Still wanting to travel but cautious of your carbon footprint? Consider these alternatives

A guide to climate conscious travel, delving into diverse transport opportunities for your planet friendly adventures

With the mounting pressure of climate change becoming harder to ignore, it is time for climate conscious action to become the norm. One way in which we can reduce our emissions is through finding alternatives to air travel, as movements such as Flight Free 2021 and the No-Fly Movement have provided greater mobilisation towards cleaner travel (Flight Free 2021; Saner, 2019).

(Eco-age, 2019)

Car

Although many cars continue to rely on fossil fuels, in comparison to aviation they produce significantly less emissions. As "avoiding one transatlantic return flight would save as much as half the emissions you'd save from living car-free for an entire year" (Marcus, 2021, para 15). Additionally, the growing industry of electric cars is seen to positively influence the environmental effect, as research supports the understanding that they are a preferable option to petrol or diesel vehicles as mitigation strategies (Hausfather, 2019; Moses, 2020). In one year "just one electric car can save an average 1.5 million grams of CO2" (Moses, 2020, para 3).

Rail

Travelling by rail is currently the most energy and time efficient way to travel long distance (Eco-age, 2019). International train journeys are becoming more popular through the development of the Eurostar which connects London to Paris or Brussels, and according to statistics by the UK's Business, Energy, and Industry Strategy (BEIS) department the Eurostar emits 6 grams of CO2 emissions compared to 102 grams for long haul flights (BBC, 2019a; Eco-age, 2019). When such statistics are presented it is hard not to see the appeal of taking the train.

Sea

As Greta Thunberg proved, taking a boat across the Atlantic is possible (Saner, 2019). While your average person is unlikely to make such a lengthy journey, with it taking 15 days for the young activist to reach New York (BBC, 2019b), taking similar boat trips or ferries for closer to home destinations may be the way forward. Travelling by ferry around Europe, for example, is a cheap and well connected transport option, with integrated rail ticket options providing cheap travel while cutting down on environmentally-costly emissions (Eco-age, 2019).

Future innovations

While many of the alternative options continue to create greenhouse gas emissions through their use of fossil fuels, technological pioneering may provide some hope for clean transport. The concept of sail-powered cruise ships, while seemingly an improbable idea, is already in developmental stages and is thought to reduce cruise ship emissions by 50% (Street, 2021). It appears that technology may be our way forward, and we can only hope cleaner options emerge in time for their impact to be worthwhile.

References:

BBC. (2019a). 'Climate change: Should you fly, drive or take the train?', BBC, 24 August [Online]. Available at: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-49349566 (Accessed 3 May 2021).

BBC. (2019b). 'Greta Thunberg reaches New York after two-week sailing journey across the Atlantic', BBC, 29 August [Online]. Available at: https://www.theguardian.com/environment/video/2019/aug/29/greta-thunberg-reaches-new-york-after-two-week-sailing-journey-across-atlantic-video (Accessed 3 May 2021).

Eco-age. (2019). '4 alternative ways to travel on your next getaway', Eco-age, 18 July [Online]. Available at: https://eco-age.com/resources/alternative-methods-of-travel/ (Accessed 1 May 2021).

Flight Free World. (2021). Flight Free World 2021. Available at: https://flightfree.world (Accessed: 2 May 2021).

Hausfather, Z. (2019). 'Factcheck: How electric vehicles help to tackle climate change', Carbon Brief, 13 May [Online]. Available at: https://www.carbonbrief.org/factcheck-how-electric-vehicles-help-to-tackle-climate-change (Accessed 3 May).

Marcus, S. (2021). 'The carbon footprint of flying, and eco travel alternatives', OVO energy, 19 January [Online]. Available at: https://www.ovoenergy.com/blog/green/the-carbon-footprint-of-flying-and-eco-travel-alternatives.html (Accessed 2 May 2021).

Moses, M. (2020). ''Benefits of electric cars on the environment', EDF, 15 February [Online]. Available at: https://www.edfenergy.com/for-home/energywise/electric-cars-and-environment (Accessed 3 May 2021).

Saner, E. (2019). ‘Could you give up flying? Meet the no-plane pioneers’, The Guardian, 22 May [Online]. Available at: https://www.theguardian.com/travel/2019/may/22/could-you-give-up-flying-meet-the-no-plane-pioneers (Accessed: 20 April 2021).

Street, F. (2021). ‘Eco-friendly cruise ships to be powered by sails’, CNN, 19 February [Online]. Available at: https://edition.cnn.com/travel/article/cruise-ship-sail-design-chantiers-atlantique/index.html (Accessed 20 April 2021).