6 minute read
Ged’sUpdate
As I write this, I’m on a pier overlooking the Mediterranean waiting for the sun to rise. It’s my first family vacation overseas in 5 years and the Turkish heat is a welcome break from the damp summer we have been experiencing back in the UK. Interestingly, I’ve heard so many comments from people stating that “climate change certainly isn’t affecting the UK…”?!
Of course, this summer we have seen almost daily news of wildfires in Rhodes, China, Canada and the US, also more recently hurricanes and accompanying flash flooding in the usually drought suffering California and of course more record high temperatures all over the world.
As Professor Lipman from The SUN Program told me recently, whatever the weather, enjoy this year as next year will be worse, and then the next year and so on…
The climate is indeed changing and and humans are contributing significantly to these changes. We are starting to increasingly look at our own lifestyles and purchases to minimise our personal contribution (and guilt) and already we are seeing climate friendly choices being made over less sustainable options. And as a result, the greenwashing employed by less scrupulous organisations is proliferating at a staggering pace.
“what is sustainable travel/tourism? And what does it look like?”
The question which travellers are starting to ask is “what is sustainable travel/tourism? And what does it look like?”.
It’s a fair question and one which we need to address. We love the world we live in so much, that we want to discover as much of it as we can to learn about other cultures and ways of living. But we absolutely don’t want to do anything to harm this big beautiful planet of ours.
Many are choosing to no longer fly as a result of this thinking. And there are some amazing organisations out there which offer flight free travel and vacations. My personal favourite is ByWay which was established in the midst of the pandemic 3 years ago and they have some amazing trips which are all completely flight free.
But is it right that we stop flying?
Certainly it will make us feel slightly better about ourselves but really, is this just about us?
I live in the global North, in a country which has benefitted enormously from the significant emissions released during the industrial revolution and beyond. We have a relatively thriving economy, healthcare, educated population, full access to clean water, clean air, heating, good transportation networks across road, rail, air and sea. For the most part, our emissions are the one’s which have significantly contributed to the climate changing challenges we are facing globally.
We have benefitted greatly from the actions leading to these emissions.
Sadly, the same cannot be said of the global South.
These are the places which have contributed the least towards global emissions and yet are being disrupted the most. It’s a double hit for these nations. They did not benefit from the prior emissions, they did not significantly contribute their own emissions and yet they are being impacted the most by the effects of climate change.
The problem is, the wealthy North are the one’s which travel the most (as they have the disposable income to do so). So what would happen if those travellers from the relatively wealthy parts of the world stop travelling to the Least Developed Countries (LDC’s of which there are 49 defined by the United Nations including Tanzania, Nepal, Vanuatu and Laos) and also stop travelling to the Small Island Developing States (SIDS; of which there are 27 defined by the United Nations including Barbados, Seychelles, Sao Tome and Principe and Madagascar)?
Tourism contributes significantly to the GDP of these destinations. They are, to differing degrees, reliant on tourism revenues. Already poorer than most, are we suggesting that we try to cut down one of their most important sources of income without any realistic and pragmatic alternative firmly established? That feels highly irresponsible and counter intuitive.
Low Season Traveller has recently signed an agreement with The SUNx Program to partner with the Climate Friendly Travel Club. Launching in October 2023, this is a new travel loyalty club which myself and Professor Lipman have created to support travel and tourism in LDC’s and SIDS nations and also to promote Climate Friendly, Sustainable properties all over the world. It’s a social enterprise which provides a better alternative to the often questionable, carbon offsetting schemes in place for aviation.
The message is simple; join the Climate Friendly Travel Club for €5\month rather than giving to offset schemes, and you will be directly supporting the least developed countries on earth and the small island developing states.
Furthermore, you will equally be supporting the smaller but utterly inspirational properties which are the most committed to sustainable practices in their location.
I have had the privilege of interviewing most of the owners of these properties for the Climate Friendly Travel Podcast over the past 12 months and I can tell you that they are all completely dedicated to sustainable tourism practices and each one is utterly inspirational in their own right.
To celebrate our new partnership, we are featuring 8 properties from the Climate Friendly Travel Club in this issue. I think you will agree that they are all absolutely wonderful and if you choose to stay in any of these properties, you will be supporting some incredibly robust sustainability efforts in that destination.
The Climate Friendly Travel Club and indeed Low Season Traveller are not the solutions to the challenges of climate change and mass tourism. However they are contributing to and advocating heavily for, changes to be made globally.
As a teenager, and like many teenagers, I wanted to change the world. As I have grown, I have learnt that we can all change the world if we start by changing “our world” - the small world we live in day to day, our local community, the industry or organisation we work in, our local environment. That is what we can affect and that is what CFTC and LST are absolutely committed to.
I hope you have enjoyed a good summer wherever you are and I wish you all the best as we enter autumn here in the North.
