5/18/2023 0 Comments Extinct tv pilotEspecially since half of those emissions are generated by 1% of the population," he said. "I was struck by the injustice of it all. He learned that the industry is responsible for more than 2% of global emissions and that of the 80% of people who have never been on a plane, many are disproportionately affected by climate change. He delved deeper into climate science and the carbon footprint of flight. Todd could no longer deny that he'd been in denial. He had, in seeing the mountain, been a "firsthand witness to the impacts of climate change and mass tourism." Becoming immersed in climate action Its glorious colors had previously been hidden under a blanket of snow, melted by warming temperatures. It was so beautiful, but we shouldn't have been able to see it at all." "There were people walking up and down it like ants. He recalled a bittersweet moment from a couple of years earlier when he had stood on the brightly colored Rainbow Mountain in Peru. The guide told us that Peru was one of the first places to be hit by climate change' Image: PrivatĪs he dug, he had a retrospective dawning of realization. "It really hit home." Hard enough to make him commit to veganism and start "reading up on climate science." When, in a strange twist of fate during his medical leave, a tick bite in a London park left him with Lyme disease and grounded for even longer, he began to dig deeper. Realising the climate injustice of flyingīut that began to change in 2018, when a gut inflammation forced Todd to take a break from the pilot's cabin. It was the last thing he wanted and he was so "desperate to get back to flying as soon as possible" that he accepted a doctor's challenge of trading his meat-eating habits for an almost exclusively plant-based diet.ĭuring this time, he watched a couple of documentaries that highlighted how animal agriculture damages the climate and environment. The last thing on his mind at that moment - or over the next three years as he flew vacationers across Europe and began climbing the ranks of his profession - were the greenhouse gas emissions the aviation industry generates annually. "The examiner said to me afterwards 'you're a credit to aviation and you're going to go very far in your professional career.' My mum and dad were there. nothing can ever really compare to be honest' Image: Privat 'Getting your hands on an actual jet was. Over five years, through a combination of his grandmother selling her house to move in with Todd's parents, them remortgaging their home and Todd using his own wages, he officially became a commercial pilot. When he decided to take out a bank loan to train for his private pilot's license, his family saw what it meant to him and rallied to raise the money for commercial training. It gives me this feeling of freedom and tranquility," he told DW. Instead, Todd went to London to become an apprentice electrician, and spent a few years moving from job to job - none of which came close to flying. He went twice a week for years, and though his enthusiasm remained very much alive, with an RAF career out of reach and without the €150,000 ($162,000) necessary to train as a commercial pilot, by the time he was 16 his dream of flying started to "feel like a distant reality." Scrap together the money for training As he got a little older, he started playing flight simulator games and by the age of 11 he was knocking on the door of the nearest branch of the air cadets asking them to bend their minimum age rules to let him join the squadron. It could have been a passing phase, but his young mind had been captivated. That was the beginning of my journey." He was 5. ![]() "I was just in absolute awe of these nine aircraft flying wing to wing. ![]() Not for Todd.įrom the moment he was taken to a watch a local Royal Air Force aerobatics display, he knew his future was written in the skies. For many, that's the challenge of a lifetime. Except, perhaps, his father's repeated insistence that he should choose a job he loves. Born into a family of modest means on the outskirts of London, Todd Smith didn't grow up taking much for granted.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |