British Airways' new super jumbo Airbus A380 lands at Washington Dulles International Airport October 2, 2014 in Dulles, Virginia.

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Eric Holthaus made national headlines and was branded a “sniveling beta male” by Fox News for a decision he made one year ago.

Holthaus, a meteorologist and climate writer for Slate, is used to approaching data with an objective lens, but a 2013 report from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change - a "death warrant written in stark, black-and-white data" - brought him to tears. The IPCC made it clear that humans are negatively influencing the climate and that greenhouse gas emissions will continue to affect the Earth's climate for centuries.

By his own estimates,Holthausnormally flew 75,000 miles a yearon trips related to climate change projects and work for a startup. After some calculations,Holthausdiscovered air travel comprised nearly half of his household’s emissions for a year.

After realizing the implications of the report and “taking ownership of the problem,” Holthaus and his wife made a decision to never fly again.

Holthaus reached that decision in 2013, and since then his arguments for individual responsibility toward climate change have made significant waves in the media. The Washington Post and other major outlets carried the story; Rolling Stone labeled Holthausthe "Rebel Nerd of Meteorology." On Fox News' immensely popular talk show The Five, co-host Greg Gutfeldcriticized Holthaus' manhood and said he was "calling B.S. on this drama queen."

In a recent perspective piece Holthaus published in Slate, he wrote “There’s no way you can be on the fence after seeing the data the way I’ve seen it.”

But how was a year without flying for a professional who’s used to taking to the skies for both work and leisure?

Not terrible, according to Holthaus.

In his article, Holthaus says there are obvious drawbacks: bus rides that take longer than a day to get from one major city to the next and canceled speaking opportunities that could have taken the meteorologist to the United Nations and across the country.

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But Holthaus says taking a year off from flying “opened my mind more to enjoying the journey than just rushing to get to the destination.”

Holthaus wrote that his experience has motivated him to adopt new goals for the next year: micro changes that can have an impact when considered on the macro scale like moving into a smaller house.

Holthaus is not the only one dedicated to avoiding airplanes to help the planet. Kevin Anderson, a professor at the University of Manchester, has gone 11 years without flying and wrote recently on the benefits of slow travel.

Decisions by writers and thinkers like Holthaus and Anderson may be controversial, but they could also help reduce carbon emissions if adopted on a larger scale.

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Senior research scientist Stanley Sander stands on the rooftop of the California Laboratory for Atmospheric Remote Sensing (CLARS) facility at Mount Wilson, Calif., on April 12, 2013. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong)