Plane Stupid Polar Bear Commercial

In an analysis of this video by NPR's "All Things Considered," Andrew Revkin addresses that the claims made by Plane Stupid are true, but more importantly asks whether the analogy is strong enough to influence people to change their minds to begin with. Are polar bears the strongest metaphor of the impacts of excessive greenhouse gas emissions and climate change? Meaning, can people really relate to the polar bears of the Arctic, when most people will never set foot on Arctic tundra? Possibly, to most people, the Arctic will only be a place they visit in their minds. Unless people are exposed to videos, programs, and movies such as those seen on PBS or the National Geographic Channel, the general public might not consider their everyday consumer choices, or use of air travel to commute, as the video targets, to be affecting the arctic.

What other analogies could be drawn to the carbon emissions from air travel, and how would they be illustrated?

(While it is true that current air travel carbon emissions are less than a few percent of all emissions globally, when the world population reaches 9 billion people in 2050, how will all of those people choose to traverse our tiny, pale blue dot?)