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SHOULD I KEEP FLYING?

posted on Sunday, March 04, 2007 08:20 PM

Travelling internationally means long distance journeys, and if we’re honest, journeys by air. For ease of use and minimum travelling time this form of transport wins hands down. Increasing attention is being given to ‘slow travel’, celebrating the romance and rewards of a low-carbon journey by land or sea, and this option seems to be the obvious choice for cleansing our eco-conscience where time is of low regard, and distances are relatively small. For many of us though who crave the exotic far flung corners of the globe air travel is the reality that we are faced with. How can we balance this international curiosity with our concern for the environment?

Offsetting carbon costs through organisations such as Climate Care that run and develop carbon saving projects to compensate for your extravagance is one option. Although the credibility and consistency of companies offering this service has recently been proved inconsistent.
read more at Times Online »

Hopefully by the autumn The Department for Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) will have a quality mark established to standardize the calculations used by these initiatives.

Carbon rationing is another suggestion that enables individual carbon allowances to be traded, so that over-producers can distribute their footprints across the ‘carbon accounts’ of those not exhausting their allowance.

A reduction in air travel is definately necessary but it is far from the only way to lower our carbon emissions. If we are to reduce the number of flights we take then action must be taken by the government, not just us as individuals. Planes will continue to fly whether they are full or not until schedules are reduced. Perhaps the best we can do is continue to manage our personal carbon emissions as best we can.

The UK Government has set the target to reduce total emissions by 60% by 2050

International travel is crucial to maintaining stability in the world economy and in helping to improve the livelihoods of people all over the world. If we want to reduce our carbon emissions we can start by looking closer to home, insulating our houses and turning off unused appliances. Let's develop our understanding of how we can be effectively green, not fanatically green. Continue travelling with a green conscience and offsetting your emissions with a reputable company.

Inciting international debate on the environmental effects of air travel is another great way for carbon-heavy international travellers to contribute positively to the problem. If we are aware of the carbon cost we generate when we travel (by using a carbon calculator such as the one available at Climate Care) it can go a long way to encouraging us to think more carefully about the way we travel once we reach our destination. Until an alternative fuel is sourced perhaps the best we can do is to help raise awareness, education and encourage the diffusion of knowledge on the subject.

Environmental responsibility is only one corner of the responsible travel triangle and adopting other responsible travel practices is a positive step in another direction for the travel industry, and just as important whilst we are searching for new technologies. We may not have all the answers to fair travel debates but through global communication of global problems we may just be able to reach someone who does. When combined with offsetting carbon costs, this approach may well be a more effective route to finding a solution than simply restricting our educated minds from travelling the world, and from conveying our concerns to the rest of the world. Far too many economies rely on tourism for us to stop travelling.

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