Cayley Burton: Burning the midnight fossil fuels
Credit to Author: Stephen Snelgrove| Date: Sat, 12 Oct 2019 01:00:54 +0000
Recently, and somewhat unexpectedly, my partner and I booked a last-minute trip to Alberta from Vancouver, where we both live and attend post-secondary institutions. Although the social motivations for making this trip — attending two celebration of life events — far outweighed its financial costs, the environmental considerations attached to the available travel options caused us a bit of a panic.
In planning this trip, the sharp contrast between the limitations of a student budget and the felt urgency of the climate crisis became acutely apparent. To fly or not to fly — because we need to save the planet — became the pressing question to which we couldn’t land on a satisfying answer.
As millennials, we are inundated with the pressure to make sustainable consumerist choices in an effort to (literally) save the planet. In an article recently published in The Beaverton, it was jokingly argued that, before millennials can even begin to save for retirement, they will have to prevent the planet from becoming uninhabitable first.
In order to mitigate and hopefully lessen the severity of impending and unfolding climate catastrophes, the decision to drive or fly from our home province to the neighbouring one began to feel increasingly weighty, both in terms of our global responsibility and the economic tangibility of being university students.
For many millennials, the financial implications of living in a late-capitalist society means that choosing to be environmentally friendly isn’t always economically feasible. At times, it remains completely impossible.
The more passengers per fossil fuel-burning vehicle, the more environmentally friendly and economically accessible the journey. Even though it takes less time and is more convenient, flying short distances is very unsustainable, due to the large amount of oil required and the nitrogen, sulphur, and carbon emitted into the atmosphere during take-off.
In a country as large as Canada, there are woefully limited options for sustainable travel, especially since Greyhound folded in Western provinces last fall. Ultimately, deciding to rent a hybrid vehicle with low mileage to travel from Vancouver to Calgary ended up costing more than twice that of two plane tickets, including refuelling costs, car insurance, and winter tire installation (something required by law in B.C.).
Being environmentally friendly is a lot easier if you have access to resources like disposable income. There are more choices available to individuals who can afford to spend more money in performing their environmental ethic. This is what economic researchers, environmental scientists, and Indigenous leaders have been telling us for decades. The vast majority of responsibility for simultaneously protecting and devastating the planet and its resources lies in the hands of the ultra-rich and super-powerful, both on individual and systemic levels.
In order for individual consumerist choices to make a significant and positive impact in the sustainability movement, environmental options need to have economic incentives alongside the ethical imperative to act with urgency. This means that eco-friendly purchasing options must be made commonplace and available to people of all income levels, so that sustainable solutions can be achieved despite the lining of our wallets.
My partner and I will be 38 when the “12-year” tipping point referenced by Greta Thunberg, Autumn Peltier, and other young climate activists comes to a close. The collaboration between economic and environmental buying power needs to be an election priority, considering that millennials are now the majority voting demographic, and also the ones who must innovate before it’s too late. How can we economically and justifiably invest in our future when the future of the planet is at stake?
Although driving through B.C. and Alberta took about 12 hours — instead of the hour and a half by plane — the golden leaves of the trees parallel to the highway were encouraging. As a society, we’d do well to change like the trees in ways that benefit all generations, and not just the wealthiest few.
Cayley Burton is a graduate student in the faculty of education at the University of B.C.
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