My goal for my passion blog this semester is to share my favorite positive news stories of the week and offer insight as to why I think they are important. Every time I read or watch the news, all that seems to be covered is topics such as war, death, political gridlock , and other things that highlight the worst parts of our world. While these are important matters sometimes it is important to remember that there are people that are making efforts to impact those around them in a more positive way. I want to share and give my opinions on these people because sometimes it is nice to appreciate the good that we still have in the world.
With that being said, the first news story of the semester I would like to highlight is that Airline jet Blue Jet Blue is the first major airline to announce they will officially be going carbon neutral in 2020, in attempt to reduce their contributions to climate change. “This expansion is expected to offset an additional 15-17 billion pounds (7 to 8 million metric tons) of emissions per year—the annual equivalent of removing more than 1.5 million passenger vehicles from the road” (goodnewsnetwork). They are accomplishing this goal by implementing new engine technology and working with organizations like ecoact . More information on the full story can be found here.
Battling climate change has proven to be one of the most overwhelming and challenging issues of the genre. Often times people are encouraged to reduce their personal amount of waste by doing things such as using reusable straws, and while it is important to be aware of our own impacts on the environment, I understand why people can feel as if their efforts are minuscule in comparison to what really needs to be done to improve the current circumstances. Also, not everybody is in a place financially where they can make dramatic changes to their lifestyle such as buy an electric car. It is encouraging to see major corporations such as Jet Blue making the efforts to reduce their carbon footprint because of how much the airline industry has an effect on the gases omitted into the sky. Often times people think of corporations as only caring about their profits, but Jet Blue has proven that they are able to make investments that not only improve their company, but the condition of the globe as well.
This blog idea is really captivating! Now that you say it, there are rarely positive stories on the news, so I definitely am looking forward to reading your posts. This post specifically caught my eye because I am very passionate about sustainability, and am aware of the large carbon footprint left behind through the aeronautics industry. With a large airline making this commitment, I hope that many of the others will follow suit. This movement is vital to the environmentalism movement of a whole.