Can a holiday be green when it involves flying?

I never want to oversell the use of carbon offsets. I liken this to our overselling of recycling here in the United States. People responded to recycling but to the detriment of our being able to get them to reduce up front and reuse materials. Transportation clearly needs to be re-thought especially here in the US where we lack a mass transit/rail infrastructure outside of the major urban areas. I want to encourage people to come to the US but to see it once you have landed in a greener way!

Likewise, communities around the world rely on visitors to keep them out of, or from returning to resouce extractive enterprises.

Plane travel does not qualify as green travel in my book but at least make people think about it!

Liz Wessel, Owner
Green Concierge Travel LLC
www.greenconciergetravel.com

I will ask the question the other way round: is it possible to go to an exotic destination by train or bike?
Some contributors to this forum say "stay at home". Others say "compensate your flight". But there is a middle way.

Travelers are often looking for exotism much further away than they should...what is an exotic destination? Could we consider Belarus for example as an exotic destination for Western Europeans? In our "RebelFarmer" point of view 'yes': this destination, 1 night-train traveling from Germany, opens directly your eyes on one of the last centrally-planned economies left in the world. It helps you understand how subsistence farming is working and relevant for surviving next to poorly paid job. By doing this actually they safeguarded a tradition that we lost in Western Europe namely the art of organic farming and cooking based on local ingredients including all kind of wild products. Did you know that research from our team revealed that almost all village people in Belarus know at least 10 types of mushrooms! Did you also know that most songs and dances practiced in Belarusian villages are connected to a nature-based religion dating back far before Christianity (pagan rituals)?

RebelFarmer supports the GREENWAYS of Eastern Europe, an sustainable way to discover the exotic Belarusian countryside.

See www.rebelfarmer.org/voluntourism.html and www.greenways.by.

The airway companies offer so many attractive trips at very small prices and more and more people start flying instead of driving or taking a train which would be safer for the environment. I think I said this before but I must say it again: I was deeply impressed by Canal holidays and their green thinking. Besides supporting the eco places they also try to make people see why they should eco-travel as well. Flying is the most expensive way to slowly kill our planet and still we do it.

Although I am an Airline Pilot and rely on people's desire to travel to pay my wage... I can see no way of considereing Airline Travel as a Green form of travel.

Even the new breed of modern aircraft being peddled by Boeing and Airbus, are still carbon hungry machines.

I have lived in The English Lake District for 40+ years and it should be promotted as much as possible. To stop people from choosing to pay to fly we must promote home grown tourism/holidays to make sure we do our bit to save the planet from our own polouting activities.

Eldred Curwen is an International Airline Pilot and an accommodation provider of Lake District Holiday Cottages. Having lived in The Lake District for 40+ years he is pleased to sp

hello,

If we travelled closer to home, we wouldn't need to fly. I think you can be responsible when you're abroad, but even more responsible if you supported communities around you too in this country.

We're about to lose our (urban) Post Office, and potentially a row of local shops too. That's because we seem to have forgotten that we're all part of a local community which relies on our support.

The governments of communities that rely solely on rich Western tourists aren't doing enough to support their people. I think the change has to occur on a government/global level so people can develop a range of industries as well as tourism. And may be one day domestic tourism may be a possibility for the people who serve Pina Coladas in eco-lodges. That for me is the most important thing. How do we do that? I wish I had the answer.

I decided I could do my bit for climate change by travelling closer to home.

thanks

Laura

www.ecoescape.org

Hi Bob

This is SUCH an interesting topic and fascinating that you have experienced first hand public lack of confidence in a new concept - if you're on Facebook there's a debate going on via the i-genius group about this.

I think basically that the term 'carbon offsetting' has been abused meaning a loss of trust from the consumer. This is of course very unfair to the people who really do offer valuable offsetting schemes but in the 'greenwash' often the honest voices are lost, meaning that on the whole that travellers don't know who to trust and so trust no one.

The debate has been brought into the public domain about APD and carbon offsetting but in a totally uncontrolled and irresponsible way, leaving most (often including myself!) bemused.

