美国国家公共电台 NPR--Private jet travel is one of the most carbon-intensive things a person can do

Private jet travel is one of the most carbon-intensive things a person can do

Transcript¹

Private jet flights have increased at a Los Angeles area airport that caters² to wealthy travelers. Fumes³ affect the working-class neighborhood. (Story aired on All Things Considered on Dec. 26, 2022.)

A MART?NEZ, HOST:

The pandemic forced airlines to reduce flights. But there’s been an explosion in private jet travel. As Caleigh Wells from member station KCRW reports, these luxury trips come at the environmental expense of people living near airports.

(SOUNDBITE OF JET FLYING OVERHEAD)

CALEIGH WELLS, BYLINE⁴: The wealth gap is especially visible here in Van Nuys, a dense⁵, working-class neighborhood, home to one of the busiest general aviation airports in the country. Among those protesting the increased flights here is sociology professor Karen Morgaine.

KAREN MORGAINE: You have the 1% using this airport in a working-class neighborhood, disproportionately affecting the environment right now in this neighborhood, in addition to increasing the impact on the climate.

WELLS: Although it's convenient for the wealthy, private jet travel is also one of the most carbon-intensive things a person can do, spewing about two metric tons of carbon every hour. The people living in Van Nuys are mostly renters, majority Latino. And households here typically make less than $60,000 per year. That's roughly the cost of a round-trip private flight from LA to New York. Suzanne Gutierrez-Hedges lives nearby. And she's worried about how those flights are affecting her kids' health.

SUZANNE GUTIERREZ-HEDGES: Just this morning, as we were walking outside to take my kids to school and getting in the car, I was like, cover your nose. Run to the car. Get in the car. Shut the door. We couldn't breathe because of the jet fumes. And it happens all the time.

(SOUNDBITE OF JET FLYING OVERHEAD)

WELLS: Gutierrez-Hedges recorded the jets flying over her daughter's school one day. She counted four of them in nine minutes.

(SOUNDBITE OF JET FLYING OVERHEAD)

WELLS: KCRW contacted 11 jet companies operating out of Van Nuys multiple times. Two declined to comment. The rest never responded. The Van Nuys Airport supports 10,000 jobs and says it contributes more than $2 billion to the area economy. Earlier this year, it improved the runway and let private companies build new hangars, so traffic has increased. But Samantha Bricker with Los Angeles World Airport says the air traffic itself isn't in the airport's hands.

SAMANTHA BRICKER: We can't regulate the number of flights coming into Van Nuys. We can't institute a cap. We have no ability to close down the airport at a certain hour. Those are just things that are not allowed under FAA regulations.

WELLS: The FAA said in a statement that they work with airports to address community concerns. They also said they'd review plane operation restrictions⁶ at Van Nuys if Los Angeles World Airports ever proposed any. The airport is offering cleaner jet fuel and requesting that planes not fly at night to curb⁷ noise and pollution, but those moves are only voluntary. So just how bad is the air in Van Nuys? Actually, we don't know. Bricker says the latest local study on the airport was done 17 years ago. And there's no plan to do another one.

BRICKER: Most of the pollution was coming from roadway vehicle emissions⁸ as the highest source of pollutants⁹. And it was not the aircraft. And so there has not been a need for a new study because the feeling was that the findings for that study are still relevant.

WELLS: The airport makes that argument even though private jet travel has increased 15% since the pandemic, and cars have gotten cleaner. The EPA did study toxic¹⁰ lead levels five years ago. Van Nuys was the seventh-worst airport in the country, with more than twice as many people living nearby than any of the other most polluted airports. Only the federal government can regulate airplane emissions, and those don't go into effect until 2028. But resident Susanne Gutierrez-Hedges says she and her kids couldn't leave this polluted neighborhood even if they wanted to.

GUTIERREZ-HEDGES: And where would we move to? Like, we couldn't afford another house here in Los Angeles.

WELLS: Because like a lot of people in Southern California, the only home she can afford here is the one she already has.

For NPR News, I'm Caleigh Wells in Los Angeles.

(SOUNDBITE OF VIVID LOW SKY'S "LOW FLYING PLANES")

1 transcript   

n.抄本，誊本，副本，肄业证书

参考例句：

• A transcript of the tapes was presented as evidence in court.一份录音带的文字本作为证据被呈交法庭。
• They wouldn't let me have a transcript of the interview.他们拒绝给我一份采访的文字整理稿。

2 caters   

提供饮食及服务( cater的第三人称单数 )； 满足需要，适合

参考例句：

• That shop caters exclusively to the weaker sex. 那家商店专供妇女需要的商品。
• The boutique caters for a rather select clientele. 这家精品店为特定的顾客群服务。

3 fumes   

n.(强烈而刺激的)气味，气体

参考例句：

• The health of our children is being endangered by exhaust fumes. 我们孩子们的健康正受到排放出的废气的损害。
• Exhaust fumes are bad for your health. 废气对健康有害。

4 byline   

n.署名；v.署名

参考例句：

• His byline was absent as well.他的署名也不见了。
• We wish to thank the author of this article which carries no byline.我们要感谢这篇文章的那位没有署名的作者。

5 dense   

a.密集的，稠密的，浓密的；密度大的

参考例句：

• The general ambushed his troops in the dense woods. 将军把部队埋伏在浓密的树林里。
• The path was completely covered by the dense foliage. 小路被树叶厚厚地盖了一层。

6 restrictions   

约束( restriction的名词复数 )； 管制； 制约因素； 带限制性的条件（或规则）

参考例句：

• I found the restrictions irksome. 我对那些限制感到很烦。
• a snaggle of restrictions 杂乱无章的种种限制

7 curb   

n.场外证券市场，场外交易；vt.制止，抑制

参考例句：

• I could not curb my anger.我按捺不住我的愤怒。
• You must curb your daughter when you are in church.你在教堂时必须管住你的女儿。

8 emissions   

排放物( emission的名词复数 )； 散发物（尤指气体）

参考例句：

• Most scientists accept that climate change is linked to carbon emissions. 大多数科学家都相信气候变化与排放的含碳气体有关。
• Dangerous emissions radiate from plutonium. 危险的辐射物从钚放散出来。

9 pollutants   

污染物质（尤指工业废物）( pollutant的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Pollutants are constantly being released into the atmosphere. 污染物质正在不断地被排放到大气中去。
• The 1987 Amendments limit 301(g) discharges to a few well-studied nonconventional pollutants. 1987年的修正案把第301条（g）的普通排放限制施加在一些认真研究过的几种非常规污染物上。 来自英汉非文学 - 环境法 - 环境法

10 toxic   

adj.有毒的，因中毒引起的

参考例句：

• The factory had accidentally released a quantity of toxic waste into the sea.这家工厂意外泄漏大量有毒废物到海中。
• There is a risk that toxic chemicals might be blasted into the atmosphere.爆炸后有毒化学物质可能会进入大气层。