I vowed not to fly for tourist reasons, until we have electric planes. This trip was for family reasons. My daughter wanted her husband and her daughter to meet family and asked me to accompany her. She last saw them when she was a teenager. It's good that I went. I was able to live for a couple of weeks with my mom who is getting very fragile. I was able to show a bit of Poland to my daughters and their partners.
Before the trip I subscribed to Make Sunsets who cool the Earth by sending sulphur dioxide (SO₂) to the stratosphere using weather balloons. One gram of sulphur released in the stratosphere (20 km above the surface near the equator) counteracts, for one year, radiative forcing of one ton of carbon dioxide (CO₂) released in the troposphere. Some volcanic eruptions do that too. As a result of Mount Pinatubo eruption in 1991 average global temperature dropped by 0.6 C for 15 months. I paid for 90 grams of SO₂, to counteract the warming caused by 90 tons of CO₂ for one year. My flights emitted about 7.6 tons of CO₂. Large scale Stratospheric Aerosol Injection (SAI) should already be happening as a stop-gap measure to prevent climate tipping points. The future will tell if we were smart enough to do it.
Regarding passenger electric planes, there is progress, but it is slow. The promising Swedish startup Heart Aerospace moved to California and pivoted to a hybrid (petrol/battery electric) 30 seater ES-30 with maximum range of 800 km in hybrid mode with 25 passengers and 200 km range with 30 passengers in all-electric mode - to be ready in 2029. Dutch company Elysian is much less advanced, but much more ambitious - they want to fly a 90 passenger, 800 km range, all-electric E9X in 2030.
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