On my way to Cape Town I flew from Dallas to Amsterdam then Amsterdam to Cape Town. The flights were long - made even longer by a cramped coach-class seat but all and all everything was fine. I flew KLM. The service was very attentive and professional; reminded me of the good ol’ days when flying was special. But what impressed me most was how environmentally conscious every aspect of the service was; glass was used for serving, utensils were real, and plastic trays were replaced with molded biodegradable cardboard that not only saved on petrochemical products but also stacked tightly with less weight contributing to less fuel. Every aspect of the flight’s carbon-footprint has been calculated with offset measures on the ground for areas in which the carbon outlay is unavoidable. Even in the Amsterdam Airport I noticed recycling bins and a dramatic reduction in packaging material. In the United States we give a lot of lip service to being “green” and “sustainable” however I have yet to see any one industry aggressively invest in such a conversion. It can’t be because the public is not ready - I think most people in the States would applaud the change and the rest wouldn’t notice. Many people, myself included, would choose to travel with an airline or cruise line that advocates conservation and publishes the results of its attempts to reduce CO2 and support the environment, wouldn’t you?