Comments on: Let’s be more responsible and make travel greener http://www.travel-rants.com/2009/11/23/be-responsible-travel-greener/ Sun, 29 Jan 2012 01:52:48 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 By: Nick http://www.travel-rants.com/2009/11/23/be-responsible-travel-greener/#comment-157100 Nick Fri, 04 Dec 2009 10:20:03 +0000 http://www.travel-rants.com/?p=5209#comment-157100 @ John, you right..rail is best land borne transport option for freight and living in a country with a good bus network it is the best option for passengers. As to connecting airports the european network already does. But the whole set up needs to be changed not just transport but beyond. Power is the queston and where it comes from, solve that and you solve a lot. As to rail already being accounted for, you still have to replace the track and build new trains and still cuts out land from growing anything (as track bed is kept plant free on top of stations/yards etc.). I do not claim to be green, just something that intrests me and I try and do my bit, such as car sharing when I can not use bus. That has got 1 car off the road and cut bills. @ John, you right..rail is best land borne transport option for freight and living in a country with a good bus network it is the best option for passengers. As to connecting airports the european network already does.

But the whole set up needs to be changed not just transport but beyond. Power is the queston and where it comes from, solve that and you solve a lot. As to rail already being accounted for, you still have to replace the track and build new trains and still cuts out land from growing anything (as track bed is kept plant free on top of stations/yards etc.).

I do not claim to be green, just something that intrests me and I try and do my bit, such as car sharing when I can not use bus. That has got 1 car off the road and cut bills.

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]]> By: John http://www.travel-rants.com/2009/11/23/be-responsible-travel-greener/#comment-156955 John Wed, 02 Dec 2009 14:02:39 +0000 http://www.travel-rants.com/?p=5209#comment-156955 @nick The bus has a lower carbon footprint than the train. Rail is the best land borne transport option for freight. The 500 miles distance is in my opinion erroneous as connecting all the rail services connecting the cities with airports would give a European wide rail network anyway and the infrastructure envisions would have already been accounted for. Also oil is a finite resource, when its gone there is no viable replacement for aviation fuel. Bio fuel is a distraction, we do not have enough agricultural land to support bio fuel production and feed us all. Therefore rail will be required for long distance travel in the future. Why do you think Warren Buffett is investing in American Railway companies? Surely its not to lose his billions. @nick The bus has a lower carbon footprint than the train. Rail is the best land borne transport option for freight.

The 500 miles distance is in my opinion erroneous as connecting all the rail services connecting the cities with airports would give a European wide rail network anyway and the infrastructure envisions would have already been accounted for.

Also oil is a finite resource, when its gone there is no viable replacement for aviation fuel. Bio fuel is a distraction, we do not have enough agricultural land to support bio fuel production and feed us all.

Therefore rail will be required for long distance travel in the future. Why do you think Warren Buffett is investing in American Railway companies? Surely its not to lose his billions.

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]]> By: Nick http://www.travel-rants.com/2009/11/23/be-responsible-travel-greener/#comment-156854 Nick Tue, 01 Dec 2009 10:45:06 +0000 http://www.travel-rants.com/?p=5209#comment-156854 not checking as often as I used to but here is the answer to the train/plane queston Scientific American reports. A new study shows that although planes emit three times more greenhouse gasses per passenger per mile than trains, the industrial emissions necessary to rail infrastructure makes the environmental damage equal. not checking as often as I used to but here is the answer to the train/plane queston

Scientific American reports. A new study shows that although planes emit three times more greenhouse gasses per passenger per mile than trains, the industrial emissions necessary to rail infrastructure makes the environmental damage equal.

