We were delighted to have Anna Hughes, Director of Flight Free UK with us on the evening of 10th August. Anna provided a fascinating talk about the impact of carbon emissions from flying and also inspired us in talking about the benefits of travelling by other means. During her talk, she informed us of the following statistics around flying

Did you know that -

One return flight to LA generates more greenhouse gas emissions than eating meat for a year
And that taking the train from London to Barcelona instead of a plane can cut your emissions by 91%
And while planes produce 0.16kg of CO2 emissions per passenger km, international trains produce just 0.01kg with a ferry producing only 0.02kg per passenger km.

One of the things that she mentioned was that Flight Free UK encourage individuals to do is to take a pledge to not fly for a year or more or to tailor a pledge to reduce their flying. She also said that there is a lot of information on their website to inspire people including podcasts from people sharing their adventures by sustainable, enjoyable means (see flightfree.co.uk).

After Anna spoke, we had a stimulating question and answer session with her and followed by that, attendees provided top tips for travelling by means outside of flying and provided recommendations of destinations that they had done. At the end, everyone was encouraged to put those details on our poster that currently is in the community space. If you want to add to this, please do come in the shop and post up your recommendations and suggestions. The poster will be in the community space until Friday 25th August. These details and top tips will be put in a subsequent blog.

Finally, Anna has recommended two books to inspire journeys, Lonely Planet’s Guide to Train Travel in Europe and Zero Altitude by Helen Coffey, both can be ordered in the shop.