Your Safe Planet

Sally

I was amazed when I had a phone call from ABC International news network asking me to join an interview on responsible travel. 'Sure!' I said. 'Hmmm' I thought.

I came to realise that this was about flying not responsible tourism in general, which is not surprising as flying and the debate surrounding air travel and climate change have come to dwarf most other issues surrounding responsible travel. And that concerned me because, when it comes to flying, I am about as on the fence as they come and I'm not proud of it.

The reason is that I am a normal traveller: I hear the debates raging and I get overwhelmed. Although unlike most people (and I don't blame them for it) I can't just switch off because I have an accountability issue at stake with YSP.

My overall view is that people travel for good reasons and bring benefits to developing regions. Implicitly there are environmental impacts that should be both recognised and minimised wherever possible. However for as long as flying continues to be available people will do so.

Take my friend - she has a boyfriend who lives in the Shetland Isles of Scotland - in fact it's so far away it's not really Scotland anymore. You can take a boat - which is longer and more hassle in comparison to the altervative - flying. The flights however often cost in excess of £200 she tells me, which in my mind is steep for a domestic flight.

Which is good right? Raise price of domestic/short haul flights to discourage people? Well my friend is a student and although doesn't have enough money to eat fresh vegetables will still make this flight to see her bloke for longer than if she took the boat. I find this staggering and she may indeed be one exception, but I think this represents an important point - if planes are flying, people are going to board them, even if it costs them proportionally more money than they can really afford - let alone more environmental damage than the world can afford.

Why? Because people have different reasons for travelling - business, loved ones, new experiences - all of which are placed above environmental concerns.

Can they be blamed? No, I don't think so; most people over the age of 30 were brought up without such huge appreciation for environmental issues as is the case for today's youth so it's impractical for people to be expected to suddenly change their behaviour. Every psychological study goes against it being possible to scare someone into changing their behaviour, it actually does the opposite.

So that leaves us with a bleak reality - our parents are destroying the world that we have to deal when they're buried (and I say buried because cremation is not eco-friendly apparently...)

So what's the answer if people are going to keep flying and aren't going to change? Shall we just get ready for the apolcalypse?

Two saving graces:

1. The youth of today - all too often dismissed are the youth of today who come with an implant of environmental consciousness. These consumers of the future will demand more from the companies they give their money to and it will make economic sense to keep these consumers on side

2. The industry recognises that the big bucks are in the alternative technologies so are investing mega bucks in research and development. Let's face it - Citibank weren't going to hand over hundreds of millions that they have done without some idea of it coming back with extra zeros on the end are they?

So what to do in the mean time because the above could take too long....

My thoughts are that the sum of individual small efforts lead to a major net effect making results occur faster. That's where YSP comes in.

I want to make people feel good again about being thoughtful and travelling respectfully, not force people to feel guilty for living. I really think that by making people feeling more positive, providing them with the information and resource to be more responsible and not just talk about it, more is going to happen overnight than we imagine.

So I'm now on this side of the fence I guess - prevention is better than cure. We'll support people to fly less and when they do fly make very sure they minimise impacts in other ways.

But we're also going to be realistic and accept that people need alternatives to give up flying so we'll continue to show the travel industry that having a soul makes both moral and economic sense and that their investments in green/alternative energy are going to be the biggest step towards securing our future.

Feel free to throw things at me from the other side of the fence - albeit via the forum if possible...