| Pages in topic: < [1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10] > | Off topic: Have you given up flying? Thread poster: Tom in London
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expressisverbis
Portugal
Local time: 15:08
Member (2015)
English to Portuguese
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| I have other plans | Aug 2, 2023 |
Ice Scream wrote: expressisverbis wrote:
Nice place for a historic getaway! But how will they get there?😂😂
I don't intend to end up in a place alone, isolated from everything and everyone and become a grumpy, unpleasant and rude old lady.
I want to get to know other places and other people. The isolation that a translator suffers is enough.
Am I contributing to polluting the planet in this way? Yes, I don't deny it, but there are worse things that harm mankind and the world and that's not why those bad things don't cease to exist 
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expressisverbis wrote:
I don't intend to end up in a place alone, isolated from everything and everyone and become a grumpy, unpleasant and rude old lady.
Giving up flying won't make you isolated and certainly not grumpy, unpleasant and rude.
expressisverbis wrote:
I want to get to know other places and other people. The isolation that a translator suffers is enough.
You can go places without flying. You can do interesting things without flying. You can get to know new people without flying. There is no need to be isolated.
expressisverbis wrote:
Am I contributing to polluting the planet in this way? Yes, I don't deny it, but there are worse things that harm mankind and the world and that's not why those bad things don't cease to exist
That's true, but flying is a big-ticket action you can take to send a message to others that climate change is real and an urgent threat to us all. Human beings are social animals and we all look at each other to see how to behave. You have more influence on others than you think. These actions do matter.
| | | | expressisverbis
Portugal
Local time: 15:08
Member (2015)
English to Portuguese
+ ...
I understand what you are saying and I also respect your opinion, but I already contribute a little every day to improve our environment (I think I said it before in this thread).
At this moment, I may even do more than you can imagine, and probably even more than those who defend the planet fiercely with words only and less actions.
Please note that I am not criticising anyone here, I say this from my own observation of people, the world, my everyday life, and my experience ![]() ... See more I understand what you are saying and I also respect your opinion, but I already contribute a little every day to improve our environment (I think I said it before in this thread).
At this moment, I may even do more than you can imagine, and probably even more than those who defend the planet fiercely with words only and less actions.
Please note that I am not criticising anyone here, I say this from my own observation of people, the world, my everyday life, and my experience ▲ Collapse
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Kay Denney wrote:
I still fly, not because I'm a translator but because I have family and friends all over the world.
I live abroad and train/car options are either too expensive or too time-consuming to go visit my family/friends in other countries.
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John Fossey 
Canada
Local time: 10:08
Member (2008)
French to English
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ElisaVitale wrote: Kay Denney wrote:
I still fly, not because I'm a translator but because I have family and friends all over the world.
I live abroad and train/car options are either too expensive or too time-consuming to go visit my family/friends in other countries.
I plan to visit family next month. According to Google Maps, it would be a 44 hour drive, plus time stopping for sleeping and eating. I'll be flying.
My ancestors travelled by ship, but I hope we've advanced beyond that level of development.
| | | | Liviu-Lee Roth
United States
Local time: 10:08
Romanian to English
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| Try this approach in the US, | Sep 29, 2023 |
Rachel Waddington wrote:
Giving up flying won't make you isolated and certainly not grumpy, unpleasant and rude.
You can go places without flying. You can do interesting things without flying. You can get to know new people without flying. There is no need to be isolated.
That's true, but flying is a big-ticket action you can take to send a message to others that climate change is real and an urgent threat to us all. Human beings are social animals and we all look at each other to see how to behave. You have more influence on others than you think. These actions do matter.
In theory and for the sake of advocacy, it sounds wonderful, but as a practical matter it is not feasible if you need to work. I can give you as an example the fact that during the full-blown pandemic, I flew 48 times to different federal courts within the US. Therefore, your statement "You can go places without flying" does not apply to the US, when it comes to work. When I am not working I rarely use my car; I use my bike. For example, in the US, the acceptable average miles/year is 12,000. In two years, I logged only 7,000.
I noticed first-hand that climate change is real when I hiked across some glaciers in the Alps and at noon, the crispy icy surface turned into a raging river.
| | | | Tom in London
United Kingdom
Local time: 15:08
Member (2008)
Italian to English
TOPIC STARTER | How our lives have changed | Sep 29, 2023 |
John Fossey wrote:
I plan to visit family next month. According to Google Maps, it would be a 44 hour drive, plus time stopping for sleeping and eating. I'll be flying.
My ancestors travelled by ship, but I hope we've advanced beyond that level of development.
Once on a flight from NYC from London there was a young kid on the seat beside me. He told me his parents were divorced and that he crossed the Atlantic all the time, going from one to the other. He was not a happy kid. He just played games all the way, on an iPad.
Just as the invention of the motor car atomised our cities into suburban sprawl, forcing us to build freeways all over the place and burn tonnes of fossil fuel just so that we can sit in some relative's living room, so the ability to fly has atomised families all over the planet, that once all lived together in the same place.
Now today's atomised families have to emit tonnes of CO2, overheating our world, just so that they can hug one another.
I wouldn't call that "development". I'd call it suicide.
[Edited at 2023-09-29 15:54 GMT]
| | | | | We're on fire | Sep 30, 2023 |
Tom in London wrote:
I wouldn't call that "development". I'd call it suicide.
I agree with you, yet I'm also one of those people who set foot in an airplane this year (first time since before Covid) to see family. A bus or train trip was way too expensive and would have taken too long for the short time available.
