Is sustainable air travel even possible?

What engineers from the dark corners of Reddit say

So much of who I am has been shaped by all the travel I’ve done.

Specifically - air travel, to places very, very far away from where I was born.

Oddly enough, I am so deeply passionate about sustainability thanks, in part, to airplanes.

If it weren’t for airplanes, I wouldn’t have been able to experience all the incredible ecosystems I’ve spent time in, and meet all the friends who taught me firsthand about climate change, who showed me how all of these issues translate in real life.

Given how polluting the aviation industry is, my love of and reliance on air travel obviously brings me great distress.

BUT:

I believe even the thorniest problems can be solved, right?

There are engineers, people who have immense technical savvy that I will never have, who understand how planes work, who certainly have thought about this, who certainly are already working on this, right?

Well.

Pre-pandemic I took to the dark corners of Reddit to r/AskEngineers to ask some smart, very technical engineers what they think about sustainable air travel.

This conversation left such an impression on me, and I’ve ended up sharing it with so many people who ask me about this, that I’m now sharing it with you here in this newsletter.

“Is sustainable air travel even possible?”

Before you dive into this, a couple caveats/ground rules:

1. This conversation happened on Reddit, so some of the account names were… suggestive in some way (you’ll see what I mean, haha, thanks Reddit), so I have to screenshot the conversation here so that this email actually gets to your inbox.

2. My favorite answer below is from the engineer with a name that sounds like… um… a home appliance company.

3. If the screenshots are too much, or if you’d like to click on something they’re linking to, you’ll have to read original conversation on Reddit. < Remember that this link is up here.

Wanna know if sustainable air travel is even possible?

Here we go friends:

“The aviation industry sucks at rapid changes.”

Learn something?

What do you think after reading this?

Do you agree or disagree with some of these engineers?

Is sustainable air travel even possible?

Love,

Jenna

P.S. Though we need to solve a lot of issues with it and make it more sustainable, I believe that travel can be a big force for good and human growth around the world.

I believe that travel can be so magical, that for every city that I travel to, I mail [original, illustrated postcards that are designed by cool local artists I meet and collaborate with], to [everyone who wants one around the world]. Would you like an actual postcard in your mailbox?