Maybe We Should All Just Stay Home...
Is the planet asking that we live our "big life" closer to home?
I love to travel.
Nothing fills me with more joy than sipping white wine and munching briny olives at an outdoor cafe in Spain or sharing a sauna with my relatives in northern Sweden.
I’m not alone. According to the vacationer, 52% of Americans plan to fly the (not so) friendly skies this summer. A plethora of travelers are writing and posting Instagram photos of amazing places and experiences that leave us all salivating and admittedly jealous.
Meanwhile, fires are raging in Northern California and Oregon. Flooding is destroying crops and homes in the Midwest. Hurricanes are pounding Texas, and heat waves grip both coasts. News reports highlight the weather, calling it “unprecedented,” and “record-breaking.” They even talk about how these weather events are the result of climate change.
What don’t they mention? Personal responsibility. What should we be doing other than turning on the AC and bemoaning the skyrocketing cost of homeowners insurance?
Maybe it’s time we all stayed home.
Is there anything more exciting than booking your flight for your next big adventure? I think not. And full disclosure: as I write this, I’m packing my bag for a five-week “grand tour,” which includes hiking around Mt. Blanc, visiting cousins in Sweden, and sailing on my brother’s boat in southern England.
But here’s what’s behind your airline seat:
Aviation has contributed around 4 % to global warming.
“The US emits more carbon dioxide from aviation than any other country – more than the emissions of the next 10 largest consumers of aviation fuel combined.”
I can’t unknow that fact. And it makes me more uncomfortable than the bratty four-year-old sitting behind me who won’t stop kicking my seat.
The climate isn’t the only one raging. In Barcelona residents are squirting tourists with water guns, protesting the huge crowds that have taken over their city and economy, making it unaffordable for those who live there.
Surely they don’t mean you and me though, right?
Travel expands our horizons, lets us experience new parts of the world and stay connected to friends and family. We see things for the first time, embracing each new experience with the curiosity and excitement that we thought we’d left behind in childhood. Traveling takes us away from our everyday routine and responsibility. We can imagine different possibilities for ourselves.
But, can we imagine we’re destroying the very thing we came to see?
A couple of years ago, My Dear Husband and I visited the Galapagos Islands whose 25,000 inhabitants host approximately 300,000 visitors a year. These islands are also home to some of the most rare and unique marine and wildlife – found only in this part of the world. How thrilled and privileged I felt to swim with Galapagos sharks, watch marine iguanas ply the waters, see the gigantic and ancient Galapagos Tortoises, and catch sight of a Blue-footed booby.
A trip of a lifetime for sure, but one whose cost was born mostly by the residents of the Galapagos where freshwater is so scarce that households receive water for only a limited time each day. Black cisterns sit on rooftops like monarchs on a throne – a constant reminder of the precious resource. On Isabela Island, water has to be shipped in. Something to think about, my friend, the next time you leave the water running while you brush your teeth or wash dishes.
What does this mean for the people – and wildlife– who call the Galapagos Islands home? A lot of bottled water. An already antiquated sewage system that is unable to handle the increased demand and regularly overflows as pollution into the ocean. A fragile environment – one found nowhere else in the world – paid the price for my privilege. While we were visiting Isabela island, one of three inhabited islands in the Galapagos, a guide took us to a penguin colony. “Two years ago there were more than thirty penguins here,” he said as we slowly motored past two penguins eyeing us from the black rocky outcropping.
Our reefs are dying, our glaciers are melting, our forests are burning, and we continue to seek out our next big adventure. Perhaps it’s time to search closer to home. I love
‘s recent post about what she found when she did.While I deserve any packets of stale pretzel bits or Bischoff cookies hurled at me from across the aisle of my transatlantic flight, I’d rather have you throw your thoughts into the comment section. Let’s start a conversation.
I could not agree with you more -- so much of the damage is beyond our control. I'm hoping with the increased awareness of our own impact, we'll call for more accountability from politicians and the corporations who keep them in power. Not a fan of deregulation here.
Thank you for writing this post, Kaarin. I also think a lot about this. One the one hand, travel is an important way to expand your world, challenge biases, become more cultural competent and aware, and increase your knowledge. It can also be very important for the community to which you're traveling - I'll never forget my tour guide in Bosnia and Herzegovina, who begged us to encourage other people to travel to B&H. "Tourism is our only industry here," she told us. "My son is 16. If tourism doesn't pick up, he'll have to emigrate. He's my world. Help me keep him here." Tourism can be a very important part of a region's economy.
But then there's the problems you identify, particularly air travel. What really gets me, though, is how people using public transportation (a shared airplane, for example) get dragged, but the people in private jets don't. A former CEO of GE apparently used to travel in GE's jet, but also required a second jet to travel behind him "just in case" the first jet broke down. Let's talk about how much the super rich are contributing to that 4%. I agree that we should temper ourselves, think hard about what we're doing and how, learn about and practice ecotoursim, and vote. But let's also not allow ourselves to be the scapegoats and whipping boys for the people who are doing the most damage - and who have the most power.