One million miles

In the 2009 film Up in the Air, the protagonist played by George Clooney passes the ten million miles threshold over the city of Dubuque, Iowa. Today, while enjoying a complimentary upgrade to business class across the Atlantic with Turkish Airlines, it is my turn to have flown one million miles (or two round trips to the Moon if you want). I know, in this age and time, that is something that few would dare to admit, with “smygflygning” (to fly in secret) even becoming a thing among social media influencers.

As I see it, global personal mobility should not be a privilege but something accessible for everyone, just like higher education or advanced medicine. Last night at Arlanda, I saw two young guys being deported to Afghanistan by a group of police officers. More than ever, it left me convinced about the need to broaden rather than narrow our imagination.

While writing my paper for the ISA conference in Accra, I have been sifting through tons of articles, working papers and conference proceedings, all telling poor people that, because of climate change, they can never be allowed to live a modern life. I would say the exact opposite, that climate change makes a high-growth high-energy future more urgent than ever, and that, only by fully integrating the world, can we simultaneously bring about a clean energy revolution, protect people from climate harms and stem the rising tide of national chauvinism.

Despite having flown one million miles, I have only been to about 70 of the world’s 195 countries so, if anything, my promise going forward will be to further widen my circles and to continue to explore what is unknown to me, starting with Ghana in August and Lebanon in November.