer break in August. Enjoy reading it!
The Stay Grounded team
STAY GROUNDED is a Europe-based, people-powered, science-based, and action-oriented network for more than 150 member initiatives around the world, including Flight Free Australia. The network fosters mutual support and exchange of experiences, and campaigns for a reduction of aviation and its negative impacts, as well as against problematic climate strategies like offsetting emissions and biofuels. Join our efforts for a just mobility system that works for all, now and in the future.
You can subscribe to their Newsletter here .
Pledge to Stay Grounded!
In the last few months we have been staying grounded for health and solidarity reasons. Let us now continue to stay on the ground for the climate and our future. Only by massively reducing aviation, we can build a climate-just mobility and future. We need change by design, not by disaster.
It is time to take matters into our own hands: the higher the number of people who promise to stay on the ground or fly less even after Covid-19, the more pressure we can put on political decision-makers and the industry not to return to pollution as usual!
Staying on the ground yourself is an important first step. Additionally, check out the other ways in which you can help us reduce air traffic and contribute to fair transport. Let’s stay grounded!
| Pledge to Stay Grounded! |
Inequality. A new study shows that air travel accounts for 41% of the top 1% of EU households’ emissions, which are 55 tonnes of CO2 equivalent per capita per year. This article sums it up.
The research presents another example of how unfairly air traffic is distributed. Find out more about the injustice of flying on our website.
Letter. Stay Grounded and its member Réseau Action Climat, together with 15 other organisations, sent a letter to the French Minister of Ecological and Solidarity Transition demanding the government to limit domestic air connections in France and in Europe.
Read the letter in English and in French here.
Aviation’s Climate Regulation: Broken Beyond Repair
CORSIA. On June 30th, the Council of the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) decided to change the baseline for the Carbon Offsetting and Reduction Scheme for International Aviation (CORSIA) to 2019. This means the already extremely weak system was watered down even more. Stay Grounded calls for scrapping CORSIA and instead demands credible climate solutions for aviation in line with the 1.5°C limit. Find more information about ICAO’s move and what we propose instead to regulate the climate impact of aviation in our press release.
Being a Pilot During Climate Emergency
Video. Have you ever wondered what it’s like being an airline pilot during the climate emergency? What about being a pilot in times of Covid-19, where airlines are making mass redundancies? This video by our member Possible is one pilot’s story.
This is now finally being questioned. In this recent article in Nature, researchers analyse ways to decarbonise conference travel after Covid-19. The investigation shows that regional hubs and virtual attendance can slash emissions. Read the article here.
Webinar. Our webinar “Grounding Travel Policies in Organisations” focused on academic and research institutions where students and staff recently have carried out lots of activities regarding and have shown a keen interest in grounded travel policies. Indeed, universities in Europe, the USA and Canada have increasingly become places of progressive and climate-friendly travel policy. This accumulated knowledge can also be very helpful for other organisations in formulating and implementing travel policies. Find a summary and recording of the webinar here.
An alternative? Our Belgian member Zomer Zonder Vliegen (ZZV) inspires people to rediscover alternatives to air travel. Like them, we regularly receive questions about it, and we also ask ourselves: how useful is it to consider piggybacking on a ship as an alternative to an intercontinental flight? Is a journey with a container ship grounded travelling? Find out in ZZV’s article.
False solutions. In recent years, there has been an increasing interest in the use of electricity as a source of energy for airplanes. Is ‘sustainable flying’ within reach? An expert from the aviation industry answers this question on our website.
Originally published in Dutch by our member SchipholWatch.
Stay Grounded in the Media
A glimpse of media coverage about the Stay Grounded network and our campaigns. For more content (also in other languages) visit the media review on our website.
Gizmodo: The UN Just Made It Easier for Airlines to Pollute
Klimareporter: “Im Flugverkehr gibt es de facto keinen Klimaschutz” (German)
Moment: CORSIA: Flugbranche nutzt Corona, um ihren Klimabeitrag auszuradieren (German)
Redd Monitor: “Great news for the environment!” The aviation industry weakens carbon offsetting scheme even further
Le Figaro: L’OACI vote une modification de son mécanisme vert (French)
News: Aviation, Climate, Politics and Movements
Our highlights: what is going on in climate politics, the aviation industry, climate science and the climate justice movement.
Resilience.org: The Great Staycation – How the Coronavirus Pandemic Could Push a Rapid Transition to Creative Domestic Holidays
Le Monde: 710 French aeronautics students call for a conversion of their industry. Aéronautique: « La transition écologique impose une profonde transformation de notre industrie » (French)
Climate Home News: Airlines’ climate obligations postponed as UN body endorses industry proposal
The Guardian: Pandemic shows climate has never been treated as crisis, say scientists
France 24: Climate protest disrupts reopening of Paris Orly airport after three-month shutdown
The Guardian: International aviation and shipping likely to be added to UK’s net zero carbon target
Donations
For our actions, meetings, solidarity work and coordination of the network, we need funding. Support the movement to reduce air traffic – make a donation!
Contact:
info@stay-grounded.org
The Stay Grounded Network is hosted by the Austrian NGO Periskop:
Periskop
c/o GLOBAL 2000
Neustiftgasse 36
1070 Vienna, Austria
www.kollektiv-periskop.org
If you do not want our newsletter to end up in your spam, please add our address info@stay-grounded.org to your address book.