So, my advice would be to try and change this and separate Nature Travels from the rest by providing 100% accountability. Why not develop your own carbon offsetting project like Blue Ventures? You could implement your own small scale project, something that travellers can see in person if they wish. Again, see the debate on i-genius started by Raj...

I don't think that people in general disbelieve that climate change is happening, but it's often communicated in a totally untouchable way - i.e. it's too big for any of us to do anything about. This MUST be amended and individuals need to be brought back on board with a feeling of being empowered and able to make a difference. The best way to do this is often at grass root level.

Hope some of this helps at least, good luck!

Sally Broom
www.yoursafeplanet.co.uk

I'd like to ask Green Traveller readers about their attitudes to carbon offsetting for flights.

When Nature Travels introduced carbon offsetting for flights to Sweden, we chose to structure it as an "opt-out" scheme, i.e. the "yes" box is ticked by default on the booking form and the client simply deselects this option if they do not wish to include the offset.

The price of an offset for a return flight to Sweden from the UK is very low - £3.50 - and the scheme is run in partnership with one of the largest and best known offset companies, Climate Care.

When we first started the scheme, we were relatively pleased with the take-up rate, around 50%. However, in the last few months we've noticed that this has begun to fall, with fewer clients choosing to include the £3.50 offset. I'm curious about the possible reasons for this and would love to hear some opinions. Is it perhaps that:

- since the introduction of Air Passenger Duty on flights, people feel that they are already paying an eco-tax for flying and do not wish to contribute further?

- people are suspicious about offset schemes and do not feel that their money will be used effectively, or don't believe that carbon emissions can realistically be balanced in this way?

- people are becoming cynical about climate change/the environment generally?

- something else?

Obviously we'd like to reverse the trend and encourage as many people as possible to offset their flights. We feel that while offsetting should not be seen as an easy solution to the environmental damage caused by air travel, it is nevertheless an important tool in the climate change fight and costs very little.

What do you think?

Bob Carter
Nature Travels
UK specialists for responsible outdoor experiences in Sweden
Website: www.naturetravels.co.uk
Tel: 01929 463774

Perhaps flying, or indeed any kind of holiday or even daily routines, need to be tempered with concern and a daily effort to make a difference, rather than with harsh imperatives that are ultimately unsustainable and unrealistic.

At Gecko Villa in the Northeast of Thailand (one of its poorest regions),guests enjoy their holidays because they know that all revenues are retained locally, and contribute directly to improving the lot of this rural community, creating employment, and financing education and the reforestation of the area - albeit on a small scale. As the community sees the interest in environmental awareness and community concern in visitors, they too start to see the value of these goals, and the circle becomes self-sustaining. otherwise, the rule of "grub first, ethics later" will naturally apply in such poor communities.

http://www.thaivillarent.com

Hi

My name is Susie and I recently created susuorganic.co.uk, an eco-friendly directory with useful articles on green and organic living. I think the problem is that most people's interest in climate change, locally grown veggies, organic produce, to fly or not to fly etc etc has happened relatively recently, and there are a lot of (well meaning)calls to ban everything seen as potentially harmful to the environment.

I am so pleased that more people are now taking a genuine interest in our lovely planet, but I think we need to apply logic. I wonder if, instead of trying to ban (or tax - a very popular government solution to all things green)potentially environmentally harmful activities that are also necessary to many, we should encourage our amazing scientists to come up with an eco-friendly solution?

If we paid these brilliant people a decent salary and provided secure funding for them for topics that really matter, wouldn't that be helpful? I read recently about one of the winners of the BSI Sustainabilty Awards that has invented a machine that calculates your very own carbon footprint, and even offers a soltion! The link is on my site if you want to read more http://www.susuorganic.co.uk/carbon_zero_hero_c.php

Wishing you love and health
Susie x

I believe everybody understands the dilemma. On one hand it would be unfair towards all destinations relying on tourism, on the other hand the carbon emission is of great concern.

I own a small resort in Grenada, one of the islands with tourism as main income. I am also a concerned environmentalist. So, I faced the dilemma quite intense.

Now, let's talk solutions...

We installed a 80 kW windmill that supplies >150% of the energy requirement of the resort. Considering the cooking gas and diesel/gasoline use because of the resort's operations and guest activities this makes the stay at least carbon neutral.

