Is Air Travel a Sin?

I travel a great deal and someone recently told me all my air travel is irresponsible because of the damage it does to the environment. Last year I went to New Zealand, Italy, Japan, Thailand, Canada, Malaysia and Israel. Was this responsible behavior? Is air travel a sin?

The bishop of London, Richard Chartres definitely thinks so. In the Daily Mail newspaper he says flying to foreign countries for holidays is a sin just as surely as lying or adultery. He claims that "There is now an overriding imperative to walk more gently upon the earth and we need to make our lifestyle decisions in that light."

There are people who need to fly in order to do their jobs. I know the president of a national professional organization who must constantly be in the air winging her way across the country to lend concrete support to the various branches of her organization. She has to travel to foreign destinations to establish and maintain open lines of communication with professionals in other countries. It would be very difficult for her to do her job without air travel.

My trip to Israel was with 24 students I chaperoned on a learning tour. I'm a teacher and that trip was work related so I'm going to try not to feel too guilty about it. Since I write about my travels in many different publications I guess really all my holidays could be considered work related. Perhaps I shouldn't feel guilty about any of them.
There are people who need to fly in order to be with their families. One website calls air miles used to visit family members 'love miles' and claims that travelers toting up 'love miles' should be exempt from guilt. I often travel to see my parents, siblings and children. Is that justified?

There a couple of other factors that make me feel less guilty about my extensive air mileage use. I live in a city with a great transportation system so I don't own a car. I walk or take public trains and buses everywhere I go. I've saved untold amounts of carbon emissions by doing that. I've also become a much more educated and aware global citizen because of what I've seen and experienced on my travels. I think that counter balances some of the damage I've done to the environment.

I talked to a man who told me he had not flown on an airplane for three and a half years. He claimed it made him feel more connected to creation and less guilty about the collateral damage of oil wars. He has started a Demotorize Your Soul campaign that encourages people to adopt a saner life style by avoiding air travel and vacationing within a hundred miles of home.

I think he makes a good point, but right now while I am healthy and have the financial resources to travel, I don't think I have the will power to curtail my yen for foreign adventure. Yes, I could be sinning, but every time I remember my wine tasting tour in New Zealand, seeing Michelangelo's David in Florence, swimming in the Dead Sea in Israel and watching the cherry blossoms bloom in Japan I'm not sorry about sinning. I'm going to try and feel a little healthy guilt the next time I travel but not enough to spoil my holiday.

Related :http://fruitjuice.blog.com/ Hight Quality and Cheap vegetable juicers Deals an