The need to explore our planet has never been greater, but are we forgoing the pleasures of navigating through in the process?
Race Across the World, a massively successful BBC 2 reality program that returned to television in March of this year for its third season, is based on this idea. The program requires five pairs to travel thousands of kilometers between "checkpoints" via a variety of landscapes while each team is granted money equivalent to the cost of a flight covering the same distance. The crucial exception, though, is that candidates are not permitted to take flights. The critically important and increasingly relevant idea of forgoing air travel in favor of other modes of transportation underlies the undeniable entertainment of watching an adult father and daughter quarrel over camping in the woods or two friends futilely attempt to navigate their way to a remote train station.
"The idea of abandoning air travel is significant.
According to recent research by Hannah Ritchie of Our World in Data, the worldwide aviation industry is responsible for an estimated 1.04 billion tonnes of CO2 emissions per year. In actuality, non-CO2 variables, such as water vapour trails from aircraft exhausts, also cause significant environmental harm, making up the remaining two thirds of the negative influence that airplanes have on global warming. Even though it only accounts for 3.5% of global carbon emissions, scientists at the London School of Economics (LSE) predict that by 2050, recreational travel will be the UK's largest single source of carbon emissions. In addition, it accounts for the majority of people's carbon footprints, making it seem obvious for British citizens who care about the environment to give up travel for pleasure.
But what choices do I have? Is the only truly environmentally responsible course of action to completely stop traveling abroad? Although this would undoubtedly help the fight against climate change (LSE scientists showed that because of decreased air travel, there was an expected 41.5% reduction in carbon emissions from the aviation sector in 2020), it is completely unthinkable in the world we currently live in. Many Britons can be considered as having a strong "Summer Holiday" culture, with the Association of British Travel Agents estimating that 64% of Britons traveled abroad for at least one vacation in the year leading up to July 2019. A travel prohibition abroad conjures up strong feelings of outrage and opposition in defense of individual rights. Even from an environmentally concerned standpoint, it does seem like "saving" a planet that we can only see and feel a small fraction of would be a clear contradiction.
What Race Across the World seems to promote is the idea of "Slow Travel," which emphasizes more "journey-based" vacations where travelers engage more deeply with the cultural and environmental phenomena they encounter while traveling between locations via trains, buses, or car-sharing services. Slow Travel ultimately encourages a much more environmentally friendly way of seeing the world. Particularly, rail travel has been shown to be significantly more environmentally friendly than other modes of transportation. According to the European Environment Agency, while aviation accounts for 13% of all greenhouse gas emissions related to transportation in the EU, rail accounts for only 0.4% of these emissions. The personal advantages of slow travel, however, are numerous and well illustrated by RATW, as each new episode sees the contestants forge relationships with other travelers, learn the particular customs of locals from the places they visit, and find themselves moved by the natural beauty of less popular locations, those not deemed 'holiday destinations' by flight companies.
"The advantages of leisurely travel are numerous.
However, in order to imagine a realistic future of ethical travel, there are a number of concerns concerning a complete changeover from aviation to ground transportation that must be overlooked. The human unwillingness to go from what we are accustomed to and comfortable with is the first issue, and it is debatably one that gets to the heart of the climate dilemma.
Overall, even if the UK society appears to have a long way to go before such ideas can become reality, despite being an obviously successful basis for a TV show and an appealing image of what sustainable travel can look like. To truly reduce aircraft emissions, a number of changes are necessary, including changes to the working culture in the UK, increased overseas rail travel, financial investments in 'clean' alternative modes of transportation, such as electric cars, and many more. Refusing to fly, like many other sustainable changes people can make to "do their part" to address the climate crisis, seems to bring us back to the paradox that individual effort has little impact unless a more fundamental transformation of our current way of life is implemented by those in authority.
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