New research has found tourism to be much worse for the climate than previous anticipated, and estimates it to be responsible for 8 % of the global greenhouse gas emissions
We all know that airplanes and traveling in general is bad for the environment, but have you ever considered just how much a week of vacation in another country actually affects the climate? I bet you haven’t, and neither have most people, but luckily a group of scientists have been crunching the numbers to find out exactly how much it affects the climate!
I won’t lie: I would love to spend a few days on this beach! But it might not be so good for the climate. Image is posted with CC0.
There have been many attempts done by scientists in order to try to estimate the amount of emission released by tourism in the past, but as you can except, there are hundreds or even thousands of different factors that are needed to be measured in order to make a good estimation. However, most studies have ended up with a number between 2.5 and 3 % of the global greenhouse gas emission, which is what most people have gotten used to thinking of.
A brand new study decided to look at the numbers again, and claim to have been more thorough than any research before. By estimating all emissions released from the moment the person leaves their house, until they return back home, they claim to have the most accurate numbers, and the research was just published in Nature Climate Change. Their numbers put the same emissions at 8 %, meaning that it’s almost 3 times higher than any previous estimation!
The author told CNN that the primary reason why their number was so much higher was because they calculated a lot more details than any other studies have done, including products the tourists buy during the vacation, and the food they eat during their stay.
If you prefer real numbers instead of percentages; the total amount of greenhouse gases released by the tourism sector is between 3.9 and 4.5 GtCO2e. To break that unit down a bit, Gt means gigatonne, and is equivalent to 1 trillion kg. CO2 is carbon dioxide, a gas that we tend to measure when measuring greenhouse gas emissions. The final e is short for equivalent, and it means that the number is measured in equivalents of carbon dioxide. The reason for this is that 1kg of methane (CH4) or many of the other greenhouse gases are much more potent than carbon dioxide, so we calculate them all over to how many kilograms of carbon dioxide they are worth.
Which countries are responsible?
The study also tried to pinpoint which countries were most responsible for the emissions caused by the tourism sector, and there are really no big surprises here. The US is the biggest polluter, followed by China, Germany and India. The numbers are not accounted for how many people who live in each country, so Germany should try to reduce their numbers a bit, seeing as they pollute more in other countries than all of the tourists from India combined!
A tourist. Image by Garrote88, posted with the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 International license.
Is it possible to travel or go on a vacation without harming the climate?
It seems like it is very difficult to be traveling or going on vacation in other countries without harming the environment, but there are of course some things you can do to reduce your carbon footprint.
Firstly, know what causes the most damage! Flying an airplane is without a doubt one of the worst things you can do if you don’t want to cause further climate change, but traveling far by car or any other transportation that requires fuel is also pretty bad. Basically a vacation not too far away from home is the best choice for the environment.
Image is posted as CC0.
The two other significant contributors according to the same study is shopping and food. As for shopping, don’t buy stupid stuff that you end up throwing away, and try not to eat huge plates of meat every single day during your vacation.
There are of course many small things you can do to reduce your carbon footprint when you are a tourist, but the three points above are the biggest problems, and the ones you should focus on being aware of during your next trip.
Thanks for reading
Thanks for checking out my post about how much emissions are caused by tourists! As you might know, I believe we should all do our best in reducing our carbon footprint, and it seems like reducing our traveling might be a good way to prevent the world from getting even hotter.
About @valth
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Fint at du set søkjelyset på turistnæringa når det gjeld klimautslepp @Valth
Det er ein faktor som er for lite framme hos styresmaktene våre. Eg er ikkje forundra over at dette talet no nærmar seg 10%.
Eg har vore heldig som har hatt høve til å kunna sykla på jobben, noko eg har gjort i meir enn 30 år.
Elles likar eg å feriera i Norge.
Som ivrig fiskar driv eg matauk på den måten. Elles likar eg å plukka bær, både blåbær, bjørnebær, tytebær og molter. Og i hagen har eg solbær.
Fangsten både av bær og fisk vert oppbevart i frysaren.
Dermed har eg ein del kortreist mat som er både god, sunn og nærande.
Med vennleg helsing
@Siggjo
Ja, du har rett i at det ikke er ofte man hører om alle de negative sidene som kommer som følge av turistnæringa, men vi har jo faktisk hatt en del debatt om cruiseskip inne i fjordene våre, da disse har et helt vanvittig høyt utslippsnivå.
Det er godt å høre at du er flink til å ta hensyn til miljøet, @siggjo! Man får kuttet store deler av sitt personlige utslippsbudsjett ved å spise kortreist mat, og minimere bruk av bil.
