What's wrong with "sustainable" aviation

(Re)Introducing the LaCH crew and podcast!

Author

Chris Musei-Sequeira
October 08, 2024

The logo for the LaCH crew

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I’m very pleased and proud to (re)announce that we’ve launched a podcast! We took a hiatus for a bit, and now we’re back.

But wait… who is “we”? (You know that’s the question of the age, don’t you?)

Well, we are the LaCH crew:

Our podcast’s purpose is to uncover and discuss the myriad forms of oppression underlying the so-called “sustainability” industry and other industries that we have worked in. 

Our use of the term “crew” to describe our collaboration comes from the community-building practice named microsolidarity. The microsolidarity “fractal view of belonging” shows a crew as an engagement of individuals and partnerships for a common purpose.

An image from the microsolidarity website showing the "fractal view of belonging." Arrows link together self, partnership, crew, congregation, crowd, and the void/cosmos/unknown.

The “fractal view of belonging” from the microsolidarity practice website

And… what kind of name is “LaCH”?

Well, “lach” is the imperative conjugation of the German verb “lachen,” which describes laughter. (Don’t worry, I had to look up “imperative” and “conjugation” too.) The imperative grammatical form deals with giving commands. As in:

Ich erzähl ihn dir, aber lach nicht!

Meaning:

I’ll tell you, but don’t laugh!

(The above is brought to you by Google Translate, so it’s probably wrong…)

And really, I don’t mind if you laugh at what we’re telling you — oppression is a dark subject, and we hope to bring some humor and lightness to it (where appropriate). Plus, we’re learning too!

The “We Are LaCH” podcast introduction

We’ve recorded an introduction that’s just over five minutes long, where we describe ourselves and our positionalities.

Intro to We Are LaCH, 5 minutes and 11 seconds in length

Episode 1: “Sustainable” aviation?

In our first episode, Heather and Lavinia interview me about my newsletter issue “The flying elephant in the room.” I wrote that issue in late June to describe the difficulty of the aviation decarbonization challenge, based on the knowledge I gained from 15 years as an aviation environmental policy analyst.

During our conversation, the three of us discuss:

  • The global aviation sector’s use of the word “sustainability” to refer primarily to carbon dioxide emissions reductions, and the perverse incentives that result from such “carbon myopia”

  • What authentic sustainability might look like for the aviation sector

  • The notion of “balancing” the need for sustainable aviation with global equity and climate justice… and the inherently political nature of categorizing the world

Episode 1: Sustainable Aviation? 51 minutes and 58 seconds in length

Coming up next

In the near future, Heather and I will interview Lavinia about her experiences in the “sustainable” fashion industry. Subscribe to our podcast and stay tuned… we look forward to reading your thoughts!

Where to find the sustainability perspectives you’ve been missing

FIRST: Follow on LinkedIn:

SECOND: Subscribe to the “We Are LaCH” podcast, where Heather and Lavinia and I host discussions on decolonization — particularly in the context of the sustainability industry.

THIRD: Forward this issue to people you know in the sustainability industry.

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A note about my positionality

My name is Chris Musei-Sequeira, and I use he/him pronouns. My mother was born in Trinidad and Tobago as a descendant of African slaves brought to the islands during the time of European colonization. She came to the United States of America (USA) at the age of 10. My father was born in India, in Mumbai, and raised Catholic and English-speaking; he has a Goan background and describes himself and his family as Brahmin. He came to the USA for his graduate studies, where he met my mother.

My sister and I were born in the USA and lived a middle-class life in the suburbs of multiple American cities. I studied aeronautical engineering and technology policy in university, then worked at the Federal Aviation Administration and as an aviation consultant. I've lived in cities up and down the USA East Coast since the age of 18.

I thank Heather Luna and Lavinia Muth for showing me the importance of publicly expressing positionality. Because of our positionality, all of us are very familiar with some aspects of the world while having no idea of other aspects.