Could you be a conscious traveler?
Once upon a time, we traveled. By car. By train. By plane. Then COVID-19 happened, and travel came to a halt. The when and how is open to debate, but industry experts agree that travel will rebound post-coronavirus health crisis. And when it does, it will offer an unexpected opportunity to be kinder to the environment.
The travel sector accounts for eight percent of global carbon emissions. By 2050, aviation could take up to 25 percent of the world’s carbon budget. Logic dictates that one of the simplest ways to cut back on emissions is to fly less often. Most of us are probably balking at the thought of swapping a plane for a train. For the conscious traveler, however, a flight diet is a no brainer.
When you take a train, you cut carbon dioxide by half compared to a plane ride covering the same distance. According to the EcoPassenger calculator – launched by the International Railways Union in cooperation with the European Environment Agency – a journey from London to Madrid emits 118 kilograms of carbon dioxide per passenger by plane but only 43 kilograms by train. And if you’re wondering, why not just drive? Well, according to the Transportation Energy Data Book, passenger rail is about three times as efficient than taking a car.
Train bragging is the new black
About six months before the word COVID-19 made its way into our vocabulary, content creative and photographer Oona Österman had already started to rethink her motivation toward travel. In fact, she opted to travel from Helsinki to Paris by train in the autumn of 2019.
“It was when the Amazon fires made headlines during the summer of 2019 that I began to experience environmental anxiety. I realized that neither on a collective level nor individual level could business as usual carry on,” says Oona.
Choosing to cut back on flying is not an easy pivot. To curb greenhouse gas emissions, though, there needs to be a budge in the cultural paradigm. Travel has been pretty much left out of the discussion until recently says Oona. “But now it’s become a moral dilemma.”
Enter the Swedish word “tagskryt” which translates to train bragging and encourages travelers to get around by train. The term is synonymous with flygskam, or flight shame, and describes the unease about flying experienced by environmentally conscious travelers. But not everyone can scrap flying in favor of train travel. It’s especially tricky if there’s an ocean that divides family and friends.
“I understand why travel by plane is the hardest thing to give up. It’s synonymous to wanderlust, an adventurous lifestyle,” says Oona.
Adventure aside, there is an allure to train travel. While planes give an aerial view of the world below, trains offer travelers a more intimate lens of the landscape with scenery changing minute by minute.
“Train travel is such a grounding experience,” says Oona. “When you look at the natural world, everything moves at a much slower pace than what we humans are accustomed to. There’s a time for everything and flowers don’t rush to unfold their petals. The slow-paced approach to traveling brings me back to my roots and reminds me to embrace stillness and find magic in the process.”
As we ponder our travel future, we can also rethink the way we get from Point A to Point B by placing a band-aid on our planet.
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