• Home
• About
• Blog Roll

To travel or not to travel
January 23, 2008

Lately I seem to have more questions than answer. Last week, I wondered about to speak up or not to speak up. This week, a much thornier question begged my attention - to travel or not to travel.

My husband and I have always been the kind of people that like to roam – traveling, domestically or internationally, has shaped our opinions and world view over the years. We very much like to teach our children to be world travelers (not tourists) from an early age. When our older daughter hit 5, we decided that every year, we would spend a month traveling with them. Instead of constant new outfits and toys, the travel experience will be our gift to them. Luckily they are not old enough to ask for a different gift yet.

However the inconvenient truth has demanded me to explore the environmental impact of our travel plans – how much CO2 will our family of four generate by traveling 12,000 miles round trip by plane? 6,000 miles are fairly standard for international travel. The result is no less than shocking: With the 4 of us, we generate an amount of CO2 that is equivalent to two whole years of driving an average American car, at 12,000 miles per year. This is just according to one calculation. Due to the inaccuracy of most carbon calculators, the results can vary greatly.

Now I almost wish that I did not do the quick research. The little knowledge, distorted as it maybe, puts me in a serious predicament. Knowing how resource intensive long-haul flights are, do we still go with the plan to travel every year? Should we lock ourselves up in the house and experience the world via our modem? Are there comprises somewhere in between?

One click led to another, I stumbled upon a post by the well-known No Impact Man – The problem of air travel, which raises environmental issues of air travel. The post has generated uncommon number of comments, most of which seem to fall into two camps. Camp #1: air travel is immoral, so discover the beauty of your backyard instead; Camp #2: air travel maybe resource intensive, the outcome may be worth the cost. I have to say that my immediate inclination aligns with Camp #2. My environmental value system and world view are direct results from seeing unspeakable natural beauty in different corners of the world and living with people whose simple lives shame mine.

90% of the coral reefs are either dead or dying. It is a horrifying fact to anyone, but it is particularly emotional and personal to people who have dove in the ocean and watched the abundant lives sustained by the coral reefs. Supporters of ANWR drilling will have you believe that it is a barren land where oil should be extracted. But people who have witnessed the sheer magnificence of Artic National Wildlife Refuge often have a personal mission to protect it. Crawling through miserable Bolivian mines and speaking with miners whose life expectancy were not more than 40 can turn your perspective on politics in Andes countries upside down. Many would argue you can get all this from the media. But many people, including I can attest that seeing makes a world of difference.

However should how I see the world and perhaps how my children see the world warrant our squandering natural resources and contributing to climate change? Forced to answer that, I’d say no. But honestly it is an extremely begrudging no. In a recent study in UK, 40% teenage respondents “said that they had bought locally produced food. However only 4% said that they had consciously decided not to take an air flight for environmental reasons.” Okay, I am not alone in my selfish desire to travel.

While I vehemently object to the heavy-handed moral overtone of many comments to No Impact Man’s post, I am rethinking what this all means to my own travel plans and our dreams of bringing our children into the world travel fold. A friend suggests that we should take off for two years and see the world by trains, buses and sail boats. Even if it works out financially and logistically, I doubt it is a duplicable model for most families. Advocating for alternative travel systems – more bullet trains, better fuel efficiency, bigger planes and fewer flights? Great ideas, though we know it takes decades to change such systems.

Meanwhile I don’t have an answer yet. If you do, I wanna know.

Related posts:
To speak up or not to speak up
Travel green the agritourismo way

CindyW at Organicpicks

If you enjoyed this entry, please subscribe to the Organic Picks Blog

Copyright 2007 Organicpicks