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Green Travel …?

December 3rd, 2011 · No Comments

One shouldn’t pretend that flying half way around the world to stay in an ‘eco-resort’ somehow merits a Gold Star for heroic climate mitigation action as guest poster Ban Nock explores

Green Travel … isn’t.

It is hard to think of any form of travel that isn’t harmful to the atmosphere, our ecosystem, and even the lands we travel to, in one form or another. All travel is a compromise, what I attempt to do is compromise the least while ranging further than I would be able to by foot alone. Even a bike or a boat was manufactured using energy to extract and process the various metals and plastics and shipped probably a long way.

Travel conjures up images of airports, passports, and palm trees in exotic locales. Without doubt the modern passenger jet is the most polluting form of transportation outside of the space shuttle.

photo by dsleeter 2000

Passenger miles per gallon vary with the type of aircraft and distance flown. Generally US airlines achieve sixty to eighty passenger miles per gallon, which sounds much better than a car, except that one can fly thousands of miles in a very few hours. People will casually fly to places they’d think twice before driving to.

Only a fraction of our population flies with any regularity. http://www.gallup.com/… A couple coast to coast flights per year negate buying a hybrid. Throw in some beach time on Greek islands, business trips,  and a pilgrimage to Tibet and you’ve polluted more than most any snowmobiling, off road riding redneck at the rodeo.

I use a couple strategies to mitigate the harm I do by flying. Obviously I try to fly less. I save up my flying and stay longer in places I fly to. Instead of crossing the Pacific once a year for two weeks it’s better to cross it once every two years for four weeks, lessens down time due to jet lag too. I also plan visits to relatives strategically. Instead of four of us going to see one person better to fly the one person here.

Another strategy is to choose vacations closer to home. Instead of an African big game safari maybe fly to Yellowstone, or better yet try to closely observe the interrelation of deer and coyote that is at play in a national forest or state park within a short drive of where you live. Do we really need to dive at the Great Barrier Reef? Are there less sensational sports we might do closer to home that would pollute less?

Probably for most Americans travel involves much less exciting scenarios than a mid July ski trip to Chile. Mostly we drive. Back and forth to work, out to see people or to recreate skiing, hiking, biking.

For most of us the eco answer to greening up our personal transportation is to buy a hybrid. I’d say go slow on assuming a new car will fart green CO2. A car that gets 28mpg driven 100 miles a day is still burning a heck of a lot of carbon. Some hybrids barely get 20mpg, choose one that gets twice that and walk the last half mile of dirt road to the trail head. Any new car takes a tremendous amount of energy to make. Do we really need to invest such a huge amount of money in some hunk of metal and plastic that needs replacing every few years? Why is the answer to any question a choice of what to buy?

Do you really need a large four wheel drive?

Chevy Tahoe Hybrid 20/23 mpg

Why not instead… Live closer to work. Bike in the town or area we live in, toss that bike rack for your car or sell it on Craig’s list. Want to look at wildlife? Head on down to your local state park or even municipal park. Chances are many species are there for the looking even if less picturesque than a moose in the Canadian Rockies.

Of course choosing a pastime that doesn’t involve petroleum should be obvious. Snowmobiling, off road driving, water skiing, jet skis, stock car racing, obviously burn gas, the trouble is the gas engines also don’t have to have catalytic converters. A chain saw might well pollute more than my civic. Small lawns use less water and one can get by with an electric mower.

Less obvious gas burning outdoor activities are driving 100 miles to do any mountain biking, skiing, horse back riding, hiking. Alternatively cut back on other driving to allow for your once a month “sin”.

If all this sounds preachy it’s probably because it is. We Americans are the biggest energy hogs on the planet. Poutrage diaries about oil companies are great, if they were printed on newspaper I could start a fire in the wood stove with them. Halving the amount of Jet A you burn will actually do something.

What difference does one person make? A lot. I like to think of the vegetarians of the 1970s. At the time going meatless was a choice many people considered extreme. Forty years later look at the affect they’ve had on all sectors of our food industry. We now can find organic choices in the produce section of every grocery store, school lunches are including more fresh fruits and vegetables. All because some vegetarians pushed the Overton window of clean food a little ways in the direction of healthy.

Headed to Net Roots Nation? Round Trip from anywhere in the US for three hundred and change at a fraction of the CO2 http://www.amtrak.com/… Outraged over offshore drilling? Where have you flown this year? What kind of car do you drive?

My special place in the center circle of Dante’s hell is reserved for the polar bear tours the World Wildlife Fund promotes through Natural Habitat Adventures. If one animal symbolizes the threat of global warming it has to be the polar bear. Fly to Winnipeg for the connecting flight to Churchill so you can ride around in huge self contained living quarters and snap photos of the animal you are helping to destroy. The irony it burns.

Have a way to travel greener?

Tags: carbon offsets · climate change · emissions