[port11]

It’s a privilege with most externalities _not_ taken into account, i.e. it’s hurting us all because we ignore its true cost and make it available in vast quantities.

Since the global South will suffer the most from climate change, they might disagree with developed nations ‘subsiding’ flights.

[dbspin]

The phrase the global south elides the fact that those countries are far higher in inequality than the West. Wealthy elites being the only ones able to travel isn't a solution to climate change, it's a recipe for a degree of social control we haven't seen in a century. We can fight climate change, and increase mobility, standard of living and freedom for all. There is an enormous amount of low hanging fruit here - from switching to renewables, to moving militaries off gas and oil, to switching cargo ships to renewable energy. Trapping humanity in their nation of birth shouldn't be the go to first step. The consequences of that degree of social control aren't being allowed for here.

[port11]

I agree with all your points, except that 1) people can travel through other means, and 2) people can travel less. I have plenty of acquaintances that could do with a bit of discovering theirs and nearby countries by train, and perhaps fly half as much as they do (6-10 return flights per year for mini beach vacations).

[dbspin]

Way too many people put themselves in the position of proposing reducing the liberty of others, while unconsciously assuming their own liberty won't be significantly curtailed.

I live on an island, and it's literally only now, in my late forties that I'm earning the kind of money that allows me to travel moderately. If you tire of the privilege, feel free not to. For me it's perhaps the one aspect of modernity that unarguably better than the past, the thing we get in return for global homogeneity.

You think people resent the rich now? Imagine how resentment would grow under an enforced localism. Imagine how much bigotry would increase.

Cosmopolitanism is real! People who travel are more tolerant, less supportive of war, and better informed. The world isn't a virtuality to them, it's a set of places they have visited or may visit. Peoples they've known or may yet know.