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Greenpeace Executive Commutes 250 Miles To Work Via Plane

Alex Pfeiffer White House Correspondent
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Despite campaigning against air travel, a senior Greenpeace executive commutes 250 miles by air to work. He is accountable for 7.4 metric tons of carbon dioxide emissions.

These flights are funded by Greenpeace. Although according to their website, “Air traffic is top of the league of climate-killers.”

Greenpeace executive Paul Hausting makes the commute between Luxembourg and Amsterdam. He has been making this commute round trip twice a month since 2012.

According to Greenpeace, “In terms of damage to the climate, flying is 10 times worse than taking the train.” They also go on to demand, “an end to all domestic short haul flights, a cap on long haul flights.”

Hausting explained himself to The Telegraph, saying he doesn’t take the train as he’d “rather not take” the journey as it would be “a twelve hour round trip by train.” He plans to start taking the train starting in September.

While these flights seem to be accepted by higher ups, Greenpeace supporters are up in arms against it. One supporter told The Telegraph, “So disappointed. Hardly had 2 pennies to rub together but have supported GP [Greenpeace] for 35+ years. Cancelling dd [direct debit] for while.”

While the supporters save up to donate to the charity, the organization recklessly throws money around. The flights cost 250 euros each round trip, but these are the least of the organization’s financial worries.

According to documents obtained by the Guardian, the group lost £3 million worth of donations. These donations were lost by a staff member who used them to invest in the currency market.

Executive director of Greenpeace John Sauven wrote in his blog, “What kind of compromises do you make in your efforts to try to make the world a better place? I think there is a line there. Honesty and integrity to the values that are at the heart of the good you’re trying to do in the world cannot be allowed to slip away. For what it’s worth, I don’t think we’ve crossed that line here at Greenpeace.”

It seems the values that Greenpeace hold dear are the comforts of their executives. In their own words, “cheap flights haven’t created better access to air travel for the poor; they’ve just allowed people with more money to fly more often.”