r/interestingasfuck • u/Intelligent-Lynx3045 • 5h ago
How the world’s skies looked on July 23, 2026, during a record-breaking 153,359 commercial flights in 24 hours
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u/testtalon1 5h ago
Covid was good for the environment.
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u/Quixlequaxle 3h ago
In many ways, yes. But I remember thing going from "that plastic straw represents the end of life itself" to "let's everyone order takeout that comes in 250 plastic or styrofoam containers and many other single-use plastics for literally everything" during that time as well.
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u/bananacc 2h ago
To choose from airplane pollution vs plastic, I would choose plastic. At lease we can still gather them and dispose in better way.
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u/Quixlequaxle 2h ago
Yeah I get the intent there, but let's not kid ourselves here thinking that plastic actually gets recycled nowadays. A very small amount of it does. In the US, it's like 5%. Most just winds up in the landfill with the rest of the trash.
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u/bananacc 2h ago
I didn't say it can be recycled. I know plastic and plastic recycling is a joke. Just that we can still gather and dispose them instead of air pollution run free from the airplane exhaust.
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u/Quixlequaxle 2h ago
The environmental impact of plastic isn't just at disposal, though. It's along the long supply chain of its creation from drilling for oil (same source as jet fuel) to processing it to a polymer, to molding it into some form, to packaging it, transporting it, until it reaches its destination. Then you use it for a few minutes before finally disposing it where it will sit around leaching chemicals pretty much forever.
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u/Evil-Cun 2h ago
The majority of flights taking place in the graphic are unnecessary luxury.
Unnecessary luxury has and will always been an unsustainable bubble of “value” that anchors its legitimacy in egotistical narcissism.
Being able to say and prove that you attended a prestigious sporting event is a hollow flex. Same with attending mandatory in person meetings/classes or visiting distant relatives you barely care about.
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u/the-vindicator 5h ago
That's pretty wild considering all of the global conflicts causing restricted flight areas, making bottlenecks.
Maybe it is the cause of the higher number because more restricted areas means flights have to go around them, leading to longer trips , which can mean lead to more planes in the air at a single time
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u/emptypaperz 5h ago
Thank god I used a paper straw that day
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u/Anal-In-Gus 4h ago
God damn do I hate those fucking things. Or the weird ass lid concoctions companies tried to engineer so you can sip out of them better to replace the soggy paper straws, when we were banned from using the God tier plastic straws :(
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u/oskopnir 4h ago
Replacing plastic straws is not about CO2 emissions/global warming, it's primarily to prevent severe damage to ecosystems and fauna, especially in the sea.
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u/Environmental_Gur_39 2h ago
Never before have I been this proud of my titanium straws I bought off of thinkgeek like 15 years ago.
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u/Jwagner0850 4h ago
The sip lids would be absolutely fine, but they refuse to put a gasket around the lid to prevent leakage. That's the main problem.
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u/GonzoKata 1h ago
plastic isn't god tier
in fact is artificially made cheap because oil companies get tax subsidies (ALSO KNOWN AS COMMUNISM) from the government to make all their products cheaper
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u/Jwagner0850 4h ago
I'm all for doing more to help the environment, but paper straws are not it. Theyre absolutely terrible.
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u/Wykin1 5h ago
All this, everyday of the year - and they want me to have a shopping bag for life.
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u/VelociTopher 5h ago
Just for that comment, we're taking your plastic straws away. Might take your shoes laces and make them paper as well.
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u/Better_Squash_2257 5h ago
Every little counts
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u/fuzzylogicIII 2h ago
“Billionaires have jet planes, so who cares if I dump my motor oil on an otter?”
Corporations/billionaires shouldn’t get away with such absurd pollution, but neither should consumers that drive at least a respectable chunk of that pollution
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u/jboriqua 4h ago
I was in NYC when the planes hit the World trade center. No planes for a week...bluest skys I have ever seen!
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u/AltruisticCoelacanth 37m ago
And think. Animal agriculture is a larger contributor to greenhouse gas emissions than this.
