LETS START WITH THE FACTS

Luke is correct that we should start talking about the environmental effects of tourism, especially the climate impact of our annual long-haul airlift of nearly 10 million visitors each year.

Let's start with facts. 

Luke summarized findings from the 2007 state green house gas data from the EPA, "Carbon emissions from air travel are about equivalent to emissions from all other ground transportation in Hawaii."

This is not true. 

The misleading analysis only included aviation emissions from aircraft fueled here in the state for interisland flights and (mostly) for the initial departure legs to other destinations thousands of miles away.  It did not include emissions from the arrival or connecting flights or from other aviation-related climate pollution factors. Also it is based on data from a decade ago.

So what is the result if these factors are applied to more recent data?