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]]> By: John http://www.travel-rants.com/2009/11/23/be-responsible-travel-greener/#comment-156708 John Sat, 28 Nov 2009 16:36:41 +0000 http://www.travel-rants.com/?p=5209#comment-156708 @Stu Bradley, Thank you, I appreciate that they are your own answers. If you are interested in this subject, it is well worth the voyage of discovery that comes about by reading the articles published by Sinkswatch.org and following the links to other organisations. Trees are being felled at an unbelievable rate in the Amazon. There are a number of reasons for this, they include clearance to grow sugar cane for bio fuels, soya beans for cattle feed as well as for the intrinsic value of the wood. Halting this deforestation is of prime importance. Slash and burn is responsible for about 20% of greenhouse gases. We all know that we should only buy Forest Stewardship Certified timber, but how many of us realise that eating meat produced in Europe, that we could be contributing to Brazilian forest destruction? The environment is an extremely complex subject with no easy answers, except of course that cutting down on fossil fuel consumption is the right thing to do. Offsetting does not provide the answers, it does not tackle the problem of carbon intensive transport it merely exports it elsewhere. @Stu Bradley, Thank you, I appreciate that they are your own answers. If you are interested in this subject, it is well worth the voyage of discovery that comes about by reading the articles published by Sinkswatch.org and following the links to other organisations.
Trees are being felled at an unbelievable rate in the Amazon. There are a number of reasons for this, they include clearance to grow sugar cane for bio fuels, soya beans for cattle feed as well as for the intrinsic value of the wood. Halting this deforestation is of prime importance. Slash and burn is responsible for about 20% of greenhouse gases.
We all know that we should only buy Forest Stewardship Certified timber, but how many of us realise that eating meat produced in Europe, that we could be contributing to Brazilian forest destruction?
The environment is an extremely complex subject with no easy answers, except of course that cutting down on fossil fuel consumption is the right thing to do. Offsetting does not provide the answers, it does not tackle the problem of carbon intensive transport it merely exports it elsewhere.

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]]> By: Stu Bradley http://www.travel-rants.com/2009/11/23/be-responsible-travel-greener/#comment-156695 Stu Bradley Sat, 28 Nov 2009 10:59:13 +0000 http://www.travel-rants.com/?p=5209#comment-156695 @John. You asked me questions - I gave you MY answers. You asked "Where do you plant the trees?" I answered that here in France trees are being planted all the time. If you want an extended answer, look to the Amazon. Why not replace the trees that are being felled there at an unbelievable rate? You asked "How long do they have to grow to absorb the CO2 produced on a 2 hour flight?" I answered that I didn't know. I can't expand on that with personal knowledge, so you'd have to do a search on that one, sorry. You asked "What happens to the carbon in the trees when they die?" My answer - It's subjective isn't it? How many trees will die? What size will they be when they die? Will they have reached maturity, or will they fall victim to disease, be culled in their prime, fall over, be struck by lightning, torn down by the wind, be eaten by deer etc? I don't know the answer to this one, and I'd guess it'd be extremely hard to know for sure. I'd like to see the onus taken away from the individual re. offsetting, and placed upon the travel company/airline. There'd have to be strict guidelines put in place, obviously, and a process of certification to ensure transparency. I don't know the answers, but I believe that by threshing these questions out like this, we may discover some? I just hope that when the world leaders meet in Copenhagen, they'll be having similar discussions, but with the added bonus of actually carrying the political weight to do something about it. @John. You asked me questions – I gave you MY answers.
You asked “Where do you plant the trees?” I answered that here in France trees are being planted all the time. If you want an extended answer, look to the Amazon. Why not replace the trees that are being felled there at an unbelievable rate?
You asked “How long do they have to grow to absorb the CO2 produced on a 2 hour flight?” I answered that I didn’t know. I can’t expand on that with personal knowledge, so you’d have to do a search on that one, sorry.
You asked “What happens to the carbon in the trees when they die?”
My answer – It’s subjective isn’t it? How many trees will die? What size will they be when they die? Will they have reached maturity, or will they fall victim to disease, be culled in their prime, fall over, be struck by lightning, torn down by the wind, be eaten by deer etc? I don’t know the answer to this one, and I’d guess it’d be extremely hard to know for sure.

I’d like to see the onus taken away from the individual re. offsetting, and placed upon the travel company/airline. There’d have to be strict guidelines put in place, obviously, and a process of certification to ensure transparency.

I don’t know the answers, but I believe that by threshing these questions out like this, we may discover some? I just hope that when the world leaders meet in Copenhagen, they’ll be having similar discussions, but with the added bonus of actually carrying the political weight to do something about it.

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