Flying vs. Recycling: Travelers Get Climate Math Wrong

Skipping a long-haul flight does far more to reduce emissions than other choices, such as recycling – but most people don’t realize it. That’s the takeaway from a new paper from NYU researchers that included a survey of nearly 4,000 U.S. adults.

Participants were asked to rank actions by climate impact, as well as suggest solutions to help reduce emissions.

The results: Many participants overestimated the impact of low-impact behaviors such as recycling and underestimated high-emission behaviors such as avoiding long-haul flight