Should Travel Writers Discourage Flying to Reduce Global Warming?

Thanks, Jim. Good stuff. Petra is a bit hysterical about it all, but she does make some fine points. Personally, I CAN’T WAIT to read her rant when the first Airbus 380 full of “package holidaymakers” blasts off from Heathrow.

Thanks to travel writers cross-cultural understanding is generally accepted as the benefit of world travel. If travel writers were to similarly promote responsible travel (how green is this attraction, outfitter, etc) the impact could be tremendous. To be effective, education should go beyond airline emissions. While the impact of a hummer tour on the rock formations in Utah and collecting shells in Mozambique may be smaller, they are part of the same. You can’t expect someone who leaves a trace of a hike to worry about the impact of a flight.

I had to chuckle out load when I read this subject.  Do people really have so much time on their hands that they are kept up at night worrying about the degradation that they are causing to the global climate by travel writing?  Give me a break!  How many travel writers are there in the world?  Are there actually 747’s flying around containing nothing but travel writers?  Have I ever even been on a flight with a single travel writer?  I seriously doubt it!  Will there be even a discernible impact on climate change if the tiny number of travel writers on this planet suddenly stopped flying?  Of course not!!  Alarmism rampant!  Anyone who thinks this problem is even important enough to discuss has a bloated sense of self-importance and needs to get a grip.