silhouette of three people on top of a hill

Sustainable travel and flying. A paradox?

Eco guilt or environmental guilt is a real thing. It kicks in when I know I’ve done something that’s not good for the planet – through choice. We are of course in a climate and ecological crisis and it doesn’t seem to be getting any better. The world as we know it is changing. Record temperatures are a regular occurrence, storms and forest fires are becoming more deadly and sea levels are rising.  It can all start to feel overwhelming. Phrases such as sustainable travel, green travel and eco tourism all start to sound like paradoxes. Burying my head in the odd ‘Positive News’ story around environmental issues isn’t exactly taking action.

  • silhouette image of couple on mountain edge watching the golden yellow sunrise
  • woman sitting at a desk in the shallow waters of the Indian Ocean
  • under water shot of scuba diving holding knees looking into camera
  • rising sun captured amid African baobab tree in northern Uganda
  • photographer taking photo sitting in long grass

But here it is. The one ‘thing’ that hangs over me like a black cloud as I know it’s something I could never stop doing, and that’s flying. It feels selfish to say, but travelling to far flung places makes me feel free and alive; it serves as my soul food. I was 14 when I first went on a plane to visit family in China. It changed me forever. Standing with just my backpack looking at a departures board in an airport literally gives me goosebumps. However, kids and covid put a stop to travel for some time. It suddenly became out of reach so it was easier to push it to one side.

But then the world opened up again and I watched as more and more friends around me once again began travelling. Any virtuous feelings I had didn’t last long, I soon began to feel I was missing out and making myself miserable. It’s an unsustainable thought to have, but I had it nonetheless – if everyone else is carrying on why can’t I? Of course if I was time-rich I’d buy an e-bike and take trains and slowly reach far flung places that way, but with kids in the school system that’s not going to happen. Aeroplanes, it seems, are going to feature again. And none more so than this December.

Far away lands

My partner is from New Zealand and we are heading there for five weeks. Some call it love miles but it doesn’t take away from the fact that’s a heck of a lot of carbon emissions. So, how can I alleviate environmental guilt as an eco-conscious traveller?

Slowly I am finding my peace through learning to find a balance, striving to do better rather than be perfect and accepting when things are out of my control. Of course as individuals we are all responsible and have to play our part and I want to be able to look my kids in the eye and say ‘we tried’ but there are also bigger games at play here. Individual action alone cannot get us out of this mess. People are starting to call out the decades of hypocrisy and deceit from the big oil players and leaders need to be elected who don’t just place climate change solely on the shoulders of the individual. The reality is there are many factors at play. It’s not as clear-cut as simply never travelling again. Businesses across the world rely on tourism. It helps fund conservation projects and raises awareness of important environmental issues – and that barely scratches the surface. 

Ways to help the change

So I am going to break it down and think about what I can do once I am already in the country I’m visiting and what I can continue to do, and improve on closer to home.

When abroad:

  1. Bring sustainable travel products
  2. Don’t buy single use plastic
  3. Stay in eco friendly places
  4. Travel slowly
  5. Buy local, eat local and support all small businesses and craftspeople you come across

When home:

  1. Join a tree planting scheme and get planting with my kids – realising it will take years for this to have any impact)
  2. Food and fashion – I don’t need to spell it out…
  3. Find a rewilding project local to me (Knepp Estate is one amazing one) Not only does it help to offset your own carbon footprint but you’re improving the area for the human and non-human visitors.
  4. We live right by the beach so it’s easy to get involved in beach clean ups. And the kids love it as they get to use those pincer things.
  5. Buy local – you can always support the local community.
  6. Choose an environmental cause or charity and make a one-off or regular donation (I’m sure my kids would love to sponsor an animal through WWF).
  7. Due to the costs of electric cars they still remain prohibitive for my family but it’s another massive source of guilt whenever we get behind the wheel. Obviously walking more, cycling more and taking trains where possible is high on the agenda.

So for me it’s about being better not perfect and I’m looking forward to the next big trip to New Zealand. Through luck rather than design we’re going to a country that has high aims when it comes to green policies and that feels good. It’s committed to becoming the world leader in sustainable tourism by having all tourism-led companies be as green as possible by 2025. It’ll be interesting to see if there’s much evidence of that when we’re there. I feel another blog post on this topic in 2024…

For more personal blog posts you can head this one on how and why I became a wedding photographer. Thanks for reading! x