We might have chosen to publish this at a different time: many of us are on edge following the recent accident at LaGuardia. The piece was already in the pipeline but, more importantly, the stress flight teams work under is an important part of the story, and it’s not a bad thing to have the reasons for the apparent reluctance outlined here flickering on our screens. Data scientist Hannah Ritchie, senior researcher at the University of Oxford, flagged research last fall showing that contrails, which are believed to contribute about 1% to 2% of human-caused global warming, could be cut by up to 80% cheaply, and with immediate benefits. In that piece she noted that no matter what we do, […]