Before going to bed, Bambi would like to quickly comment on similar articles she read in both English and French:
CTV news (English):
Globe and Mail (English):
La Presse (French):
Bambi has trouble imagining Canadians flying South to escape our harsh winter feeling ashamed to do so ?.
Anyhow, “Flygskam” (Swedish for “flight shame”) was surely the last thing on her own mind when she flew over three continents last December to see her family! On the contrary, Bambi felt grateful to have the chance to jump to Lebanon (and come back safe… in the hope of flying there again as soon as possible).
Of note, in an earlier post, she reported feeling somehow sad for Greta for missing out on the pleasures of flying in life (http://bambisafkar.ca/index.php/2020/01/03/a-friendly-wink-to-greta-t-even-if-the-middle-easts-problems-are-more-imminent-than-plastic-or-oil-gas/).
In Bambi’s opinion, what should matter to Canadian consumers more than “Flygskam” must be the sky-high prices of flying in our country.
Indeed, why is it so expensive to fly in Canada, Bambi has always wondered? This does not make any common sense. Why do we accept this as a society?
For example, it is not normal to pay more on flight connections from Moncton to Toronto than from a Canadian city to Europe OR within Europe OR even from Europe to the Middle East.
There has been an informative article on a news blogs in August, 2019 (https://www.mtlblog.com/news/canada/this-is-why-its-so-expensive-to-fly-in-canada) about the reasons for this absurd reality, with a powerful reflection by Dr. Gabor Lukacs and Mr. Massimo Bergamini: Is this due to high airport taxes? To too much “connections” between our federal government and the aviation industry? Or to rather the oligopoly of our aviation industry (Air Canada and WestJet)?
In a large country like Canada, citizens fly within the country, or abroad, for reasons related to business, family, or simply for tourism/pleasure. Many more Canadians would have loved to fly. “Flygskam” is not the barrier to their transportation. It is rather those absurdly high prices.
It is hard to imagine how such high prices can facilitate our economy. They may also prevent people from remaining connected to their loved ones.
The articles above inform us that European airlines “turn to carbon offsets, where they invest in projects such as wind farms and tree planting to compensate for plane-produced carbon dioxide”. This is noble, especially tree planting as it can reduce the risk of flooding.
To conclude this post, good for Greta if she feels better in life by not flying… Bambi just wonders how she feels about the 1000 private jets into Davos 2020 (World Economic Forum). Will these private jet flights carry participants suffering from acute “Flygskam” ??