Thanks for this inspirational post, @valth. The carbon footprint left by the means of transport is undoubtedly a problem but for people who love traveling (like me), it is something that is pretty hard to influence. On the other hand, the amount of trash produced and damage to wildlife and ecosystems we cause in places we visit is what everyone can decide through their behaviour. I can say that in the Caribbean were I lived for some time, it is mainly the expats who organize beach clean-ups, educate the locals about environmentalism etc. I heard the same goes for tropical destinations in SE Asia. It is practically impossible to get to places like these without the airplane but to me, the most important thing is how people behave and what they do once they get there.
Yeah, it's unfortunate that we "regular people" are pretty much powerless when it comes to the carbon footprint from the transportation. We can't really do much other than to hope that someone improves the technology to make is less heavy on the environment.
But you're right: once we are at our location we can do stuff to make it better in terms of pollution and emission. A lot of people are very irresponsible when it comes to recycling when visiting other countries, and this is certainly not good for anyone.
Da er det godt jeg kjører Tesla og har en miljøvennlig hytte på fjellet. Skal jeg i vert fall ikke være med å forurense så masse med flyreiser hele tiden :)
Med en Tesla bidrar du ikke mye til utslippene når du kjører bil i alle fall! Spesielt her i Norge hvor tilnærmet 100 % av strømmen vår er fornybar :)
Yes adverse impact of tourism is never thought in this way in a past that's why we have high value of 8 percent green house gas emissions. Unbelievable figure but it is happening due to our ignorance and lack of awareness. Cutting aeroplane is a daunting task but we can overcome other problem by eating and purchasing smartly. To develop better environment awareness is required so it's our duty to educate common people/tourist around our surroundings to avoid such acts which is source of climate destruction. @valth you are doing a great job by giving awareness to all steemians. Thanks for sharing @valth
Yep, it could probably have been a lot lower is everyone was aware of all the issues with the emissions from traveling!
I'm glad you think I'm doing a good job, @kamchore :D
Never thought that tourism would be such a big factor...I mean 8% is significant...
When I go on holidays to some place, I always try to get multipurpose stuff, that would make my backpack light.
I just wrote a post inspired by this post...
https://steemit.com/travel/@xabi/tourists-can-reduce-the-effect-of-their-jaunt-on-environment
Me neither, but it really adds up with all the activities you typically do as a tourist! Great post by the way :) It's a really good idea to pack multipurpose stuff!
On the bright side I think planes are more fuel efficient. We can all do more to help the environment. I think energy efficiency is underrated.
Well, planes are just a tiny bit more fuel efficient than cars if they travel the same distance and the plane has full capacity. It's still a huge problem for the environment either way, because it adds up to huge amounts of emissions if you fly for a few hours.
The fact, it is very difficult to do something without causing even a little bit of pollution.
And when it comes to tourism, realistically speaking, people will decide to keep doing their vacation without caring much about this subject.
The solution for long term is to find new ways of transport that don't cause as much pollution as the methods we have now.
Yes, I agree with you. It's just too much to ask people not to travel in order to save the environment, and a much better solution is to develop new technology that allows us to fly without causing as much damage. The airplanes have seen surprisingly little development in the last 50 years or so, and I think there is a good opportunity to decrease the emission from them.
Dear @valth:
I apologize for getting 2 comments by @steemstem-bot on your post. The reason it was caused (when looking at the log file written) is that it sent the comment and received a 500 error code so it tried to send it again however both comments must have been received by the nodes. It happens to relatively few people compared to all the comments made. The other problem is that the other failsafe, which checks the most recent block for a comment made by the account on that post, only checks 1 block so if the comment is put in 1 block later then my failsafe won't work. Again, my apologies.
Sincerely,
Kryzsec
No problem! Mistakes happen, and it's really not an issue for me that there are two comments about the upvote ;)
Hello friend, it seems an excellent topic that you are publishing today, that many people do not take it into account, they only think about having a good time traveling without caring about the consequences that may arise. If we all thought in this way we lived in a healthier environment and we did not go through so many diseases. Greetings great friend and always supporting you, congratulations for your high quality content
Thanks! Yes, it would be really great if more people started to care about the consequences of their actions when it comes to the climate change.
Tourism gets more popular every year, in my opinion that will not change. It might be smart to think about how to make these travels less damaging. But you can't expect people to stop travelling. Also for business purposes people travel more and more...
You're right about that, and the same study that I link to in the post also concludes with a steady growth of around 5 % per year.
Hehe, I don't. I just want people to be a bit more aware of the consequences of it. Maybe it will make them consider their choices when on vacation or on a business trip, because the consumer behavior also plays a huge role, not only the airplane rides themselves.