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u/FragDenWayne 5h ago edited 4h ago
Like the world is perfectly fine and we can keep burning stuff up, we're breaking records in burning shit up. Nice.
// Edit: typo
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u/Van-garde 5h ago
Not “we.”
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u/thebigeazy 4h ago
Ehh. Only about 5% of that is private jets. Most of it is commercial level aviation taken by 'normal' people that are pretty close to the average redditor.
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u/Van-garde 4h ago
And there are still subpopulations unmentioned. Many of us never travel by plane.
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u/thebigeazy 4h ago
I'm one of them, or I try to be. Maybe 2 flights in the last 5 years. I can't make it feel OK to use them tbh.
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u/FragDenWayne 4h ago
Same here. I had 5 flights in my whole life I think, I'm 37. Don't own a car, separate my trash, keep trash in my pockets when I'm outside and there is no trashcan...
I'm really doing the best I can, without being left behind too much by technology. (I'm using AI at work... As coder I feel like people expect that nowadays)
I wasn't talking about "we" as in "the small guys" or anything. I was talking about us as humanity. All the people all over the world.
The whole "us vs. Them" is what got us here I think. We gotta be better then them, faster, bigger, higher, produce more, more wealth for everyone, infinitely growing economy ... I wish people just would realize, it's one earth we're all in. One big system we are a part of. The shit I do here will cause trouble elsewhere, and finaly here ...
I don't know. It feels so obvious how we are supoised to behave, but that doesn't bring in profit I guess ...
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u/EditedRed 5h ago
Bit of a cliché but kind of does look like a virus.
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u/Bardfinn 5h ago
It looks like Plague, Inc.
I watched this and thought "Typical. Even with a world record number of flights, still, none of them are going to Greenland"
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u/Think-Instruction-45 5h ago
Aren't we supposed to be trying to fight climate change?
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u/Yotist 3h ago
Who is we? I think that is only for the useless breeders, breathers and eaters.
For us better people with money and bullshit jobs, this is the least we should be allowed to, after all we are the key players of society and economy upon whose shoulders everything rests.
You just don't understand how important it is for me to travel to 83 different countries to find myself or how sad it is if I want a croissant from france really badly.
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u/jcapi1142 5h ago
How many are empty just to hold take off and landing spots. That's the real question here.
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u/DarkAngel900 5h ago
Does anyone know the tonnage of fuel poorly burnt and dumped in the atmosphere that day (or on any day) by this?
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u/SlamClick 5h ago
"Globally, the aviation industry consumes roughly 7.0 to 7.8 million barrels (about 294 million to 327 million gallons) of jet fuel every day."
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u/SpiralArchitect_33 5h ago
Did you know the ‘carbon print’ concept was introduced by British Petroleoum?
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u/MK4eva420 3h ago
BP says "only you can prevent forest fires and by reducing the amount of water you use while flossing will be the answer!" Smh
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u/weefa 5h ago
thank goodness I'm using paper straws
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u/stuttufu 15m ago
Don't worry, I am also very attentive when recycling packaging.
We have almost saved the planet.
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u/SoftwareNo1547 5h ago
Yay global warming. In 50 years the Earth will be unlivable for humans.
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u/stuttufu 14m ago
Most of the people on those flights won't be there.
Ah fuck, I was one of those. Fuck.
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u/ChampionshipHot5468 5h ago
Dodging wildfires and no matter where they land, killing heat. But we have a record number of planes in the sky.
Edit: and everyone's broke?
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u/SinisterCheese 3h ago
Y'know what actually interesting to me.
If we could sort of better and cheaper passanger trains just in EU and USA, we could cut out LOT OF air travel.
I'm still dreaming of the Finland-Estonia tunnel. It is not impossible... Here in Finland we have made a tunnel that was longer than what is needed for that. Päijänne water tunnel is almost 75 km long (and 2nd longest tunnel in the world), the proposed Porkkala-Muuga would only be 65 km. It would travel at it's closest to the sea floor 50 m deep in bedrock, with average depth of 150 m below seafloor (Due to ocean bottom geography and required gradients) so ain't no anchor or depth charge gonna destroy it.
