Quick Guide to Sustainable Travel, The Telegraph

Our jet setting habits are under scrutiny like never before. Thanks to Greta Thunberg, Extinction Rebellion and thousands of schoolchildren worldwide, more people are asking: is it morally acceptable to have several holidays a year while we’re experiencing the highest levels of atmospheric carbon since prehistoric times? The fact 
is, we’re in danger of destroying the very things that inspire our wanderlust.

So deep is the existential crisis that hotel companies, airlines and tour operators are starting to scramble around for meaningful eco initiatives. Above the subsequent PR noise, most consumers are exhausted, none the wiser and more in need of a holiday than ever before.

The problem is that measuring eco-friendliness is complicated. A hotel’s recycling policy is only as good as the local infrastructure, and electric cars are still problematic if the electricity they use comes from fossil fuels. When you consider the carbon footprint of flying, environmentally savvy travellers hopping between eco-lodges in Bali may be causing more harm than a family going all-inclusive on the Costa Del Sol once a year.

It might seem like a confusing and insurmountable problem, but that doesn’t mean we have to give up: it’s a matter of lessening our footprint and supporting companies making a positive impact.

Read online here.