I love to fly, but worried about polluting

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Overhearing that one way to go greener that I've seen in most "go-green" websites was to cut down on flying, use telecommunications(a.k.a. Skype) instead. But as an aviation lover, it's proving a hard time for me. I don't get to fly that often, but I still love to see the world from a bird's perspective. I care about having clean air, clean water too, and I've been adapting a lot of things that has really lowered my own carbon footprint by a lot. I walk a lot, take public transport, but as for flying is another story.

Do you fly purely for transport or also for fun or sport?

A fully loaded A320 gets a similar number of passenger miles per gallon as a small car with one occupant. It can't compete with rail or buses or course.

Gliders use no fuel at all once they are in the air, and microlights have very low fuel consumption. If you fly for fun you might find that the incidental fuel consumption (eg driving to the airfield) costs more fuel than the flight. Then there's the manufacturing cost of the aircraft. Aircraft have a very long life (40 plus years) compared to cars, and most cars are responsible for as much carbon dioxide during manufacture as they will produce in service - hence debates about the merits of hybrids versus small turbo diesels.

And if you eat meat, that's quite a bit of carbon dioxide as well. So go veggie, take public transport to the airfield and fly an aging microlight.

At the moment transport, but I don't do it often...

I'm a pilot and I want clean air and water as much as anyone. We need to take care of the environment and be responsible stewards of our earth. But - this carbon issue is blown way out of proportion. There is no need to feel guilty about flying, if you love flying, just do it and have fun.

Plus -it sounds like you are doing more than enough in other ways to offset your carbon footprint, if you need more assurance. I know you want to do the right thing and I respect that, just don't fall captive to an out of control environmental agenda that wants to make you feel guilty for even being alive.

Just go for it. There's no point dying unhappy with a breath of minutely clearer air in your lungs. Don't be wasteful, but I don't think you should repress yourself either.