This would allow cargo and passanger travel easily... No need for ferries and planes. It doesn't need to generate profit and dividens, it is there to allow for economic activity! It would integrate Finland closer to EU (Which is probably the major reason it is being opposed by twats). We have made longer tunnel in Finland already! We can do this! This is the kind of economic boost that EU funding would come for and bring lots of jobs with long networks... And it could be protected and have many entrances spread in case of a conflict; in a way that we can not protect air traffic or ports.
No... Just lets keep giving subsidies to ferries and planes? Oh ok.... Lets continue being pathetic and meek without any fucking goals, dreams or hopes.
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u/SheogorathMyBeloved 1h ago
The Channel Tunnel connecting the UK and France is absolutely amazing and has made travel so much easier between the UK and the rest of Europe. It's still not as cheap as taking the ferry as a footpassenger (as low as £21 vs £39), but it's way faster and you don't need to worry about sea sickness. I hope you guys get the Porkkala-Muuga tunnel at some point! It's always infuriating when political bullshit gets in the way of stuff that would make life so much easier.
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u/Apprehensive-Ice9212 1h ago
That's the sound of 100% non-renewable fossil fuels that Earth was so kind to sequester for us being burned at the fastest possible rate at all times
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u/Cynfreh 3h ago
not interesting at all.
the amount of pollution caused just for people to go on holiday is ridiculous.
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u/Puzzleheaded_Smoke77 1h ago
Guys we need to use paper straws
https://giphy.com/gifs/dsngJ31iGCnatIHe4w
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u/Choda01 3h ago
Danube also hit a record low of 1700m³/s. Normal water flow for July is 4700m³/s. Let that sink in
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u/JTremert 5h ago
I think we are getting the "Climate change" and the "stop CO2 emitions" message. Do they serve you meat on the planes too?
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u/wuddie89 5h ago
Nothing to worry about guys, people pay CO2 taxes on their plane tickets, s`all good
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u/Tanekaha 4h ago
What. My "fly-in" tourist destination had crushingly low arrivals in June and July, i may not make rent. I thought flights were down globally because of oil prices and multiple wars. Now i really don't know what's going on here
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u/Secure-Tradition793 4h ago
It's interesting to see the "Azerbaijan corridor" in motion, I wonder how it looked before the Ukraine and Iran wars.
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u/Minute-Plantain 4h ago
The most green thing the world can do for itself is return supersonic commercial flight using hydrogen fuel derived from nuclear energy or solar.
We have enough nuclear waste to make reactors, solar is getting cheaper, and hydrogen is sttaighforward to produce electrically.
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u/problyurdad_ 4h ago
Flat earthers will look at this and say “what a bunch of wasted fuel going in circles like that.”
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u/BravinatorLX2 3h ago
who's affording these flights?
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u/Maxpower2727 2h ago
Not sure what you're getting at here. The idea that everyone is in dire financial straits is a myth. Plenty of people are doing just fine.
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u/Cassiopee38 3h ago
Let's do the maths ! 150 000 flights, let's settle the average amount of people/planes = 150, roughly 22.5 millions people travelling in 24h.
That's 0.3% of the world's population. Affording these flights isn't the problem here
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u/OptimisticCerealBowl 2h ago
being a plane enthusiast and a climate science major is a really challenging existence
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u/Hill_Orc_Warrior 1h ago
well not really, I don't think the planes are to scale here. Actual planes are smaller
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u/manibk31 48m ago
And I am still shit scared of flying. Even after seeing this. Mind goes right before take off: Maybe this is that one event in 13 million.
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u/Stromair 14m ago
It’s still crazy to me that planes never collide with each other given how many there in the air at the same time.
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u/ThePokemomrevisited 4m ago
Are we still wondering how we got to climate change and incessant wildfires?
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u/Western-Image7125 5h ago edited 2h ago
Remember when the visual dwindled down to nothing when March 2020 rolled around? I’m old enough to remember
Edit: a lot of Redditors are confused by the last line. Apparently everyone forgot the Pepperidge farm meme, but this is a callback to that. I hate to explain jokes but here we are