I was raised with the notion that the world was my playground. My dad took my brother and I on summer vacations all over the United States and definitely gave me the wanderlust bug. Like most working class American families, we didn’t have the money to be taking trips overseas or to extravagant places–even in the U.S., but he always made sure we saw something. Needless to say, it is still a tradition for us to travel every summer, funds-permitting, of course.
Summer is upon us now and that means that many families will be road tripping or visiting other countries via air travel. To an ecologist, this might not be best news. More travel means more emissions released into the Earth’s atmosphere, and as we all know by now, won’t be helping with our climate change issues.
I’m the type of person who recycles everything that can be recycled. I get angry at my husband when he throws his beer cans into our regular trash. We as a society definitely have some landfill problems, and I refuse to add to that if I don’t have to. Our environment affects us in so many more ways than people realize.
Nobody thinks about how “dump soil” could affect later farming in the area. You think the food you eat now is bad for you? Just wait until even your “fresh vegetables” are genetically tainted because of the earth they’re growing in, not because of chemicals we put on them. Now, to step off my soapbox rant: I saw something really cool the other day that made a travel-hungry tree-hugger such as myself pretty excited.
The Environmental Protection Agency made a proposal to limit air traffic’s gas emissions just like they did with vehicles. How will they attempt to do this, you ask? After further research,I found that there are certain technologies might be our greatest resource for this air travel dilemma:
1. New Fuel Efficient Technologies
Just as we have new home appliances that are promised to help us live a more “green” lifestyle, the same “green” contributions can be made to many different types of technologies. Consider a fuel-efficient engine. Many manufacturers are attempting to make more fuel-efficient parts for planes, like using light-weight carbon fiber parts.
2. 3D Printed Planes
To add to the idea of fuel-efficient parts, a recent case study done by a Northwestern University confirms that lighter parts can cut fuel costs. According to their press release, they think fuel costs could be reduced by up to the 7% by printing some of the parts from a 3D printer. Of course, as the leader of the study, Eric Masanet, points out, we might still be many years away from this solution as scientists are still perfecting 3D printing.
3. Biofuels for Air Travel
We have all heard that term before, and I think what most of us assume with using biofuels (not just with planes, but even your car) is that it’s going to cost us an arm and a leg. There’s no way around this argument because it’s true. Biofuels are more expensive. However, a biofuel blend could be a great start!
These new ideas give me hope that we are on the right track to putting our environment higher up on our priority scale. It can’t take care of us if we don’t care of it. I strongly believe that, and I don’t think it should be considered only a political topic, just one of common sense and humanity. If you don’t care for the house you live in, it will start to deteriorate and fall apart. If you don’t take care of your body, it will do the same. What makes the earth we live on any different?
For nature lovers and tree huggers the world over, Atmoph brings your love of nature anywhere you go:
3 Ways Air Travel Might Make Our Lungs A Little Happier
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