Reducing carbon emissions

To the Editor,

UNH students who share the concerns about the environment and sustainability represented in The New Hampshire's recent articles on the movie "Out of Balance" and on on-campus sustainability efforts (including The New Hampshire's new column on sustainability) will want to know about flying and their ecological footprint. The impact that they and their individual behavior have on climate change, on carbon emissions, and on the environment in general is huge every time they fly. Just one plane flight in a year to any destination, no matter how short the flight, gives them a much, much larger ecological footprint.

If we are serious about carbon emissions and doing something about climate change, we will have to accept a much smaller aviation industry, an end to growth of the airports and far fewer flights. There is no way around this. Sincerely, John E.Carroll Professor of Environmental Conservation Department of Natural Resources