"I'm leaving Melbourne ... the general intent is to make it back to Australia in 6-12 months without flying (ok - maybe just one flight from Singapore) .... The themes I am hoping to capture in this 'journal' are sustainability (particularly energy related initiatives I'm hoping to visit), fantastic passionate people and various travel insights that come from avoiding aircraft".
I would like to share four very obvious insights and a hypothetical that come from avoiding aircraft and then I will go on to explain our conundrum more personally.
- It is ridiculously cheap to fly
- It is ridiculously expensive to take the train
- Some parts of the EU don't see sunlight for the better part of a year (think UK)
- Some parts of the EU have sunlight for much of the year (think Spain)
Now for a hypothetical. Let's say Ms Piccadilly is fed up with the grey days of London so she decides to go to Barcelona for a week in February. Here are her options:
- Bus- Route, Eurolines London to Barcelona. Time, 27 hours there and 23 hours back. Cost, £137. Carbon, 34.1 kg
- Train- Route, Eurostar London to Paris then change trains to Barcelona. Time, 20 hours there and 20 hours back. Cost, £200. Carbon, 65.6 kg
- Aeroplane- Route, London to Barcelona. Time, 3 hours there and 1.5 hours back. Cost, £40 without luggage and £58 with luggage. Carbon, 194.3 kg
I'd say Ms Piccadilly is in a picaninny of a pickle.
What should she choose if she wants to travel sustainably? The bus right. But Ms Piccadilly is on a budget and only has a week off work. The £60 odd saved is one or two nights accommodation in Barcelona and the 45.5 hours she saves means an extra two days of sunshine, rest and relaxation. If you have ever lived in the UK you know how rejuvenating this can be.
This is a real conundrum because for most travellers it costs to care about carbon and for millions of people flying away to get away is now the norm.
Moz and I are six months into our travels. We spent three months taking a train around Europe and it was very lucky that we had pre-purchased Eurorail tickets because the trains are super expensive - certainly more so than aeroplanes. We then purchased a diesel van called Vincent Van-Go and have been travelling around it in the UK to avoid the extortionate cost of rail fares and increase our ability to reach remote places.
We now find ourselves faced with an ever tightening budget and the last leg of our marvelous adventure - taking the Trans-Mongolian train across Russia and into China to fly home from Asia. Getting from the UK to Russia would be a cinch if we flew and it would save us loads of money but alas we will attempt to take buses and trains and maybe even hitch the odd lift.
I suppose my point is that from home, when planning a trip like ours, it seems easy and fun to take trains to see the world while also 'doing the right thing'. But, faced with the reality of dwindling cash supplies my commitment is seriously tested. Is it any wonder that emissions from the aviation sector are one of the fastest growing in the world.
George Monibot's blog from Copenhagen sums up my point beautifully. He took a £480 standard train fare from London to the climate talks in Copenhagen rather than an £18 flight.
** Try the UK based Transport Direct calculator to compare bus, train and aeroplane emission from your planned journey.
** These footprint calculators are one way to understand the impact of your household on the planet - WWF calculator is good for UK residents and ACF calculator is good for Aussies.** The Man in Seat 61 will help you plan most aspects of a train journey anywhere in the world.
Awesome post love, i love it that you care so much.
ReplyDeleteTx
That is a conundrum of consumerism too...but I also think that sustainability is a wholistic thing which includes buying locally at your destination, getting quality time with your family/friends etc, so I say zip quickly in the air and complain to Mr Virgin that his "alternative plane fuels" are NOT QUICK ENOUGH!!".
ReplyDeletehmmm....Ms Piccadilly has quite a conundrum on her hands (as do you and M!).
ReplyDeleteOn one hand, you aren't going to be able to 'sustain your wander' with those astronomical bus and train fares (and Ms Piccadilly has the additional time problem). And on the other hand, there are the environmental sustainability factors to consider. Those figures you put up are pretty damning.
I'm not sure whether I could resist the temptation of flying. The cost, the speed - it's very good.
It does seem odd that flying costs less that travelling by road or rail - wouldn't it cost more to run and airline than a bus or train service? I did read recently that in many countries (including the UK), airline fuel costs are government-subsidised (in the form of taxes being removed for them). Perhaps removing that might raise the cost of flying and make it less appealing. And then there is the time issue.....
damn good post. I wasn't aware of the massive difference in carbon output. knew it was there, but in not such a significant way.
ReplyDeleteFor me the question is, to what degree and in what area should our efforts to save the planet be directed? Is the few kg less of carbon that S and M save by bussing or hitching of any account whatsoever when stacked up against atrocities like carbon trading scams and the total refusal of the world's governments and industries to confront climate change??
ReplyDeleteI see your efforts to avoid air travel on this trip as a noble and instructive example. But if saving the planet is going to depend on our actions as consumers, then I rate our chances of survival as disastrous. There are millions of people like S and M who are trying in so many ways every day to save energy, recycle, bicycle, use less water and so on. But our efforts are ultimately futile when stacked against the determination of capitalism to keep making a quick buck, no matter what the danger to the future of life on this planet.
At the very least, whatever way you get to Russia, you've shown how insane the market is as a means of regulating environmental damage. As Simple things commented, distortions like government subsidies can mean that the most environmentally harmful option is actually the cheapest. (And isn't this the case for so many things -- for the quality of the food we eat; for the spending on wars that could be wiping out preventable diseases?)
But I don't think the answer is to make plane travel more expensive for ordinary people! Making it twice as expensive for us to visit our families isn't going to stop Rudd, Brown or Obama jetting around the world with giant entourages, or help the megarich break their private jet addiction. And unfortunately, I haven't heard too much about how these giant polluters have changed their ways based on the sacrifices we've been making.
We have to recognise that our power to change the world lies in the way we can unite as workers, or as communities, in large numbers, to challenge the sick priorities of this system before it kills us all or makes the world uninhabitable for our children.
To that end, the url on my name above links to an article about Copenhagen from a revolutionary socialist position, for those who may be interested.
So I say -- get on a plane if you want to, dear friends, and leave the carbon guilt behind. Come back to Australia rested and pumped to take action about all the things that are wrong with the world. Or avoid the plane, do the hitching etc -- but just for the adventure and the tales to tell your grandkids, and to show up the hypocrisy of our rulers.
Great post.
ReplyDeleteI read in Climate Code Red (Philip Sutton and David Spratt, an important book for all), that because planes release their carbon higher in the atmosphere than other emissions sources the effects of the greenhouse gases is increased by 2-3 times. This serves to highlight the issues with plane travel, and how it does not fit in with a de-carbonised future.
My Partner left Romania when she was eight to come to Australia, if we go back to check out her county of birth I would like to do it without flying. It will be a great adventure, though this post highlights the high cost of travelling via alternative means, and the reasons why air travel rates are increasing so fast.
I hope the trip is going awesome. Thanks for the insights.
Stay safe.
Hi darling Shae,
ReplyDeleteWhere are you???? Sorry but I have not been following your wanderings so not sure where you are or how you got there or when you are coming home????? Lot's of questions from a dis-illusioned friend - on many levels.
Anyway, hope you are well and keep sending me your updates. LOL Dorothy
love it that you care so much.
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