During my flight from Kamloops to Calgary early Friday morning, I witnessed a spectacular sunrise. It gave me a chance to ponder the environmental impact of air travel, and how reducing our footprint is a challenge for those of us with faraway loved ones.

Welcome to week 42 of The Sunday Spark, a series with weekly thoughts and highlights, nuggets of learning, and a sustainable living tip for the week. In addition to the balance between air travel and seeing our faraway loved ones, this week I’ve got some trivia facts, and a look at carbon offsets for air travel.

The Sunday Spark – Week 42

On my mind this week: Visiting faraway loved ones

And just like that, my week in British Columbia with Laura is over and I’m on my way home. As I watched a brilliant sunrise on the horizon, and spectacular Rocky Mountain views below, from my seat on the small plane from Kamloops to Calgary, I pondered the environmental impact of air travel.

I’ve always loved flying. When I was young, I applied for a job as a flight attendant with one of Canada’s charter airlines. After making it through a couple of rounds of interviews, the airline was sold to one of the large national carriers, so I didn’t get the job. It wasn’t meant to be.

The impact of flying

These days, I feel a twinge of guilt every time I board a flight. I know flying is horrible for the environment, yet here I am on a plane again. I’ve travelled a lot in 2023, but until the last few weeks all of my travel has been work related. Since mid-October, I have taken two personal trips—one to England to visit my sister, and this trip to British Columbia to see my daughter Laura.

It’s difficult when our loved ones are so far away. Before October, I hadn’t seen my sister in nine years. Because of the distance that separates us, we’ve spent very little time together over the course of our lifetimes. As we’re getting older, I realize how much we’ve missed out on.

When my daughter Laura moved to British Columbia in the summer, the only way I could bear her living 4,000 kilometres away was to plan a visit.

From an environmental point of view, it’s hard to justify the flights. But my heart doesn’t give me any option. I can’t imagine not seeing my daughter or my sister again. Video calls are great, but they just don’t match up to being together face to face.

For now, I’ll continue to reduce my footprint in other areas of my life—and hope the airlines find a way to become more sustainable. (See Green travel tips to reduce your carbon footprint for ways to reduce the impact of your travel.)

With my last trip of the year out of the way now, I’m looking forward to a few months at home. No more travelling for me until spring!

Let’s keep in touch! Join my mailing list and I’ll email you when I add a new post.

Three highlights of the week

It’s important to celebrate big milestones and simple pleasures in life. Spending the last week with Laura has been wonderful. Here are three highlights and simple pleasures of the week:

• On Saturday, Laura and I saw the Jonas Brothers in concert in Vancouver. The concert was excellent—and it was made even more special when Michael Bublé popped up on stage for a song.
• We spent a lovely day on Monday with my cousin and his wife. We explored Kamloops a little, went to a wine tasting at a local winery, and had dinner at their place.
• A highlight of the week was seeing my grand-kitty, Luma. She has grown a little since she left Ontario in October. Like all kittens, she’s very mischievous but so soft and cuddly, too.

Three things I learned this week

I didn’t have time for much learning this week, but Laura and I joined my cousin and his wife for a trivia competition at a local bar on Wednesday night. Our team came in 5^th place. Like most trivia, I’ve forgotten most of what I learned but here are three things that I remember.

• The Lion King is the top grossing Broadway show of all time.
• Despite being an island, Greenland has points further north, south, east, and west than its closest neighbour, Iceland.
• Rayon is made from regenerated cellulose.

Sustainable living tip: carbon offsets

Have you ever purchased a carbon offset for a flight? I haven’t, but it’s something I’m considering for any personal travel in the future.

In short, carbon offsets are a way to compensate for the environmental impact of a flight by paying a surcharge to invest in carbon reduction projects.

This is something I plan to research, and I’ll share my findings in a future blog post. Until then, this article from National Geographic is a good overview of how offsets work.

I’d love to hear what you think about any of this week’s topics. Drop me a comment below and let me know your thoughts and ideas.