On a flight with Delta airlines, I was handed the following bag:
Filled with an eyeshade, body lotion, a toothbrush and toothpaste (labelled biodegradable) and earplugs. I'm guessing that only about half the people will use these things and then they will be thrown out. the other half will almost all use them once and then throw them out. So great, that the packaging is environmentally friendly, but they were still made in China, and that certainly does nothing for the 'carbon footprint' of the airline itself. Not to mention that they encourage passengers to take the inflight magazines with them when they leave = more printing and more trees clearcut and more waste! It's an industry that is impossibly carbon-neutral. BIG changes need to take place before I would call an airline 'green'. Yet these promoting themselves as such is all part of image marketing. Although as an environmentalist I cheer every little step towards change, and I truly believe every little bit counts, I am worried about environmentalism being a passing fad, a short-lived trend. Environmental awareness, and adapting behaviour according to environmental principles, requires a long-term internalisation, as if it were second-nature. (when it actually is first).
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