The UK’s top junior endurance runner has given up her dream to compete in the world cross-country championships in NSW because of the “grief” of air travel, which “explodes a person’s carbon footprint”.
Innes FitzGerald, 16, described the opportunity to compete for Great Britain in Australia as a “privilege” that would have been a dream come true earlier in her athletic career.
FitzGerald rose to prominence quickly after she smashed the UK under-17 women’s 3000-metre record with a 8:59.67 run time in Belfast in July, before blowing spectators and the athletics worlds away in the Mini London Marathon and Euro Cross trials in Liverpool.
But she said in her open letter to Athletics UK “I would never be comfortable flying in the knowledge that people could be losing their livelihoods, homes and loved ones as a result” and would be forfeiting her opportunity to run in Bathurst on February 18.
“The least I can do is voice my solidarity with those suffering on the front line of climate breakdown. Coming to a decision has not been easy, however little compares to the grief I would feel taking the flight.”
FitzGerald said she comes from a family of greenies who support her decision and who live in a passive house — a home with a lower ecological footprint — on a small property where they grow fruit and vegetables.
It’s not the first time the athletics world has been in an uproar over FitzGerald’s stance. After placing fourth in the European Cross Country Championships, beating older competitors by a wide margin, she hit the headlines for her unusual mode of travel.
It emerged the road and rail trip from her home near Exeter in Devon to Turin in Italy took more than 20 hours, including a coach to Lille and a train trip from Paris to Italy. She and her family rode fold-up bikes in between.
“Aviation is the most energy-intensive activity we can do and explodes a person’s carbon footprint,” FitzGerald said. “I don’t want that on my conscience.”
The true cost of a flight
Flying economy from Sydney to London return produces the same amount of greenhouse gas emissions as running the average air-conditioner during the day for 7133 hours.
The carbon footprint (or wheelprint) of the world’s aviation emissions in 2018 was double our entire country’s emissions — accounting for 2.4% of the world’s carbon, as The Australia Institute explains. That figure is on the incline, up by a third in five years.
That is the tip of the iceberg, however. Aviation emissions from water vapour, aerosols and nitrogen oxides at high altitude turbocharge global heating, being “two to four times greater than those of aviation’s CO2 alone”, according to the UN’s International Civil Aviation Organization.
And yet Australians increasingly get airborne in private jets instead of commercial carriers, with some companies reporting a 235% increase in bookings from 2019 to 2022. It follows record-low airline performance and sky-rocketing seat prices.
Data from the Department of Transport showed charter operators carried 319,837 people in September 2022 compared with 226,095 people in September 2019 — an increase of nearly 100,000.
What about that comforting box one can tick as they checkout with flights that reads “offset your flight emissions”? Consumer rights group CHOICE said the efficacy of carbon offsetting programs in reducing global emissions and tackling climate change is disputed by some NGOs. Critics say offsetting does little to curb emissions growth in carbon-intensive industries.
“The airlines’ first priority should be given to becoming less dependent on fossil fuels and directly cutting their own emissions,” CHOICE concluded.
Plus, it can be a minefield. Qantas, energy giant Origin and Zoos Victoria were told to investigate the rainforest carbon credits they offer after an investigation by The Guardian revealed 90% of non-profit organisation Verra’s credits were not only worthless — they’re making global warming hotter.
‘Champion for the earth’ not ‘the world’
Champions for Earth, an organisation for environmentally friendly athletes, applauded the pint-sized eco-warrior’s decision and added it was looking for sponsorship to cover the costs of eco-friendly travel for competitors.
“It is clear that Innes has the steely determination and focus, combined with the courage and clarity to face a reality quite different to athletes of previous generations,” it said.
“As a young person with Olympic dreams growing up during a climate and ecological emergency, she is balancing the dream of one day becoming a champion of the world, with a determination to be a champion for earth.”
FitzGerald’s successes at the Mini London Marathon and Euro Cross trials in Liverpool meant she qualified for the European under-18 championships in Jerusalem, but — citing the flight — she won’t go to that either.
Is this a worthwhile boycott? Will it achieve anything? Let us know by writing to letters@crikey.com.au. Please include your full name to be considered for publication. We reserve the right to edit for length and clarity.
