Icelanders Feel Fligt Shame

Eighty-three percent of Icelanders traveled abroad last year—the highest percentage of citizens to do so since 2009, according to Iceland Review.

This data was published in a report by the Icelandic Tourist Board, which also found that on average, Icelanders took 2.8 trips out of the country in 2018. Although climate change issues have become increasingly prominent in the public consciousness, Kjarninn reports that that Icelanders are generally unwilling to reduce the number of flights they take.

As such, a new Icelandic word has been coined to describe Icelandic travelers’ guilty conscience over the negative effects that increased air travel has on the climate: flugskömm, or ‘flight shame.’