 |
| Tuk tuk in Bangkok. Photograph © Zarina Holmes |
| "...If we are to enjoy short breaks in cities that have great cycling system, tram lines or small enough to discover on foot, why not avoid unnecessary transportation altogether." |
It confirms our suspicion all along. Those funky tuk-tuks are just not good for Bangkok’s air quality. Or the planet’s air quality. Period. How can it be healthy when the drivers have to wear surgical masks to prevent from inhaling fumes themselves? Adventure tour operator, Intrepid Travel, did some carbon offset calculations for their Carbon Offset Trips package. • They discovered that taking each of the following forms of transport equates to: • 5 km tuk tuk ride = 1.095 kg CO2 per passenger * 5 km canoe (with outboard motor) ride = 1.095 kg CO2 (same sort of engine size as a tuk tuk) per passenger • 100 km bus ride = 4.85 kg CO2 per passenger Intrepid Travel also reported that their comfort style of trips on average generate the most amount of carbon emissions while the active trips generate the least. The trip with the least carbon emissions is Volunteering Ghana with 1.97 kgs CO2 emitted per passenger per day. I guess we just have to apply a balanced judgment when using public transport abroad. We may have no choice but to ride on fume-spewing old buses in, say, Ho Chi Minh City, to get to next town. But if we are to enjoy short breaks in cities that have great cycling system, tram lines or small enough to discover on foot, why not avoid unnecessary transportation altogether. A good excuse to polish our map reading skill and get intimate with the cities. If you feel extra concern about your airlines carbon offset, check the average age of their their fleet. Newer aeroplanes are a lot more energy efficient than old ones. Ditto older airports compared to newer ones. “Cheap travel” is also expensive in other ways. I don’t think low-cost airlines model like Ryanair, which is based so far out of London in Luton, is considering energy efficiency when their passengers have to take buses, trains and long car journeys to reach the airports. easyjet is doing a good job by offering it’s customers easybus service that can ferry them from selected London tube stations to Gatwick Airport for only £2 when booked in advance.
I much prefer “energy efficient” and “sustainable travel” model than “carbon offset”, because it means that the tour operators are taking action to implement eco-friendly model within their operations, rather than paying for the offset elsewhere.
|
