The consensus on the question I posted before seems to be that it's okay to encourage travel, but that we need to encourage traveling BETTER, whether that means encouraging choosing trains over planes, taking longer trips, seeing things in a different way, etc.
My question now is HOW? How do I as a content creator do that? I mean, just lecturing people about sustainability or whatever isn't going to help. I'd love some PRACTICAL ideas on how to encourage better travel.
So far I'm trying - not always succeeding - to avoid writing about the places that are very popular and instead focusing on lesser-traveled places. I'm avoiding big general listicles and instead trying to write about much narrower topics. As much as possible, I'm traveling by train or bus rather than plane and that'll come through when I write about a place. Any other suggestions?
Comments
This is quite a broad question, but I believe it's about overall sustainability in the way we live, whether we are traveling or not.
In practical terms, I try to stay longer in a destination and carry less (carry on only) on flights. And if possible, stay with friends!
Thanks for your feedback Ian.
The biggest thing is really just to limit the amount of air travel.
Slow travel / staying longer in destinations is a good way to achieve this and just limiting your number of plane trips overall. Hard to acknowledge when you work in this industry but it's by far the biggest change to be made.
Maybe consider a destination nearer to home.
Another thing would be to choose carefully where you're staying. If you're visiting a resort in the desert and it's got a lovely pool, green lawns and a golf course - chances are it's not very sustainable.
Good points. Thanks Peter.
We buy gallon jugs of water to refill our water bottles.
There is a lot before, during and after travel that can help minimize negative and maximize positive impacts - and it should not feel like homework. I recommend to read here: www.earth-changers.com/purpose/ - here (scroll to the bottom): www.gstcouncil.org/for-travelers/ and here: goodtravel.guide