In recent years, the long-term viability of aviation has been called into question by governments, environmental scientists, and aviation regulatory authorities worldwide. Unlike other industries where a greener alternative might be a solution to the excessive consumption of fossil fuels, the likelihood of electronic planes is decades away. Meanwhile, the aviation industry continues to guzzle a shocking 5 million barrels of oil daily and the burning of that fuel contributes 2.5% of total carbon emissions, rising to as high as 22% by 2050 according to a study for the European Parliament.

The demand for flights shows no signs of diminishing with the International Air Transport Association (IASA) expecting 7.8 billion passengers to travel in 2036, almost double the number of air travellers for 2017. In part, driven by the reduced cost of flying thanks to budget airlines.

However, there are huge advances being made in the telepresence sector that promises to change the way we perceive travel. Why considering it as a movement of presence rather than body is the key to reducing non-essential travel and at the same time, give a human element to telepresence. UbiatarPlay has developed the first “human avatar” platform, which is set to totally transform the idea of ‘being there’. The starting point is a normal smartphone held by a local individual (the Avatar); everything that is seen and heard by the Avatar is sent over the network to the person at home (Usar) that in turn directs the Avatar so that he/she acts as his/her remote body. The directions are given with a revolutionary GUI (Graphical User Interface) superimposed over the live video stream.

The consequences of increasing global travel for the environment and our health are grave but there are alternatives. It is clear that our cultural approach to travel is causing harm in many different ways, so the adoption of a viable alternative in particular to non-essential travel is paramount.

A study published in the World Health Organisation journal Public Health Panorama has reported a clear link between exposure to air contaminated by oil and other aircraft fluids and a plethora of health issues. Indeed, contaminated air supplies on planes are responsible for a range of acute and chronic symptoms from headaches and dizziness to breathing and vision consequences. For frequent flyers, long-term exposure to this air can lead to neurological and cognitive problems, heart arrhythmias, fatigue, long-term breathing problems, and long-term gastrointestinal problems.

Noise pollution is another adverse effect of the growing aviation industry. According to J Whitelegg (2000), the noise caused by aircraft impacts the health of residents, detracts from the quality of life, diminishes the learning capabilities of children, and damages wildlife.

So how do we tackle these issues? One vital way is to reconsider our approach to travel. What if we regularly started to consider travel as the movement of our presence rather than our bodies?

Technologies are now being developed, like UbiatarPlay, that enable us to be telepresent anywhere in the world, instantly. Instead of taking those flights to attend business meetings or trailing around events across the globe, we could instead hire a local to stand in for us physically. Armed with an app and a live video stream they could sit in on a meeting whilst we share our insights via video stream or they could walk around events and exhibitions, streaming the scenes live for us whilst we sit from the comfort of our desks.

By moving our presence rather than our bodies we can continue to experience and interact with the wider world whilst making positive moves to reduce the devastating environmental and health impacts of flying. And as we do, we get to offer a job to another person. In an era of dwindling job opportunities thanks to automation, that’s a result many of us would delight in.