I found that my feelings about that had changed, it didn't feel good to do all this blasting of CO2 into the atmosphere just to hug and sit in someone else's living room for a while. I was also absolutely scared at the kilometers Northern Europeans will drive in their cars (much of that stopped in some traffic jam or another), just so they can enjoy free time somewhere else from where they live, because that has been filled with roads. I have, since Covid, gotten into the habit of mostly just driving to the next shop once a week and to the local farmer's market every once in a while (I live rural and cannot ditch my car unless I finally take the plunge and opt for donkey power) and I cringe every time I put a combustion motor working in some way.
I guess I'm grumpy, and anti-social, but I just cannot find the attraction of jumping into an airplane anymore, just to suffer jetlag or migraine, visit some place with monuments to take pictures of, eat something exotic, buy stuff produced in China in the same shops I can find back home, and then fly back home. This next to the pictures of Europe's forests on fire just gives my brain a shortcut. Greece is on fire, and the main headlines in Northern Europe are people moaning about their interrupted holidays.
But then again, we are all a little suicidal - on a personal level, and on a societal level. We also somehow choose to set up things in a way that 8 hours of work a day is normalized - much of this work happens towards more things being produced, more airplanes hitting the air, more productivity in the name of infinite economical growth, more forests on fire. When I was still prostituting myself in marketing translation I read and translated 'in today's fast paced business environment' so many times it was giving me heart trouble. It's also giving the planet a fever, yet we dance on.
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Daryo
United Kingdom
Local time: 15:08
Serbian to English
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| Tradesmen going around on bicycles ... no connection. | Oct 1, 2023 |
I remember listening to a radio talk show about the pollution in London, a year or two ago.
There was one caller dead serious when advocating that tradesmen should get rid of their nasty polluting white vans and carry their tools from job to job in a panier or trailer attached to a bicycle. Someone who sounded like she wouldn't know how a change a light bulb.
No idea what reminded of this genius idea, just gone off-topic on an off topic thread ...
| | | | | Cycling tradespeople | Oct 1, 2023 |
Daryo wrote:
I remember listening to a radio talk show about the pollution in London, a year or two ago.
There was one caller dead serious when advocating that tradesmen should get rid of their nasty polluting white vans and carry their tools from job to job in a panier or trailer attached to a bicycle. Someone who sounded like she wouldn't know how a change a light bulb.
No idea what reminded of this genius idea, just gone off-topic on an off topic thread ...
Like this guy you mean? https://www.treehugger.com/uk-plumber-conducts-business-by-cargo-bike-5188214
| | | | Daryo
United Kingdom
Local time: 15:08
Serbian to English
+ ...
Rachel Waddington wrote: Daryo wrote:
I remember listening to a radio talk show about the pollution in London, a year or two ago.
There was one caller dead serious when advocating that tradesmen should get rid of their nasty polluting white vans and carry their tools from job to job in a panier or trailer attached to a bicycle. Someone who sounded like she wouldn't know how a change a light bulb.
No idea what reminded of this genius idea, just gone off-topic on an off topic thread ... Like this guy you mean? https://www.treehugger.com/uk-plumber-conducts-business-by-cargo-bike-5188214
You're confusing gimmicks and what really works.
Obviously, you have never seen how many tools (and the quantity of various materials) there is in an average tradesman's van.
I'm sure you would be thrilled to have a plumber coming on a bicycle to fix a flooding in your property and then having to go "back to base" (while your property keeps getting more and more flooded) to get the right tools because what can be carried around on a bicycle is very limited?
[Edited at 2023-10-02 21:47 GMT]
| | | | Baran Keki
Türkiye
Local time: 17:08
Member
English to Turkish
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| plumbers, etc. | Oct 4, 2023 |
Daryo wrote:
You're confusing gimmicks and what really works.
Obviously, you have never seen how many tools (and the quantity of various materials) there is in an average tradesman's van.
I'm sure you would be thrilled to have a plumber coming on a bicycle to fix a flooding in your property and then having to go "back to base" (while your property keeps getting more and more flooded) to get the right tools because what can be carried around on a bicycle is very limited?
[Edited at 2023-10-02 21:47 GMT]
Just because it's not *always* feasible to do something, doesn't mean it's not sometimes or even often feasible.
People love to bring up these difficult cases to 'prove' that no change at all is possible under any circumstances. Just because some people have far-flung relatives doesn't mean we can't be more mindful about where we take our holidays. Just because plumbers need to carry heavy tools doesn't mean that the rest of us can't use our cars less and switch to active travel or public transport *where it is feasible*.
| | | | | | Baran Keki
Türkiye
Local time: 17:08
Member
English to Turkish
| Active travel | Oct 4, 2023 |
Rachel Waddington wrote:
doesn't mean that the rest of us can't use our cars less and switch to active travel.
I've never driven a car in my life as I can't drive. But I've been wondering if you were encouraged to ride a bike instead of driving your personal car to work, how would you dress (obviously wearing outdoor gear wouldn't go down well in an office setting where you're expected to wear a suit and tie or a skirt and high heels), cope with sweat and body odours (okay, you'll say use a bloody deodorant or something, but what if you're allergic like myself?), and ultimately catching cold and getting sick?
Like it or not, active travel just doesn't seem to work in the corporate world. But hey, we (stay-at-home translators) are housebound and doing our bit to the planet!
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