To compensate the flights, we decided to plant trees in Ethiopia. While most carbon offset companies calculate with the sequestration only we also take into consideration that most of the absorbed CO2 will eventually be emitted into the atmosphere. For a return flight from the UK to Grenada we plant 38-40 trees, factors more then usual.

We call this a Carbon Free Vacation.

Besides the environmental effect of the tree planting there are also positive social effects: Due to the 97% deforestation poor people have to walk for miles to find wood for cooking dinner. Reforestation will solve that on the long term.

Then there is also an ecological issue: The once fertile soil washes away when there are no more trees, leaving a desert type of landscape. Replanting stops the process.

While we were doing this exercise we found that even though we plant many more trees than established carbon offset companies, our cost to do so was still -significantly lower than the "offset market" price.

Ultimately we decided to start up a new carbon offset company (Zero Carbon Travel) to let other travelers, hoteliers and tour operators benefit from this carefully designed and efficient program. I would appreciate to hear your comments.

James Post
jamespost@spiceisle.com
Paradise Bay Resort & Spa
www.paradisebayresort.net
001-473-405-8888

That's an interesting concept, as the matter of fact this should be the concept for future traveling industry. The environment gets affected and we all know the results. Having relevant and informative reviews on holiday destinations and details about eco options travelers would be more sensitive to environment conservation and protection. I guess we still have to work on that.

Travelcare, part of the Co-operative Group, have made carbon offsetting available on the high street.
You can now counter the environmental effects of your holiday flights by buying carbin offset at it's branches.
For the first time, anyone can walk into a Travelcare branch or contact their call centre and buy carbin offset on the spot.

There are eight bands to choose from which have been agreed in conjunction with Climate Care.
Example
Band 1 - France/Spain £3.00[full impact]£0.60 [20% imapact]
Band 2 - Greece/Italy £5.00[full impact]£1.00 [20% impact]

For more information on how the Co-operative Group are working with Climate Care and how Travelcare are helping you to do your bit to help combat climate change please visit the website at

www.travelcare.co.uk

You realise, of course, that to go the same distance as an aeroplane a ship will burn thousands upon thousands of times the volume of fuel, often to transport only a few plane-loads of passengers? The only way to travel and be green is to sail (literally) or walk.

it is important to remember that much of the developing world, in particular small island states rely on tourism for a significant contribution to their economies. Small island states often have few natural resources and their traditional sectors such as sugarcane and bananas are all but dead. How do these fragile economies survive if the one sector that provides income to them is decimated if people stop flying to them? A sharp decline in arrivals to these nations would simply devastate their economies and throw more people into poverty. It is important for airlines to play their role by investing in the R& D that will lead to more fuel efficient flying. Travelers should fly more responsibly, using alternative transportation where it is possible to avoid short haul flights. It is also important to choose accommodations and attractions carefully and to try and support those that are trying to operate responsibly. There is also the question of the mobility of people living on small island states - how on earth do we move around if we are no longer to fly?
Barbara Walker
Hotel Mocking Bird Hill
Port Antonio, Jamaica

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?

Make Travel Fair believes that inciting international debate on the environmental effects of air travel is a 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 or a form of teleportation is developed! 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. 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.

Stephen Chapman
Make Travel Fair
www.maketravelfair.com

Just as tourists start to become more adventurous with their holidays so that they start to spend more time and money away from the tourist traps, concerns about flying risk putting people off from travelling at all. While I agree with trying to limit gratuitous flying by second-home commuters or business travel junkies, I don't want genuine travellers and adventurous tourists to be dissuaded from exploring the world.

I think it is important to try to put out a clear message for travel consumers so that they can decide on their travel plans with a clear conscience. For me, that message would be: Fly less and make it count when you do.

Chris Bland
Tell Tale Travel
Travel as a guest not a tourist
http://www.telltaletravel.co.uk
0800 011 2571

Interesting letter posted up on the Guardian website

"Cut down on short-haul flights but don't penalise the developing world to salve your conscience...".

Sent in by Dave Martin who runs Bulungula Lodge in South Africa.