Are you suffering from flygskam?

I don’t know about the US, but a protest group called Extinction Rebellion is making the headlines here in the UK.

I have no interest in discussing climate change on these forums, but I have noticed that I have recently developed a guilty feeling over the amount of flying I do.

Since discovering WDW, I have gone from zero air miles per year, to around 18,000. Worse, they’re business class airmiles, which count for more in terms of environmental impact.

The Swedish have coined a term for how I feel: flygskam, pronounced “fleeg-skaam”.

I’m sufficiently selfish that I don’t think this will stop me from making twice-yearly trips to Orlando from Manchester. (Though my bankers and credit card providers may do so.)

And I’m sufficiently able to rationalise my actions that the guilt is partially assuaged. (Those of you who have children are causing vastly more environmental damage than I am. And I don’t have a car.)

I’m also beginning to suffer from meat-eater’s guilt. Not enough to become vegan, or even vegetarian, but I am at least aware of the downsides of eating meat. I rarely eat beef at home, but it’s a major part of my WDW diet. Disney seems to be picking up on this trend with its plant-based offerings.

Do any of these issues affect any of you?

To be clear, lest we all get into trouble, this thread is about how individuals feel about themselves. It’s not about judging other people, or discussing climate change per se. Vacationing at WDW often involves flying, and eating greedily is often a feature of the vacation.

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Crap. Planning my WDW vacation is my form of escapism. From many things in life including the guilt I feel about my environmental impact in other areas of my life.

Of course, it also takes up valuable time I could spend finding produce bags on Amazon. But then I feel bad about the impact of shipping those bags.

But then driving to a not- nearby store to buy them in person is also not environmentally friendly.

And, thus, I go around and around.

I am unlikely to stop flying to my vacations. Just not feasible in the limited time off I have.

But I would love to hear how other people mitigate their impact on our planet while vacationing. I clearly get myself into circular thinking and do nothing.

I’ll start. We carry water bottles everywhere. I have foldable bags in my park bag. Turn A.C. down when we leave for the day. Lights off. TV off if not specifically watching it. Reuse towels and refuse Mousekeeping. Travel mugs. Share food when we aren’t as hungry so we dont waste. This trip I vowed to not Uber. Those busses are running anyway. Might as well help fill them up. It’s not much but it’s something.

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Agreed. It is one of the main reasons we don’t cruise anymore. Have you considered buying carbon offsets or engaging in other activities to compensate? I try to make up for it in other ways. I still want to live my life, but with minimal impact on the planet.

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I do these same things, it’s part of everyday life now and I can’t imagine running the AC on an empty place whether it’s my house or a hotel room! Or washing towels every day.

I also agree about carbon offsets or just making a donation to something that seems worthwhile in this area.

We drive an EV, we’re getting solar panels, I do my best to grow our veggies at home (with varying success). I don’t choose express shipping even when it’s free. Overall my footprint is a lot lower than the average North American’s. Or so I tell myself when I buy plane tickets.

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Well…
I drive a van that gets 13 mpg.
I use paper plates for at least one meal a day if not even all three meals a day.
I often put cans and plastic containers in the garbage bin vs the recycle bin.
I keep my house at 70°F year round often running the heat and the AC in the same day.
I do not suffer from flygskam.

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snort laughs

There are some carbon foot calculators online that you can plug your info into and they will tell you ways to reduce your carbon footprint if thats something that would help. I mean that you dont drive is pretty big, I drive 300 miles + per week right now so we all have something.

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You can buy carbon offset credits when you fly Virgin if it makes you feel any better.

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What I learned from that site is that my four flights a year are equivalent to driving about 45,000 miles a year.

Really the only proper thing to do is to move to the magic. If I lived in Orlando it would greatly reduce my carbon footprint flying there 3x a year.

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:laughing: I was literally just on redfin looking at houses in Orlando for fun!

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Be careful, it’s a slippery slope! To further enable you because it’s one of my superpowers, dis unplugged has a “moving to the magic” you tube show/podcast. null - YouTube

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I will check it out! If you knew about the podcast, you must’ve been down this rabbit hole for awhile! :upside_down_face:

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For sure! The only thing that keeps me out of that rabbit hole is my husband. He has no interest in moving to FL. As much as I love Disney, he does come first :wink:

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Alligators.
Alligators will keep me from moving to Florida.

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So many rabbit holes with this topic!! I use resuable bags when I shop. According to a discussion between @heidelj and @ryan1 (I think it was you two), the energy and resources it takes to make those reusable bags far outweighs the energy it takes to make plastic bags. I am adamant about recycling, but recent articles have said that recycling plastic is a wasted effort. I very rarely buy non-organic food in an attempt to reduce the nasty chemicals in our environment, but apparently the stuff approved for organic farming can be really nasty too. I have cloth diapered all three of kids to reduce landfill waste, but then there’s all the water to wash them. We do save water by showering less than the average person, but that’s more about me being lazy!! All this to say, you always seem to be giving up in one area, just to gain in another. I wish the answers were more straightforward.

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I applaud Disney’s efforts in this regard.

I’ve long thought that hotel toiletries are horrendously wasteful, so the pump dispensers get my seal of approval. (Why don’t we just all bring our own stuff from home? Why do hotels even supply this stuff at all? After all, they don’t give you toothpaste, so why shampoo?)

And the paper straws are not as nice as plastic ones, but I totally get it and it’s not a huge sacrifice to make. Plus the technology (ha! I’m talking about paper straw technology!) will get better.

I also approve of getting rid of plastic bags. I like the new more robust, reusable ones. Though it’s slightly dodgy of Disney to see this as yet another profit centre.

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great topic!
I definitely suffer from it. The past two years I’ve flown probably more (to orlando) than I have in probably the first 20 of my life. I applaud Disney for taking these little steps to be more earth friendly, but feel they could be doing sooooo much more. There is so much plastic!!!
As for me, We bring our reusable water bottles (although I must admit I am one of those people who think florida water is horrendous, so we do buy bottled, and refill our reusable ones)
We have reusable straws,
I try not to eat too much meat (which is clearly offset by my husband, who eats mine and his fair share)
we recycle,
I bought reusable ziplocks, but I must say they don’t work very well locking so if anyone has a better suggestion, let me know
I buy cars that give me the best gas mileage (plan on a hybrid in the future)
I garden
in the past 5 years i’ve planted a peach tree, 3 apple trees and a balsam fir.
I never use pesticides or spray for mosquitoes/ticks
I try to plan bee loving, native flowers in my garden.
Hoping to already be passing these on to my daughter!!
It still boggles my mind how some people don’t think humans have such an effect on the environment, but that is a totally different discussion for a totally different non disney board.

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I argue with (and sometimes on the same side as) @ryan1 a lot, I can’t possibly be expected to keep track of all of them :grin:

I don’t worry about it or change my habits out of concern for the environment. I recycle because it’s theoretically a good idea if it keeps stuff out of landfills. I don’t litter and clean up trash when I see it because I enjoy nature and don’t want it spoiled.

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Good luck getting fruit without spraying. I also grow apples, peaches, cherries and pears. You’ll want a fungicide also.

Edit: I hope you don’t take that the wrong way, I really do wish you the best of luck, but growing tree fruit without treating for flying insects usually results in buggy/ rotten fruit.

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