Stories

What makes people choose not to fly? What is it like to live flight-free? Here you can read the stories of people who have decided to stop flying altogether, or who have signed up to one of our Flight Free campaigns. Feel free to share them, reading about others who are going flight-free is an effective way to encourage more people to do so. 

Would you like to share your story? We want to include as many different perspectives as possible. Write a text of about 300 words and send it together with a photo of yourself to info@westayontheground.org.

Elaine, Ireland

Elaine, Ireland

I previously lived for almost 20 years in Tanzania, and flew home to visit family and friends in Ireland once every one or two years, so I have had a very bad carbon impact in my life for that reason ... Read More
Stefan Müller, Germany

Stefan Müller, Germany

As of August the 5th, 2019 I decided to not fly anymore. Not at all. No private flights, no business flights. Until it is possible to fly CO2 neutral. I stopped private flights in 2008 as it became increasingly clear ... Read More
Angela Deegan, Ireland

Angela Deegan, Ireland

At COP26, the UN Secretary General told us “Our fragile planet is hanging by a thread. We are still knocking on the door of climate catastrophe. It is time to go into emergency mode - or our chance of reaching ... Read More
Bernhard, Germany

Bernhard, Germany

I used to fly quite a lot because as a scientist, I am used to going to conferences, visiting other institutions etc. Also, my family is spread out around the world. I always felt bad about my climate impact, but ... Read More
Syd, Ireland

Syd, Ireland

I have been in the habit of going to a chess tournament in October in Mallorca, previously flying from Cork. This year the need to find an alternative took hold, and after hours of research on the internet, a new ... Read More
Pike, Malawi

Pike, Malawi

I have a passion about nature; I am a Climate Change and Environmental activist in Malawi. Flying takes a lot of energy. Burning jet fuel releases a lot of greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide into Earth's atmosphere and oceans ... Read More
Fanny, France

Fanny, France

THE BEGINNING// I made the decision to stop taking planes in June 2019. I deeply care about the environment and the future of the planet, and staying passive is not a solution... I wanted to feel aligned with my values! ... Read More
René, Netherlands

René, Netherlands

Joining the campaign was quite easy for me, because I have been worried about climate change and other crises related to our human behaviour for several years now (and I have known about it since the nineties). I used to ... Read More
Ulrich, Germany

Ulrich, Germany

My name is Ulrich Wolf. I live in Saxony, Germany, with my wife, children and grandchildren. My last flight was in 2005 with my wife. The stress around flying was uncomfortable for us. I had concerns about travelling to a ... Read More
Vipul, UK

Vipul, UK

When I realised just how fragile a state our world is in, I tried lots of things to reduce my impact, and the easiest, and best, decision I made was to stop flying for holidays. Now the journey is part ... Read More
Bilal, Morocco

Bilal, Morocco

I am Bilal from Morocco. For me, not flying is not a big step. I have never been on a plane before so I will not be flying this year, either for work or on vacation, as I have always ... Read More
Flip, Belgium

Flip, Belgium

As a young boy I was privileged to see a lot of our beautiful world. The Philippines, Indonesia, Japan and Malaysia, and also Russia, the Middle East and the US. All faraway places. In those days these destinations were highly ... Read More