The trouble with flying
Calculate your holiday footprint, then consider local hotspots
BY MATT MINICH FOR GREENING OF OIL
These days, greenies with a few extra weeks in their schedules or dollars in their pockets have a wealth of vacation opportunities. While the less enlightened among us may spend our hard-earned rest days at an energy-intensive resort or cruise ship, the sustainable-living geeks have carved out their own niche in the world of travel – ecotourism.
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These new, environmentally conscious travelers can be seen doing just about anything around the world – from whale watching off the frozen coast of Antarctica to going on photo safaris in the African savanna. One thing links each of these well-meaning tourists together though – none of them are staying home.
And there, as our friends across the Atlantic would say, is the rub. According to the Environmental Protection Agency, about 27 percent of U.S. greenhouse gas emissions comes from the transportation sector. Transportation emissions in the U.S. make up 10 percent of greenhouse gas emissions worldwide.
Of course, most of these emissions have causes unrelated to vacationing. About half of these emissions are caused by personal vehicles (not trains or airplanes), and it’s probably safe to assume that the bulk of personal vehicle use is commuting around town, not road trips to bird-watching spots in Vermont.
Because it represents the bulk of emissions, our focus has long rested on personal vehicle travel. Few if any have not been inundated with messages proclaiming the benefits of carpooling, public transit or bicycle riding for our atmosphere and planet.
Still, even the greenest commuters sometimes put away the bike or bus pass for a week or more to step onto an airplane bound for Boca Raton, Rome, even Antarctica.
And they’re doing it more and more, making airplane travel the rapidly growing elephant in the room regarding climate change. The Federal Aviation Administration expects emissions from aviation to grow 60 percent by 2025, causing the grassroots environmental organization Friends of the Earth to label the air travel industry “the world’s fastest growing source of greenhouse gases”.
This sinister moniker has little to do with the aviation industry’s lack of effort in reducing its fuel usage or GHG emissions, however. The industry has attacked this problem since the mid-century. According to a 2004 report addressed to Congress by researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, the amount of fuel used per passenger-mile had been reduced by 60 percent since 1973.
Still, the emissions from air travel have continued to expand. We as a society, as a human population even, are flying more and more. Travel and flight have become virtually synonymous, and the most adventurous among us have come to see world travel as something of a spiritual necessity – after all, who could live without seeing the ruins of Machu Picchu or snowshoeing through the French Alps?
So with airlines rapidly growing to become significant contributors to global warming, where do we stand on vacationing? We can’t ride the city bus or bicycles to most of our favorite vacation spots, and, as anyone who has been jammed between another passenger and a window knows, commercial flights are about as close to carpooling as you can get.
To assuage their guilt about air travel, some travelers are opting to purchase carbon offsets by donating to groups that work to reduce emissions worldwide through reforestation projects, conservation education and the development of new emissions-reducing technologies. Travelers can track the footprint of their flights using a number of online services, most of which consider the distance, type of ticket (economy, business or first class) and type of plane when crafting a number.
While offsets are rapidly increasing in popularity, the short and simple solution to air travel emissions is obvious – vacation close to home. Ski the local slopes, take a camping trip in the nearest state park, go see Buffalo Bill’s grave (or whatever local tourist hot spot you’ve driven past more times that you can remember without actually stopping). You might find that a look around your own area could reveal as many mysteries as the Mayan ruins at Chichen Itza or create as many lasting memories as a trek through the Himalayas. And after all, you know here you can always drink the water.
Links of interest
25 most visited tourist destinations in the U.S.
Profiles, maps of offbeat destinations across the U.S.
Green credentials for hotels across the country
About Matt Minich
Matt Minich is a senior journalism major at Colorado State University. He currently works as the news editor for the school’s newspaper, The Rocky Mountain Collegian and co-edits the publication’s outdoor sports blog.
Minich’s interest in environmental issues stems from his passion for the mountains of Colorado. As a backpacker, he has hiked the entire length of the 500-mile Colorado Trail and hiked wilderness in New Mexico, Virginia and North Carolina. He has worked as a wilderness skill instructor and is a certified Wilderness First Responder.
Contact Matt Minich.
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