Contrails Worse for Climate Change Than Planes’ Carbon Emissions

Air travel has come under fire for its potential contributions to climate change. Most people probably assume that its impact comes through carbon emissions, given that aircraft burn significant amounts of fossil fuel to stay aloft. But the carbon released by air travel remains a relatively minor part of the global output; The impact of planes results from where they burn the fuel, not the mere fact that they burn it. A study in the brand-new journal Nature Climate Change reinforces that by suggesting that the clouds currently being generated by air travel have a larger impact on the climate than the cumulative emissions of all aircraft ever flown.

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According to this article, the contrails caused by air travel actually have a greater effect on global warming than the carbon emissions.

I'm not really sure I agree with this because it doesn't really factor in the entire air travel picture. What about the carbon emissions created from building the aircraft? What about all the energy used by people taking other forms of transport to and from the airports? Surely the actual fuel being spent while the plane is in flight only makes up a small portion of the entire picture.

Just another reason to hate contrails now, isn't it.

I thought this was very interesting.

There is already a BAN thread here: www.abovetopsecret.com...

Which is fine because they are different forums but thought you might want to look at the discussion there...

reply to post by Jinglelord


Cheers for the linkback Jinglelord from your original thread.

I never was a chemtrail believer, and yeah my initial response has taken a bit of a different twist to yours.

I hope that this study can at least be useful to proponents of an international maglev rail system similar to what was proposed by the Venus Project/Zeitgeist movement.

Air travel is just too much of a necessity nowadays and sadly I don't see a fast way to restructure it. Even replacing every single jet in all fleets will take about 30 years.

reply to post by Nick_X


Personally I think the way we move everything with wheels and wings is completely outdated. I think you're right that the mag train tech might be the way to go for long distances. But even for short distances we need to rethink.

I'm not so concerned about the carbon emissions I'm just embarrassed that we are essentially doing the same thing we were 75 years ago.

reply to post by Jinglelord


It's easier to make money off of oil,gas,etc than it is off of more advance means of travel such as the magnetic train. The big heads only care about making money, not advancing us as a society.....sad but true.