TagStay-Grounded(4)

A February 2024 fact sheet from the Stay Grounded network warns that aviation poses serious health risks not just for the climate, but for people living near airports, under flight paths, and for cabin crew. Aircraft noise is linked to cardiovascular disease, cognitive impairment in children, sleep disturbance, and premature death, while burning jet fuel releases ultrafine particles that penetrate the lungs and bloodstream. The report calls for stricter noise regulations, limits on flight growth, and a halt to airport expansion as the most effective ways to protect public health.

Aviation's climate impact is roughly three times greater than its CO2 emissions alone, because burning jet fuel at altitude also produces contrails, induced cloudiness, and NOx byproducts that add significant additional warming. A 2020 study by 21 leading scientists found that in 2018, aviation accounted for approximately 5.9% of all human-caused global heating when these non-CO2 effects are included. The fact sheet calls for immediate action including contrail-avoidance flight routing, cleaner fuels, stricter emissions regulations, and reduced air traffic overall.

The Stay Grounded network outlines 13 steps to reduce aviation's climate and community impacts, calling for a shift to trains and other low-carbon transport, an end to airport expansion, and the elimination of industry subsidies and tax breaks. The document highlights how airport noise, pollution, and land displacement disproportionately harm local communities and Global South populations who rarely fly. It also rejects carbon offsets and unproven technologies as false solutions, instead demanding binding emissions limits and democratic oversight of transport policy.