The table summarises quotations and remarks made by Swedes as they express ecological guilt travelling by plane.
| Identified pathways of ecological guilt[1] | Residents from Swedes |
| Trait guilt specifies that some individuals are more predisposed to general guilt than others – a background recognition of injustice and serve as motivation | Being an expat living in Sweden, I’m feeling major climate guilt about flying to get home and to have relatives stay with us. We’re enjoying local and European train travel here |
| State guilt is specific to behaviour breaching a personal norm or internalised social norm for that behaviour |
Some colleagues try not to talk to me about their long-haul flights The only way I could justify going there was if I took the train Sometimes, I fly. It depends on the cost because it’s crazy but sometimes it’s much cheaper to fly between Malmo and Stockholm. I don’t want to, but I do it anyway, sometimes |
| Moral standard guilt involves individual having unifying moral values which motivate behaviour – failure to adhere to a personal moral standard rather than a behaviour-specific personal norm |
For me, it’s important personally because I want to lower my emissions and that’s the main goal. But I also like to inspire people I take flights when it is necessary and I try to moderate as much as I can the use of the private car. In Madrid (where I travel quite often), there are a lot of initiatives of car/motorbike sharing so I use them when I cannot reach with public transportation I recycle most things, I reuse as much as possible and I have made a huge effort to cut down on water and plastic but when I need to fly, I shall continue to do so as on many occasions there is no viable alternative |
[1] Quotations are drawn from personal statements from news articles and in-depth conversational interviews. Compiled by Teo Jing Kai (2019).
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