Responsible travel is about minimising your impact and maximising your connection with people and the environment. It's about making a positive contribution and having the most rewarding and inspiring travel experiences of your life.
Responsible tourism can be more or less defined as travel that takes into consideration the "triple bottom line" issues of:
Environment: travel that minimises negative environmental impacts and, where possible, makes positive contributions to the conservation of biodiversity, wilderness, natural and human heritage.
Social/cultural: travel that respects culture and traditions and fosters authentic interaction and greater understanding between travellers and hosts.
Economic: travel that has financial benefits for the host community and operates on the principles of fair trade.
Travelling by the responsible travel ethos is one of the most direct and personal ways you can make a difference to some of the biggest issues affecting our world: poverty and peace. Be a part of the solution, not a part of the problem — and have the time of your life doing it.
Before you leave home
The more you know about a country and its people before you arrive, the more readily you get a handle on things and the quicker you slip under the skin of a place. With a little forward planning, you can make a significant difference and your conscience will be cleaner and greener:
- Do as much research as you can before you leave home. Destination guides provide specific tips, but novels, non-fiction and the Internet put flesh on the bones of this advice.
- Learn a few phrases in the local language, even if it's just hello, thank you, and may I take your photo? Even your most stumble-tongued efforts will be appreciated by the locals! For free downloadable Lonely Planet phrasebooks, go to Lonely Planet phrasebooks.
- Get acquainted with local customs — what's okay and what's not when you're eating and drinking with local people, acceptable social behaviour, religious practices, dress etc. Consider your choice of clothes and gear accordingly.
- Think about what, if any, gifts you might take. Something evocative of your own country usually works well. Work out the appropriateness of the gifts, to whom and in what situations they might be given.
- Try to leave excess packaging at home (such as film boxes, anything plastic you may need to dispose of). Developing countries generally don't have waste collection services, so your packaging will end up as their pollution. Take biodegradable soap and shampoo.
- Consider your transport options: could you ride a bike rather than drive? Take a train rather than fly?
Going carbon neutral
Look at off-setting your contribution to carbon emissions, so your travels are carbon neutral. Climate change is a serious threat to the ecosystems that humans rely upon and air travel is the fastest-growing contributor to the problem.
Flying and climate change
Pretty much every form of motorised travel generates CO² (the main cause of human-induced climate change) but planes are far and away the worst offenders, not just because of the sheer distances they allow us to travel, but because they release greenhouse gases high into the atmosphere. The statistics are frightening: two people taking a return flight between Europe and the US will contribute as much to climate change as an average household's gas and electricity consumption over a whole year.
Carbon offset schemes
Climatecare.org and other websites use "carbon calculators" that allow travellers to offset the level of greenhouse gases they are responsible for with financial contributions to sustainable travel schemes that reduce global warming, including projects in India, Honduras, Kazakhstan and Uganda.
Is your holiday green, or just greenwash?
Tour operators, hotels and lodges that are genuine in their approach to responsible tourism will generally have a written policy covering their environmental impact, employment and cultural policy. If they don't, ask why. By their response, you'll be able to make the judgement call. Ask some specifics about how they implement their policy:
- How are they dealing with the main environmental issues facing them?
- Do they employ local guides, leaders and staff and provide training opportunities?
- Do they limit the size of their groups to minimise environmental and social impact?
- Do they have a green purchasing policy?
- Do they work with the local community? If so, what proportion of their revenue is redirected to that community?
- What information do they offer their clients on responsible travel?
In the immortal words of Kermit the Frog, it's not easy being green. But if an operator is getting it right, they'll be proud of it and will be happy to answer your questions.
Culture shock vs cultural connection
One of the best things about travelling is making connections with people from different cultures in an authentic and mutually enjoyable way. Cultural sensitivity is simply a matter of respect: take your behavioural cues from the locals and if in doubt, try to see things from the locals' point of view. For more tips on cultural connection go to Culture shock versus cultural connection.
Tree planting is a staple activity of many carbon offsetting organisations. That said some non-profits and other carbon-neutral organisations are starting to invest in sustainable and energy-saving projects in the developing world. Some of the most far-sighted initiatives offer employment to local people and conservation for their surrounding environments.
While being carbon neutral is an admirable goal, on a larger scale it might be seen as a way of making up for bad behaviour — a bit like dropping litter on a beautiful beach and then buying a bin to make up for it. That's why it's important to do more than think about — and hopefully support — a carbon-neutral initiative. Your style of travel can have a major impact on how "friendly" your trip is to the environment.
Obviously, the actions of an individual are tiny next to the actions of governments and large corporations. Yet that doesn't mean we — individual travellers — should feel helpless. There's plenty we can do to minimise our impact on the environment. Going carbon neutral is a great place to start.
If you want to calculate how much carbon your next flight will emit, check out Climatecare's CO² Air Travel Calculator.
Originally published in Code Green by Lonely Planet.
