The Virus and the Elephant in the Room: Knowledge, Emotions and a Pandemic—Drivers to Reducing Flying in Academia

AbstractThis chapter explores individual incentives and barriers to reducing air travel, with the focus on people who have taken a decision to reduce flying due to climate change. During the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, six semi-structured interviews were performed with academics—three who had already cut down on flying and three who were grounded due to the pandemic. They were compared with a set of interviews with 26 Swedish citizens, performed in 2017–2018, which had shown that internalised knowledge of climate change was an important driver to change behaviour. Awareness led to negative emotions and a personal tipping point where a decision to reduce flying was made. However, among these interviewees, even people with a strong drive to reduce flying felt trapped in practices, norms and infrastructures. The academics reported similar incentives and barriers as the broader group but also specific challenges for them as researchers. Surprisingly, the pandemic was perceived as a testbed for new travel habits, and not as a big obstacle for their scientific work. None believed that they would return to an equally aeromobile lifestyle, and two of them described it as a chance to reconcile habits with their pro-environmental values.