You may have spotted my post last week on a new company wanting to bring back supersonic planes.

Which is a dumb-fuck idea. Basically: moving faster requires more energy per km (one of the pesky laws of thermodynamics—can’t remember which one), and if that energy is jet fuel, there’s this stuff called Co2 being pumped out the back.

One of the world’s most famous environmentalists—Bill McKibben—also spotted this dumb-fuck idea for what it is. In fact, it’s the lead item in his New Yorker Climate Crisis column this week.

Given he uses the word ‘dumb-fuck’ slightly less than me (at least in print), some of his silky-smooth phrases are worth repeating here:

“An interesting question: Did the pandemic break something in the heedless momentum of human acceleration, or are we really going straight back to normal?

“An interesting test case: United Airlines’ announcement that it will buy fifteen supersonic jets, which would allow business travellers to fly from San Francisco to Tokyo in six hours, and take “day trips” across the Atlantic.

“Surely, we don’t want this. In part, of course, because it’s climate-insane. Supersonic planes, as Kate Aronoff points out, emit five to seven times as much carbon per passenger as conventional jetliners. United’s statement that the planes, which could be in operation by the end of the decade, will be “net zero from day one” is perhaps the best example yet of what an empty pledge “net zero” is turning out to be.”

Net zero lol.

As he notes, there was a related story this week suggesting that it was a good thing overall to have really rich people flying their private jets all around the world whenever they feel like it, I shit you not.

“By the way, if you want an example of creative greenwashing, here’s a piece making a case that more private jet travel may be “beneficial” for the climate. “Saying too loudly it’s better to have a few wealthy folks and their shiny jets instead of more widebody airliners arriving with budget travelers doesn’t necessarily go over well,” the author writes, adding that some companies have introduced “jet-sharing programs” so that “private fliers can carpool.”

Again on the general subject of getting airborne, travel by blimp looks like it’s going to become a thing, so that’s something at least to balance out the supersonic madness:

“More exciting than United’s supersonic order was the news that, as early as 2025, an outfit called Hybrid Air Vehicles may be offering regularly scheduled blimp service between cities such as Seattle and Vancouver, or Barcelona and Mallorca, or Liverpool and Belfast. According to the company, dirigible travel will emit ninety per cent less carbon dioxide per passenger mile than a standard airplane—and, by 2030, an all-electric version may eliminate emissions entirely. But I think the experience will be the thing: with no need for a runway (and no jet-engine noise), the blimps could land near the center of cities. And blimp passengers, instead of strapping themselves into a metal cylinder with tiny windows and enduring a cramped ride, will have huge windows to gaze out of and plenty of room to move around. Yes, there will be luxury options for the rich—that feature of our world won’t disappear. But these options do sound nice: a Swedish firm has already ordered a dirigible outfitted with deluxe cabins for trips over the North Pole. I’d save for years to do that once.”

I hope slow travel flourishes as a movement. For it to happen though, Americans need to get more holiday days.

Lol