Coronavirus has put the kibosh on frivolous travel for the moment, but we might want to do some reflecting before returning to business as usual. Prior to the outbreak, you were constantly told to put on your traveling shoes, cue up some good music for a journey (no, not the band Journey), and pack your bags. As long as costs stay down, we can fly to any destination for any purpose. Is your third cousin’s niece performing in a school play in Omaha? Wanna see the Great Barrier Reef before climate change bleaches it into oblivion? Do you feel like crashing the party at an away game where your favorite pro sports team is playing? No problem. Hop aboard a jumbo jet, and, like Dr. Seuss, people cheer, “Oh the places you’ll go!” That’s the story of extreme travel in Crazy Town. But maybe this is the perfect time to start a new conversation about travel and begin aligning our actions with our values.
- The youth softball industry
- For most people, it is wiser to save for college than hope for a scholarship. Full rides are extremely rare, and most scholarships are partial and won’t pay back the investment in elite youth training.
- Flight shaming and air travel statistics
- How many planes are in the air at any given moment? About 10,000, carrying about 130 passengers each, or 1.3 million at a time.
- July 24th, 2019, saw the record number of flights, 224,000 in a day (for context, this is 29 million people flying in a day).
- Primary data source for flights
- Expected growth in air travel is incredible, on pace to double every 20 years (3.5% annual growth). Such growth would mean doubling the number of aircraft from over 22,000 in 2015 to over 45,000 by 2035, and increasing airline industry personnel by more than 2,000,000.
- Editorial on ecotourism, climate change, and reliance on tourism jobs
- The travel and tourism sector is now responsible for over 10% of Global GDP (nearly $9 trillion dollars and 319 million jobs).
- Growth in air travel and concern about reversal of that growth
Comments
Welcome to the new Resillience commenting system!
We have moved from the former Disqus commenting system to a new system as of September 10, 2026.
We made this change because of privacy concerns regarding Disqus. It's also part of a set of changes to bring more services to the Resilience community under a single login: commenting, (coming September 2026), and online courses (coming 2027). Unfortunately, your old Disqus comments may not reliably link to your account in this new system. Please contact us if you have any questions or concerns.