It’s my first day back at work after a wonderful vacation, and I wanted to jump in feet first and address an issue we care a great deal about! Malte and I spent three weeks in the States with my parents and brother and while I didn’t get around to talking about it much before we left, the fact that we had to take a plane to get there is something that we’ve been thinking and talking about a lot. Now let me preface this post by saying that like with many other things, I do think that when talking about a sustainable lifestyle, it’s very important to acknoledge that we’re all constantly learning and to not get discouraged. Everything is a work in progress, no one is perfect or able to choose the most sustainable option 100% of the time, and every step in the right direction is important. Another thing I want to add is that the impact of planes on the climate is complicated and there are still questions left to be answered, but that shouldn’t stop us from caring about the negative effects that we do know about. For us, there are a few experiences we would consider flying for – such as this trip that our family has been wanting to do together for the better part of the past 10 years – but we never take the decision lightly. Whenever there’s a reasonable alternative, which is pretty much always the case within Europe, we use other forms of transport, and we’re lucky to be in a position where our family and friends all live within a distance that doesn’t require flying. Read on to find out how flying compares to other personal lifestyle decisions in terms of its impact on climate change, what we can do to slightly lessen the harmful impact when we fly and our plans for next year!