Dear Prudence,
I try to be thoughtful about the environment, and overall I manage to keep a relatively low carbon footprint. The most challenging decision I have made has been drastically limiting my flying. Luckily, my personal and work travel can be done by train. I tend to think that if I can’t take a train, it’s not worth going. I of course make exceptions for emergencies and transoceanic flights, but I really limit those. The closest member of my family is my brother, who lives a short flight but a long train ride away from me. (The rest of the family is on the other side of the country.) He gets angry with me for not visiting him and my nephews more often. He expects me to jump on a plane for every barbecue, birthday party, and family gathering. I could afford to, but I feel that visiting by train for a longer stay once a year and staying in touch regularly the rest of the time works better for me. How do we resolve this?