Mexico Diary: Smoke on the Horizon

This is the Part 2 of a six-part series by Lisa Hayden, climate change writer for The Nature Conservancy, based on her recent trip to Mexico. See the rest of the Mexico Diary here.

On the flight to Houston, where I would connect to Mérida, capital of Yucatan state in Mexico, it was a clear afternoon and smoke from Midwestern agricultural fires trailed across the horizon. Here was visible evidence of climate-changing emissions from land use: burning of farm fields, and of forests to clear land, is a significant source of emissions – an even greater amount each year than from all the cars, trains and planes in the world.

And yet, I thought, noticing the airplane engine droning just outside the window (which, of course, I was very glad to have as my companion at 30,000 feet), who am I to judge? My business of policy and communications work depends on a connected world of face-to-face meetings and visits to real places. But, flying off to promote potential solutions, was I really helping, or just contributing to the problem?

Lisa Hayden is climate change writer for The Nature Conservancy

Photo by: Lisa Hayden/The Nature Conservancy