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| My Greyhound view on the 20hr trek between NM and CA. |
As a preface, this is part one of a two part post about my recent trip home to Kentucky. Part two will take the more traditional form of my other Low Impact Travel (LIT) posts where I discuss my adventures and the little ways I try to alter my travel behaviors to reduce my ecological impact. However, I wanted to take some time and space to talk about an issue which often troubles me, how and why we choose our means of transportation. Please note that while this post does contain some science, it's mostly my own opinions and rational. It should be taken as neither fact or prescription, and is simply the conversation I have been having with myself for the past 4 years, converted into essay form.
Part One: Some Science
I
don’t know if you've noticed yet, but I travel a lot, and I really enjoy it! I am, however, generally conflicted when it comes to the subject of plane travel. It's a pertinent topic considering the new study published in Environmental Science and Technology last week (for some good summaries of the study you can look here or here, but I suggest you read the paper). The study's authors Jens Borken-Kleefeld, Jan Fuglestvedt, and Terje Berntsen offer very accurate estimates of the climate impacts of different modes of long distance travel (in their study 500-1000 km) by comparing impacts at 100% vehicle occupancy vs. average occupancy. They also expand the definition of "climate impacts" to things beyond simple CO2 emissions, though no matter which measure you examine, the story is relatively consistent. Spoiler alert, plane travel loses big time, every time. Now, allow me a moment of European envy. One of the options in their study, high speed electric rail, boasts zero grams of CO2 emitted per vehicular kilometer. Obviously, that is just based on the fact that these trains don't have tailpipes, and who knows where that electricity is generated, but trains lack some of the fundamental climate impacts included in plane travel such as the creation of cirrus clouds and the indirect production of ozone. So, plane travel, not so good...yet I'm going to try and write a low impact travel post in which I take a plane? It seems mildly disingenuous to me.
The thing is, I know that lots of people face these same sorts of problems. Obviously, I need to visit home.
It’s good for my mental health, I adore my family, and I don’t know if
anyone else has had a southern mother but…even if I didn't want to go home, I
would. So allow me a moment to try and work through this moral quagmire here, in this forum. I'm going to use my potential trip home over Thanksgiving to make this a bit more tangible. Admittedly, holiday pricing sort of skews the picture for us, but that is when most people do most of their long distance traveling, so I feel it's appropriate.
