1) Do you know the 16-year old Greta from Sweden? And did you know there is a major climate change gathering, initiated by her next week in New York, starting at Union Square? Learn about her journey to New York by sailboat in this article (Links to an external site.). What do you think of her decision to travel by boat? Are you inspired by her work?
This is such a brave way to do for climate changing. Even though Greta is still young, the way she thinks about the future is so different from other kids or teenagers. I agree that traveling by boat is a good choice for reducing emission of gas, but I think time is another necessary condition to think about too. Some people need to save time to do something important for their personal lives and travelling by boat is just not that suitable for time-saving trip. Even though the entire future is more important for the entire human being, people have to take care of their own lives too. Unless there is new boat invented which has similar speed as plane without emitting toxic gas, I think more people would like to travel by boat. Everything often has two sides, and travelling by boat is an ideal plan for people who want to enjoy the view of the sea and also have plenty of time for travelling, but I do not think it will fit for business trips or long-distance trip.
I do feel inspired and feel surprised by her work through her way of pursuing her dream for creating a better future of humans. Sometimes for me, there is only idea in my mind, but I do not really make it come true in real life because it often takes lots of courage. I appreciate Greta’s passion for doing such a huge activity. The inspiration for me would be trying new ideas more bravely, when it will bring good results for surroundings. It is important to insist a faith and keep doing while influencing other people in a good way as well.
2) Air travel is of increasing concern for many people due to its environmental impact. Read the following article, “If Seeing the World Ruins it, Should We just stay home? (Links to an external site.)”- What do you think of this author’s feelings about travel? Would you consider carbon offsetting travel that you take in the future? What do you think of the practice of off-setting, do you think it’s effective?
After reading the article, I get the guilty feeling of taking planes to travel because of its huge gas emission. However, if people only take carbon offsetting travel, they could only hang out in the place close by. There are still many people who want to explore the world, and it is hard to make it without taking planes because it is the fastest transportation known so far. Also, there is one thing mentioned in the article by an expert that only when everyone on the earth stopped taking plane, it will be effective enough, which is definitely impossible for current society. For the off-setting practice, I feel like I can try to do it in a small area. For example, I only take public transportation for all the trip in a city instead of driving, but it’s hard to do between long-distances cities or countries. Uber in this case might not be a good option. People should try to walk more and take subway or buses more. It would be a bit effective which is better than nothing.
3) In contrast, consider the article, “Flight Shaming Won’t Work in Asia.” (Links to an external site.) What do you think of this perspective? What responsibility do you individuals have for the environmental impact of their travel? Do you think people should travel less?
It is true that nowadays young people or middle-age adults travelled a lot. For what I know so far, I think if Chinese choose to travel in our own country, many people would like to choose high-speed train instead of plane as a first option. The high-speed train has more stations in more cities and it’s more convenient than plane. However, there are many people who would like to take trips abroad, and plane seem to be the best choice to take. I know plane flying made lots of pollution for the earth, and I do feel bad about it. For the responsibility part, maybe people can think about more the local transportations when they are travelling. If they have to take plane to travel, then they can try to use the public transportation at the city for all the hanging out, which is, in a way, to control the emission of the entire trip into the lowest amount. I think people can travel more in our own country since China is so big, and mostly take the train to the destinations. I feel like nowadays Chinese are a bit passionate about traveling abroad which are usually longer distances, so finding more interesting places on our homeland and taking trains would be a better option I guess.
4) Design a systems map illustrating the systems involved in your last international flight (include at least 25 nodes on your map). What systems did your last international flight involve and affect?
I hope people could recognize about how much disposable plastic they used during one flight and try to think about how they could use less.
