Bad Carbon Karma: Lawyer Flies from Oregon to Saudi Arabia Every Three Weeks

Thomas Nelson, a lawyer from Oregon, regularly flies back and forth to Saudi Arabia to visit a client who can’t fly to the U.S. That’s ‘regularly’ not as in once or twice a year, but every three weeks. Nelson says he’s forced to do so because his client faces charges here for financing terrorism, and that he’s afraid to communicate via telephone or email due to possible surveillance.

From the New York Times:

Because he is constantly shifting time zones to see his client face to face, “I just don’t sleep normally anymore,” Mr. Nelson said. “But I don’t have a choice. It’s very clear to me that anything I say to my client or to other lawyers in this case is being recorded.”

Across the country, and especially here in Oregon, it seems, lawyers who represent suspects in terrorism-related investigations complain that their ability to do their jobs is being hindered by the suspicion that the government is listening in, using the eavesdropping authority it obtained — or granted itself — after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.

There are all kinds of issues in play here, not the least of which is the creepy fact that the government is able to violate lawyer-client privilege by snooping on their communications. But there’s an unspoken aspect to it: what about all of the carbon being produced by the constant unnecessary flights? Oregon to Saudi Arabia is a very long trip – and as the article suggests, Nelson isn’t the only one making frequent flights like this. I can only imagine how large this guy’s carbon footprint is. It’s stupid and definitely bad for the earth…

Link [New York Times]

Photo credit: Karl Dolenc